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| Tigers in Art |
The novelist G.K. Chesterton referred to a tiger as a symbol of "terrible elegance." However, it is not only the exquisite beauty of this animal; it is the way it moves; the way it watches the enemies and prey and the gracefulness and royalty of its nature. Last week I received some mail from the California-based art studio. The envelope was green and had a silhouette of a tiger with a colorful flower in its mouth. The image was so captivating that it started the whole brainstorming process for me and I wanted to figure out why tigers are such graceful subjects in modern pop culture.
Every fashion season, trend forecasters dig deep into social and cultural current events to discover something that will become a new "it" on the block. In the last few years, tigers have been present in fashion mostly in the form of patterns, animal prints imitating its fur. It's time to discover the real soul of the tiger to see how fashion can compliment its nature.
Tigers are prominent characters in the East Asian mythology. Tiger is a Chinese zodiac sing, representing yin energy. Tigers were associated with royalty and power probably that is why Tony Montana from Scarface gets a tiger pet for his luxury mansion. Tigers' moves influenced martial arts. Ancient beliefs claimed that tigers were guardians against evil spirits. They even were Korea's Olympic symbol in 1988.
In the Medieval times, they were to impose fear and be perceived as ultimate beasts. Popular culture changed their perception into friendly, joyful, spirit-free creatures (Tigger in Winnie the Pooh or Kellog's Tiger). In novels such as "Life of Pi" or "Into that Forest," the tiger is used as a metaphor to study human psychology, fear of the powerlessness when facing dangerous animals and our human limitations.
It is just so understandable that a tiger can be used as a powerful message in the medium of fashion. Let's see what kind of tiger's influences we can find in accessories and clothes of different designers.
This season Stella McCartney used the ancient oriental motive of a tiger, incorporating decorative embroidery not only into elegant dresses but also casual jeans.
Joanna Allsop, a British artist, uses watercolors to recreate a natural beauty on her silk scarves. Her tiger reminds us that is one of the nature's wildest and most fascinating animals.
Tiger inspired jewelry has an aura of jungle mystery. Halcyon Days' cuff displays prowling tigers which colors are reflected into a bangle with a black background and beautiful golden rim. Cavalli's long earrings infused tribal art into the modern design. Gucci's tiger ring with fairy-tale like blue eyes reminds us of elegant and lavish jewelry of such monarchs as Cleopatra. If you would like to bring a wild cat into your apartment, Aimee Wilder's tiger inspired wallpaper can add modern, street-art feel to your rooms.
We all love pop cultural references in our clothes and accessories. The sandals from Nicole Miller and instant hit, stickers from Anya Hindmarch will remind us of our childhood love for cartoons and not so healthy morning cereal and add a bit of spirit-free fun to our wardrobe.
When I found this beautiful hand-made clutch from Philippines by Aranaz, I fell in love with how subtly it incorporates tiger's tail camouflaged by the bed of leaves into such an elegant design. Natural materials, like raisin and mother of pearl, compliment the power of the tiger's symbolism.
Tiger has so many faces in modern culture and fashion, and all of them are as fascinating as the wild and mysterious nature of the animal itself. I hope I inspired you to find the way to sneak in some tiger-spirit into your fashion or interior design choices this fall.
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