Fashionable Lingerie and the Lingerie Française Exhibit at the Design Exchange

"Your frocks cannot hang perfectly unless your lingerie is cut to fit you perfectly underneath. Lovely lingerie is the basis for good dressing."

Christian Dior

Toronto's Design Exchange hosts Lingerie Française, a retrospective covering over 100 years of French lingerie  from eleven renowned French lingerie manufacturers — Aubade, Barbara, Chantelle, Empreinte, Implicite, Lise Charmel, Lou, Maison Lejaby, Passionata, Princesse tam.tam and Simone Pérèle. Presented chronologially, the exhibit includes 125 artifacts of luxurious lingerie from corsets to matched bras and pantysets.

This travelling exhibition, which has included stops in Paris, London, Shanghai, Dubai, Berlin and New York, is intended to convey  the influence lingerie products have been exerting on society from the late nineteenth century up to the present day. The exhibition is sponsored by French association PROMINCOR and Défi-La Mode de France.

 Catherine Orman examining the Balmain gown
(That's my hand and hair just visible on the left)
Photo by Robert Ott, 2013

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of having the curator of this exhibit Catherine Orman come to visit the Ryerson Fashion Research Collection. Although I was so tired (from several very late nights working on my book proposal) that I was barely coherent, we chatted about two recent corset acquisitions for the Collection, as well as some of my favourite gowns, including a Pierre Balmain couture gown called Marie Antoinette from 1955-1959 as well as a Lanvin wedding gown from c.1925-35.

The exhibit at the Design Exchange is on now until October 13, 2013. Admission is free. 

Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto. 

A Summary of Fashion Exhibitions

Oyster Dress
Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty
Photo by Solve Sunsbo Studio courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I recently wrote an essay on Fashion + Curatorial Practice for an upcoming book called Fashion + X - The Medial Interactions of Clothing edited by Dr. Rainer Wenrich. In attempting to figure out how to approach the topic of fashion in the museum, I looked back at the many fashion exhibitions that I've visited and written about since 2008. I thought it would be fun to revisit those here. The links are active and will take you back to my review and more pictures!

Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective, 1962-2002

Montreal Museum of Fine Art, May 28 - September 28, 2008. 

Flowerbomb Gallery, The House of Viktor&Rolf
Installation Shot by Ingrid Mida 2008

The House of Viktor & Rolf

Barbican Art Gallery, London. June 18 - September 21, 2008.

Costume of the Court and Royal Ceremonies in Europe 1650-1800

Palace of Versailles, March 31, 2009-June 28, 2009.

Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out.

FIT Museum, June 17 - September 26, 2009.

On a Pedestal

Bata Shoe Museum, April - September 20, 2010. 

The Concise Dictionary of Dress.

Blythe House, London. April 28 - June 27, 2010.