Nov 12

Nov 12 Pandemic Dots

“Polka dots can't stay alone.”

Hailed as the Queen, Princess, and Alchemist of Polka Dots, Japanese artist, Kusama Yayoi, has brought a renewed popularity to one of world’s most humble and enduring patterns.

”With just one polka dot, nothing can be achieved. In the universe, there is the sun, the moon, the earth, and hundreds of millions of stars. All of us live in the unfathomable mystery and infinitude of the universe.”

When I had the idea for a Polka Dot themed collection, never did it occur to me that it would have a direct tie in to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Polka Dots have an unusual and surprising history that in parts is both grim and merry.

In Medieval Europe dotted fabric was not a uniform pattern like modern polka dots. It’s uneven spotted patterning was considered highly taboo. It reminded people of the skin sores and rashes that accompanied some of the most horrible diseases of the time and human history—Small Pox, Bubonic Plague, and Leprosy.

But then the Bohemian polka dance craze hit in the mid-nineteenth century. The word polka derives from the Czech word, půlka, meaning little half steps. Similar to the polka dance step, the alignment of the rows of dots also were offset in half steps, thus, this dot pattern was renamed polka dots and rose in popularity that it has continued to hold to this day.

Famous and classic examples of polka dots in popular culture and history include:

The dresses of Disney’s Minnie Mouse
The headscarf of illustrator J. Howard Miller’s We Can Do It! woman (often misnomered with the name of Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover, Rosie the Riveter)
The Polka-Dot Polka from the film, The Gang’s All Here
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini bubblegum pop song
DC Comics Polka-Dot Man character, recently repopularized in Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad
The King of the Mountains Tour de France award jersey
Ben-Day Dots, an inexpensive CMYK printing method often utilized in comics and newspaper images, and recently celebrated in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The work of Pointillists—George Seurat and Paul Signac, Pop artists—Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, Op artist—Bridget Riley