The Marchesa Luisa
Casati (1881-1957) was Europe's most notorious celebrity. Her
extravagant lifestyle, eccentric personality, and scandalous escapades
captivated and inspired some of the most influential artists of her time. She was born into a life of luxury in 1881 and reportedly the richest and most eccentric Italian
heiress, muse and patroness of the arts in the early 20th century.
As a teenager, she inherited an immense fortune that she later used to
fund her transformation into a living work of art. In
her ruined Venetian palace (the same that houses the Peggy Guggenheim
Collection) she held legendary soirées, surrounding herself with artists
and intellectuals, dabbling in the occult, wearing live snakes as
jewellery and parading around the city with cheetahs on jewelled
leashes. Her signature look consisted of eyes blackened with kohl,
deathly pale face, and crimson-painted lips. * Apparently not only were 'her eyes heavily kohled but they were also sprinkled with deadly belladonna, which gave them quite an extraordinary sparkle'.
The Marchesa as Empress Elisabeth of Austria by Man Ray (1935)
Marchesa Casati in a fountain costume by Paul Poiret (1910s)
Marchesa Casati in Léon Bakst's Queen of the Night costume (1922)
Dior’s Spring/Summer 1998 haute couture show resembled
one of the Marchesa’s extravagant masquerade balls. Set in the Opéra
Garnier in Paris, where the Marchesa herself had attended many events,
it reportedly cost $2 million to stage. John Galliano
designed a romantic collection featuring fur-lined kimonos, veils, lace,
and sleek, floor-length gowns heavily embellished with beads and
fringe. One model wore a piece of armour covering the whole arm,
evoking the Marchesa’s 1925 Cesare Borgia costume. “Although no longer
with us, her life stays as a beacon and as a constant source of
inspiration,” said Galliano. A decade later, he launched an eponymous
perfume inspired by the Marchesa’s first Boldini portrait.
Inspired by her eccentric style and unusual beauty designers such asJohn Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld play tribute in their Haute Couture collections as as well as the Marchesa style being channeled in high fashion editorials.
Georgina Chapman for Harpers Bazaar
Marisa Berenson dressed as the Marchesa for the Rothschild Ball, 1972.
Tilda Swinton as the Marchesa
Dramatic Black Eyes on the Dries Van Noten Runway March 2016.
Formed on the outskirts of London in the early ’80s, 13th Chime—originally
named Antix—were always drawn to gloom and morbidity. The walls of
their apartment were painted black; there were Aleister Crowley
paperbacks strewn about. Vocalist Michael Hand even worked as a coffin
maker. “We did have a gothic feel even then, and on some of our early
pictures and flyers there are coffins and similar themes running through
the band,” says Hand. “Looking back, we must have been an early goth
band without realizing.”
But unlike many of their peers—say, Killing Joke, or Siouxsie and the
Banshees—the band remained mostly buried in the dusty mausoleum of
obscurity. Their big break came decades after they disbanded, when Sacred Bones released their hard-to-find early 1980s singles in 2009. A “lost album”
appeared on the group’s Bandcamp page shortly thereafter, and now, 35
years after they were born from the ashes of 1970s punk, 13th Chime has
resurrected their distinctive sound with Noir—a proper continuation of what they left behind so long ago.
The first single “Witchtree Lane” is a song that rightfully preserves
the recognizable 13th Chime sound of the early ’80s. Its corresponding music video,
with its grey, grainy film and harsh strobe lights, embrace old-school
goth aesthetics, with the band vanishing in and out of darkness. Full of
primitive, pounding drums, raw, punchy guitar and Hand intoning, “The
bats still fly down Witchtree Lane,” the song is ample evidence that the
band is still at home in the shadows.
But for however effortless it sounds, 13th Chime’s return, and the subsequent release of Noir,
was unexpected. “Reforming the band was a strange affair,” says Hand,
“For a long time, I had no intention of getting the band back together.
One day, the idea just came into my head, and all of a sudden we were
back. Nothing was planned. I organized a meeting to practice at a local
studio, and the date offered to us was Friday the 13th, so it just felt
right.”
By uncovering skeleton demos of early Antix tracks from 1979 and
1980, the band found song structures that were ripe for reimagining.
Many of those old demos found their way onto Noir, one of which
was “Memories”—one of 13th Chime’s very first tracks that still reminds
Hand of his youth. “‘Memories’ always reminds me of our first ever gig
in our hometown of Haverhill Suffolk. It was typical of punk gigs at the
time to include plenty of intoxication and violence. I remember bottles
being thrown, the promoter lying unconscious on stage during our
performance—thankfully, he survived. Our town had never seen anything
like it. You could safely say it was total anarchy that night.”
There is a certain sense of nostalgia for the 1980s on the Internet
evident on Tumblr pages, blogs and sites like Buzzfeed, and the fashion
world has followed suit with the romanticization of goth and post-punk
genre aesthetics turning up on runways and in big-glamour photo shoots.
That revival has, in turn, shed some welcome light onto bands like 13th
Chime. “Strangely enough, it has only been in the last year that we
have come to realize the extent to which we are known [outside of the
UK],” says Hand. “The growing interest in the band played a part in the
decision to release Noir.” Hand embraces the ease and ability to
share music—the band has released their entire discography on Bandcamp:
“The internet has been a fantastic tool in keeping the post-punk
movement going and reaching out to people all over the world. That has
to be a good thing.”
13th Chime, from the cover of “Lost Album”
With their back-combed hair, blacked-out eyes and pointy-toed shoes,
13th Chime’s army of young fans are diligent in their dedication. “I’ve
met many young people that have said to me they wish they were around in
the ‘80s, that they missed out on a wonderful era,” says Hand. “The
dark image and sounds of the original goth scene left a lasting
impression and has stood the test of time—I don’t think it could ever be
replicated again. What’s nice is to discover that the connection from
the past to present day is held with much love and affection. I would
like to think that today’s scene will be taken into the future and will
be ever-growing.”
Despite the dismal and morbid themes of goth, its original punk
spirit remains intact—and 13th Chime survived to prove it. Their
comeback with Noir is the connection between the past and
present, a promise of the enduring appeal of the dark tribe who feel
most at home in the cavernous recesses of the night. The bats still fly.
More great reading by Andi Harriman can be found in Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: The Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s [Andi Harriman, Marloes Bontje]. Available from Amazon.com.
Take a look at at the Fan page for nowthisisgothic.tumblr.com - A photoblog with a collection of 1980s goths, wavers and (post)punk.
OK
guys and ghouls, today we’re offering up COFFINMAKER VOL. II to the
deathrock gods! This haunting mix will make you want to shake your bones
in your favorite cemetery, and features old classics and new ones. If
you love original gothic then you’ll love this mix!
Back in the 80’s, before the the era of Hot Topic, or Cybergoth, The Batcave and Deathrock
look was new—and more commonplace in North American and Europe. This
was the era where hair was backcombed and sprayed with toxic amounts of Aquanet,
and the outfits were DIY with leather, lace, and fishnets. Your music
collection was a badge of honor within the liner notes of 12 inch LP’s
and 45 rpms. Concerts were communion in a New Church smelling of clove cigarettes permeating the air along with the incantations of Pagan Love Songs.
