Modern Meninas

Eloise Corr Danch causes a stir with a unique Anthropologie garment

By Jessica Adams
Published: August 7th, 2008 | 2:55pm

The intricate hand-made Baroque-inspired dress hanging in the Anthropologie store in Rockefeller Center is artist Eloise Corr Danch’s newest creation. Unlike most of Anthropologie’s apparel, however, the dress is constructed entirely out of paper — a feat that immediately garnered attention and applaud in New York.

Danch, who works mostly with illustration, drew her inspiration specifically from Diego Velázquez’s painting Las Meninas, she wrote in an email. “I really responded to the exaggerated shapes of the girls’ panniers, the brocade fabrics, and the lavish trim details that you would only see on royalty,” she said. “The real challenge for me was taking the shapes I was responding to in my research and applying them to paper in a contemporary way.”

It is well suited that Danch has an extensive background in fashion and art. Most notably, she worked with Chanel illustrator David Rees during her time in Paris. Danch remembers the day Rees brought the Chanel books into class; filled with various detailed and beautiful drawings, the images exuded something uniquely Chanel.

“This book contained everything I love: drawing, construction, and ‘the Look’ of fashion,” she said. “My work became streamlined in one direction from there.”

Danch had made a paper dress for the New York designers RUFFIAN the previous year as a participant in a charity event. She enjoyed the project so much that she wanted to make another, and took the idea to Anthropologie, who loved the concept. They even provided a beautifully decorated gallery-like setting within the store.

“The gallery staff supported the dress with found objects in the room, like the chest of drawers and the mirrors,” she said. “One of my favorite details is the vintage shoes that are lazily tossed by the dresser, as if she had just come home from a fantastic soiree and kicked off her heels.”

The laid-back vibe and effortless look of the dress actually required a lot of effort on Danch’s part. After conducting her research on both Baroque and Rococo paintings and modern designers like Vivienne Westwood, Danch got her hands dirty.

The dress form began with hooping wire to make the silhouetting skeleton underneath the dress. She then built a pannier and filled it with newspaper and paper-mâché to give it strength before adding the real paper on top. Much like a real fashion designer, Danch cut a pattern out of muslin for the bodice, and then used the cloth pattern to cut the paper form. But that’s just the easy part.

The paper Danch used was actually 50 feet of custom-made watercolor paper. “The floral print was adapted from a Bavarian wallpaper from the 1750s that I found,” she said. She then edited and recolored the pattern with Photoshop and had the pattern printed in New York.

She used various grades of paper to give the dress texture and life — the pink flowers and bows were printed on Canson; the blue Swiss dot on specialty cotton. “I wanted these details to add whimsy to the piece because the wallpaper is fairly serious, so I wanted the materials to be accessible,” she said.

The look became complete, according to Danch, with embroidery floss for the apron, cotton twill tape for the corset and ruffles, “Exacto knives, Magna Tac, sweat, tears, etc.”

Although the dress required a lot of work, Danch is eagerly hacking away at her next slew of projects. “I’m one of those artists who likes to do lots of things,” she said. “And I have a bunch of projects in my head for things like children’s books, stationery, and more sculpture.” Danch is also working on a limited edition of hand-made dolls for Anthropologie that will be sold in New York for the holidays.

Perhaps Danch’s tireless work ethic can be attributed to her life-long desire to be an artist.

“That’s what I consider myself to be first,” she said. “But I think my work crosses a couple genres, and I am very inspired by fashion. The grandiosity of fashion really stimulates me, but so does the concept of dress as expression.”

—

Learn more about Eloise Corr Danch and her work at eloisecorrdanch.com.