The link between fine art and Formula One has rarely been as clearcut as with this artwork by Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury. Currently on show at the Santa Giulia Museum in Brescia, it is an F1 motor-racing dress, based on the suits worn by Mika Hakkinen and produced in collaboration with Hugo Boss.
Sylvie Fleury, Formula 1 Dress, 1998
Motor-racing is a masculine environment and the creation of a feminine version of a racing suit could be read as a unrepentent feminist statement. However Fleury’s F1 dress deliberately undermines its own construction. It may be made of the same flame retardant material as a racing suit but it is utterly useless.
Fleury is a fan of F1, but here she is mocking the macho world of motor-racing as well as commenting on the vulnerability of women in society. The F1 dress also embodies an unpleasant reminder of the risks that the wearers of such suits are taking and a sense that the artist feels the pointlessness of their dangerous endeavours.
The design is completely absurd, even before examining the flame motif of the lining. The artist has gone to the trouble of making a very expensive, completely useless item. With the matching bag in similar material, this may be a wider comment on fashion and consumption in general, using the F1 motif as a convenient conduit for her thoughts.
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