Bowers to Show Work of ‘Breast Cancer Pin-Up Girl of 90’s’

The voice is calm, under control, but the words shock, just like her photographs.

“It’s easy to talk about it now,” begins Matuschka, the model-turned-photographer whose bare-chested images of herself have sent a shock wave through media circles.

Not bare-breasted, mind you. Bare -chested. One image shows Matuschka semi-nude in a ball gown with half the bodice missing--a horizontal scar where her right breast used to be.

She calls it “Beauty Out of Damage.”

“Everybody knows I had breast cancer. I am the breast cancer pin-up girl of the ‘90s,” Matuschka says during a telephone interview from New York.

“With one blunt image I have made an artistic and political statement about cancer and our culture’s narrow view of what female beauty is supposed to be.”

“Damage” and two other self-photographs by Matuschka will be on display Tuesday at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana when “Memories, Milestones & Miracles”--a multimedia exhibit by artists who are confronting the issues of breast cancer--is launched. Sponsored by the Orange County Chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the show will continue through Oct. 29.

Matuschka will attend a reception Saturday. What will she wear? There was talk that she would show up in the half-frock she designed for “Damage,” the photograph that was featured in August on the cover of New York Times magazine. (It created such a stir that Matuschka has been swamped for requests for radio and television interviews. A movie about her life is under consideration.)

But she doesn’t want to offend. So, for now, she’s thinking about wearing the plaster cast of her lopsided torso that is featured in “Vote For Yourself.” The photograph shows her standing before the American flag--”looking like a soldier,” she notes--the scarred side of her chest drawn with a slashed circle.

“If I can figure out how to transport the cast, I may wear it,” she says, frustration in her voice. “If not, I’ll probably wear a tuxedo with a see-through top.

“People won’t be able to see my scar, but the fact that I have a mastectomy will be very apparent.”

And that is the point. Matuschka, whose breast cancer was diagnosed in 1991, thinks women should wear their mastectomies with the same pride as soldiers wear their battle scars.

“When men come back from war, their scars are symbols of strength,” she says. “They are celebrated as heroes. Their imperfection is even sexy .

“I want to see that for women in my lifetime. Our scars and wounds are symbols of strength. And they can be sensual.”

People--doctors, specifically--have asked if she would consider having reconstruction of her breast.

“That would be a big drag,” she scoffs. “And phony. It would never look like my other breast. Why go to all of the trouble? For looks? This is my natural landscape now. Anything else would be for show.”

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Center of Fashion: Thousands of fashion lovers poured into Segerstrom Hall on Friday to watch the Guilds of the Orange County Performing Arts Center present its annual Center of Fashion extravaganza.

On stage at afternoon and evening performances: polished amateur models who make a donation to the center for the chance to strut under the spotlight and professional mannequins who donate their time.

The show, produced and directed by Carlton Burnett, featured fashions from event co-sponsors Fashion Island and South Coast Plaza as well as area boutiques.

Highlights included a “One Night in Bangkok” scene where neon lights and exotic dancers provided the backdrop for fashions by Max Studio. Models outfitted in cinnabar and tobacco-toned dresses floated on stage while pulsating signs such as “Massage Parlor” and “Hot, Hot, Hot!” shone in the background. (Burnett always has an element of sleaze in his shows. “It gives people something to talk about--keeps them on the edge of their seats,” he explains.)

An onion-domed silhouette provided the scenery in the Ralph Lauren segment, which showcased fashions with a Russian theme. Stunning coats trimmed with faux lamb and silk frog closures had members of the audience dreaming about sojourns to St. Petersburg.

Hand-painted silks from Shebue were featured in a shimmering gold and orange scene that saluted “The Rising Sun.”

Elegant fashions from I. Magnin--one, a floaty chocolate-lace ball gown--were paraded with a neon-lit chessboard as a backdrop.

Fashions from Peggy Jennings, the show’s featured designer, included drop-dead evening looks with a twist. Some were see-through. Some were opaque. Some had high necks. Some were cut-to-there. But all of them had an element of surprise. And that’s what the Center of Fashion is always about.

Other featured stores were Gucci, Bernini, Mi Place, Armoire, Anastasia and the Bride of Newport Beach. Also included were fashions from Mineral, Barneys New York, Linda Bentley, Garys & Co., Giorgio Beverly Hills, Calvin Klein, Nike Town, 341 Bayside and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Cindy Boragno and Susan Feldman were co-chairwomen. Marlene Short is chairwoman of the guilds.