From Joan of Arc to Zendaya and Kim Kardashian West, this article provides a brief history of the evolution of high-end breastplate.
What has been the most impactful red carpet image of the year so far? Zendaya, the 23-year-old star of "High," made a splash at the 2020 Critics' Choice Movie Awards on Jan. 12 in a pink, metallic Tom Ford cutlery gown.
This outfit is unique in the designer's Spring/Summer 2020 collection. It's also not the first time the actress has chosen to wear armor on the red carpet.
At the 2018 Met Gala, she wore a dress inspired by Joan of Arc's armor.
There is a long history of fashion based on war robes. From camouflage prints to boots, raincoats and even cargo pants, the military repeatedly appeared on the runways.
The breastplate is a bronze plate placed on the front and back of the chest in the shape of an idealized godlike torso.
Breastplates were first used by the Greek army in the 5th century, but gradually fell out of favor in combat. But by the 19th century, fashion designers took an interest.
In 1875, a style of women's dress called "corset" began to appear in magazines and was popular throughout the 1880s. A corset is a top similar to a sheath, with the lower part extending to a point below the waist of the skirt and tightly attached to the hips.
With an increasing focus on structural tailoring, which called for shaping the body rather than simply embellishing it, designers continued to draw design inspiration from breastplates throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
Thierry Mugler's antique rigid corset is back in fashion thanks to Kim Kardashian West, Hussein Chalayan and Nicolas Ghesquiere's fashion for Louis Vuitton was inspired entirely by the history of armor in shaping women's bodies.
Tom Ford himself has mentioned that he was inspired by Yves Saint Laurent's Lalanne breastplate.
In 1969, Laurent asked the sculptor Claude Lalanne to make plaster casts of Veruschka von Lehndorff's chest and torso for his autumn/winter collection.
The copper galvanized artwork was later used in two women's dresses, one in blue and the other in black crepe.
Japanese designer Issey Miyake also experimented with body molding, and his autumn/Winter 1980 collection culminated in a plastic corset that revealed Miyake's interest in body and material exploration.
As the Metropolitan Museum of Art described it at the time: "The bodice is modeled after a woman's torso, subverting the notion that clothing is a cover-up independent of the body."
Alexander McQueen is also a designer who is keen on using materials to express alternative female image concepts, and has carried out similar body modeling experiments.
In his 1996 spring/summer collection called "Hunger," a model walked the stage wearing a transparent torso molded with live bugs crawling through it.
McQueen has always been interested in the delicate balance between female weakness and strength, which has led him to present sculpture and armor themes in several collections. Probably most famous for his Fall/winter 1998 collection, when he introduced Joan of Arc inspired breastplates and chain mail. The London-born designer didn't miss the chance for a grand finale.
To recreate Joan of Arc's death in 1431, McQueen had the model stand openly in the center of the catwalk with her arms stretched out as far as possible, as if surrounded by a ring of fire.
This symbolism is also powerful today. For Zendaya, who represents a new generation of aspiring Hollywood stars, choosing to wear a breastplate with feminine beauty is just the kind of opening red carpet moment we need.
