CHARLES RAY – EMPEROR NEW CLOTHES

For the fifth edition of the destefashioncollection, American artist Charles Ray assigned a group of actors/models to be photographed ‘in imperial nakedness’, convinced of the beauty of their imaginary apparel. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s short tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, the artist, borrowed elements from this cautionary tale in order to examine the power of fashion, branding and art and how it can occasionally mislead people. The crucial question that both writer and artist raise is how many of us dare to use the youthful clear sighted knowledge found in the 1837 story and admit that many of the things around us are without substance.

Charles Ray chose to keep invisible his selection for the 2011 destefashioncollection apart from one vintage André Courréges’ semi-transparent mini dress. According to the artist “this see-through dress is the only real fragment of the emperor’s new wardrobe”. Brief descriptions of the rest of the items are included in a caption found in the last page of the booklet The Emperor New Clothes.

Year of publication:

2011

English / Paperback / 25 x 30 cm / 10 pages / illustrated throughout