When passion meets inspiration, an obsession is born.
Anonymous
The dictionary defines the word “obsession” as the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire. It is a phenomenon that consists of a continuous thought, which recurs and persists despite efforts to ignore or eliminate it. It manifests with the onset of an idea that imposes itself in an irrepressible way. When we obsess, we tend to see the direct or symbolic realization of desires.
Obsession is the newborn of the Schläppi family, rooted in a tradition of vibrant inspirations.
It may seem like an unusual way to begin with the story of a mannequin collection, but for those who have a fixed idea about the pursuit of beauty and who live every moment on a path of exploration, it is quite normal. The continued search for a profound harmony between shapes and colours in the creation of a new mannequin can be epitomized in one word: obsession.
By this we intend the positive tension towards measurement, proportions, aesthetic and vital significance that are capable of bringing to life the apparently inanimate body of a mannequin. Alive with the inspirations that generated it, pulsating with the energies that it is capable of unleashing through its enigmatic features. These are our obsessions, our desires to decline – once again – in apparent dynamism the motionless beauty.
Obsession is the newborn of the Schläppi family, rooted in a tradition of vibrant inspirations. A new collection that embodies a multitude of voices, sounds, attitudes, emotions and manners. It is our unique way of creating mannequins, and setting, once again, the boundary between what was and what will be.
Obsession recalls the vision and inspiration hidden within the original Schläppi collections modelled by sculptor, Lorenzo Piemonti alongside the sixties and seventies. It goes back to the ruts of the very first and most distinctive of all, Schläppi Loisir: one of the most indecipherable collections ever created.
While the rest of the world was concentrated on creating hyper realistic figures, Piemonti opened up the way for an alternative creative expression that featured far simpler forms. His reduction of the male and female figure to almost primal forms transformed their bodies with a fluidity of elongated limbs and fingers, exaggerated poses, basic facial expressions and markedly tilted necks. These proved to be mannequins ahead of their time in every sense.
To design the Obsession Collection Emma Davidge – Creative Director of Chameleon Visual, also designer of Bonaveri’s Aloof and Tribe Collections – has captured Schläppi Loisir DNA, enriching it with the magnetic force and cultural energy that found its centre in the Studio 54 in New York.
The seventies revealed themselves as a decade of freedom, contamination, decadence and glamourous allure. The peculiar aesthetics of that disco glamour environment was defining new codes and styles whose influence has gone far beyond the boundaries of the city of New York.
Among the many, there were four women who stood to impersonate and express with their personality the spirit of that era: Pat Cleveland, Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Diana Ross.
Icons of their time – at the edge of all the arts – we recall on those four figures a unique and distinctive taste for a new kind of beauty matched by energy, of grace merged with force, of talent and determination to self empowering.
We see through them a mélange of cultures coming together, different attitudes, skin tones and characteristics that led us to the specific theatrical drama that the Obsession collection expresses.
Studio 54 set the stage of a completely new atmosphere where those four icons found the landscape for their talented personality. It changed the face of fashion and influenced aesthetic codes deeply.
To understand the peculiar attitude of Obsession Collection we have to go back to the original Schläppi Loisir and forge it with the groundbreaking personality of those four extraordinary women.
Each of them helped to define new aesthetic standards in a rapidly changing era. Alongside the cultural revolution of 1970s New York clubs and art scenes, they offered unique expressive meaning to a mélange of transgression, pleasures and decadence. It was a time of gender revolution where women were able to freely express their personalities, affirming their right to self-determination, openly challenging the status quo.
Theatricality gave way to formality liberating a desire that could no longer be contained.
The spirit of the time flowed through the streets of New York. Even though it was a difficult and dangerous environment, it was ripe with artistic flair. This emerging community defined an era free from racial boundaries, gender and sexual preferences, giving way to a blend of no longer divergent worlds.
Cinema, photography, fashion, music and art existed in a collective habitat where protagonists could exchange roles and move fluidly from one context to another. It is this glamorous spirit, proud of its vanity and full of energy, that the Obsession collection is founded on.
Theatrical poses are its most evident characteristic: blatant in their gestures, articulated in space, sensual in a sense of unruly grace, provocative in the allusion to their own power. Obsession represents a mannequin capable of dominating the stage, of making the dress the focus of desires and attracting the gaze.
The vitality of the poses, the energy of the stances, the overflowing dynamism of the features are combined with a wealth of colours and tones that is a new beginning. The spirit of this time, it captures our feelings with a delicate and magnetic palette that is a declaration of vanity, grace and elegance: a new way of giving shape to a mannequin’s soul.
Obsession represents a mannequin capable of dominating the stage.
The personality of the collection radiates also through a glamorous and couture use of decorative elements. Instead of using traditional wigs, Emma Davidge has designed colorful and voluminous feathers for the mannequin’s dramatic headwear, returning the sense of magic that makes the collection timeless and present in our era at the same time.
For the first Obsession photo shooting, Jason Wu has generously allowed some magnificent Haute Couture clothes to be dressed by the collection: exclusive garments that in their volume, colours and silhouettes have contributed to give a touch of unparalleled beauty that perfectly matches the personality of the new collection.