What's on the Fashion Calendar for October 2011

Saena Afternoon Scent Collection

October is chock-a-block with fashion and arts related events:

October 1-2: This is the last weekend to see The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This exhibition is a celebration of the 30 years of visionary and groundbreaking fashion creations by Jean Paul Gaultier under the premise that there is no singular standard of beauty. The exhibition will move on to venues in Dallas (November 13 - February 12, 2011) and San Francisco (March 24 - August 19, 2012). My review of the show can be read on Fashion Projects here.

October 1 from dusk until dawn: Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is Toronto's all-night celebration of contemporary art. The menu of activities is too long to recount here, but one of the highlights will be a live performance called SLEEP as part of Gullivers' Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance at Loop Gallery.

until October 5: Paris Fashion Week.  I had two invitations to Paris Fashion Week this year neither of which I could accept.... Sigh! I am intrigued by the work of both of these talented young designers as they seem fresh and vibrant in their own way. I've mentioned Saena before as she appeals to my romantic side. Saena Chun is based in Berlin and creates modernist confections like the gorgeous dress shown above. The other designer who has caught my eye is Andrew Majtenyi who has created an edgy and fashion forward collection inspired by the Medieval trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer in 1477. I am especially sorry to miss this one since I am currently doing research into how fashion designers reference history.

October 14: I will be giving the keynote address at the Costume Society of America mid-west conference on the topic of When Does Fashion Become Art?

October 17-21: The Spring/Summer 2012 Collections of LG (Toronto) Fashion Week Beauty by L’Oréal Paris will take place in their new home at the David Pecaut / Metro Square.  The SS12 Collections will include more than 40 shows and presentations filled with local talent.

October 20: The launch of my project tentatively titled  The Swing on this blog. I chose to do a creative project for one of my grad courses called Design, Text and Ideas and will be posting regular updates here as part of my progress reports for that assignment. This work takes its inspiration from the 18th century painting by Fragonard which is in the Wallace Collection. I will create a dress sculpture in a post-modern mash up of fabrics and using embroidery or other means as interventions to make the work into a conceptual art piece.

October 29: Opera Atelier’s 2011-12 Season opens with a glittering new period production of Don Giovanni designed by Martha Mann and my friend Gerard Gauci. The new production will be presented October 29, 30, November 1, 2, 4, and 5, 2011, at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto and will also be performed in Columbus, Ohio on November 25 and 27, 2011.

Photo provided courtesy of Saena.

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

A Conversation with Matthew Teitelbaum of the Art Gallery of Ontario about Art and Fashion

Matthew Teitelbaum, Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario

Recently I sat down with Matthew Teitelbaum, the Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario,  to talk about his views on fashion and art. I was looking for a contrary viewpoint to that of Nathalie Bondil, the Director and Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, who during our interview at the Gaultier press preview clearly defined fashion as art. Whether fashion is or is not art is definitely a topic worthy of discussion....  An extract of my conversation with Matthew was published on Fashion Projects here.

Now if only I could get Harold Koda or Anna Wintour to have a chat with me....

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

The Art of the Interview

Nathalie Bondil, Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry-Maxime Loriot at the MMFA
Photo courtesy of the MMFA

Conducting an interview is like a dance. There is a back and forth between interviewer and interviewee that requires finesse and sensitivity. Your senses have to be on high alert, gauging their mood and reactions to your questions, listening to their responses, coming up with the next question..... Depending on their willingness to participate, it can be exhilarating or it can be like pulling teeth.

To my utter surprise and delight, my interviews with Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and exhibition curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot fell into the exhilarating category. Generous with their time, charming and articulate, they made my job in writing for Fashion Projects look easy. My interview with Nathalie Bondlin was published on Fashion Projects on Wednesday and can be read here.  And my interview with Thierry-Maxime Loriot was published today and can be read here.

And although I did not interview Jean Paul Gaultier directly, I was at the back of a group of about ten journalists and I can attest to his sweet, funny and humble nature. The one thing he said that has stuck with me was this:  "Be yourself. Have confidence in yourself. Live your dream." 

Jean Paul Gaultier's Teddy Bear with a Shell Bra
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

Dita von Teese for The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier
Photo courtesy of the MMFA

My review of the exhibition The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk has been published at Fashion Projects.  My interview with Director and Chief Curator Nathalie Bondlin will be published on Wednesday and my interview with Exhibition Curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot will be published on Friday of this week.

This exhibition continues at the MMFA in Montreal until October 2, 2011. Thereafter it will travel to the Dallas Museum of Art (November 13, 2011 – February 12, 2012), The  Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, de Young (March 24 – August 19, 2012), Fundacion Mapfre in Madrid (September 26 – November 18, 2012) and Kunsthal Rotterdam in the Netherlands (February 9 – May 12, 2013).

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

Scenes from the Preview of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier

MMFA, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier
Photo by Ingrid MIda 2011

JPG Smart Car
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Press waiting to preview the JPG exhibition
Photo by Ingrid Mida

As I waited outside yesterday at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to enter the press preview of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier, I was feeling a bit jaded. Although it has been said that "fashion is for everybody", sometimes that world can be a bit insular. And while my niche in writing about art and fashion is a unique one, it still requires me to have a thick skin.

Red carpet shoes
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Luckily it was not long before my spirits were lifted. At the press conference, Nathalie Bondil, director and chief curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts talked about her vision for the exhibition of Jean Paul Gaultier's work. She saw beyond the provocative and humourous aspects of his work, identifying him as a contemporary artist with an important but subtle message about the dictates of beauty, where "everyone can wear his fashions regardless of size, age, gender, or sexual identity". She thought that this was something society needed to hear and initiated the exhibition which was funded by the museum, (an important distinction in my mind compared to marketing oriented exhibitions funded by the fashion house). Although Ms. Bondil described herself as "not a fashion person", she is both beautiful in looks and spirit. When one well known fashion diva walked in twenty minutes late to the conference and started up the self-serve espresso machine, Ms. Bondil laughed and said "Je me recommence" (I start again). And at the end of the day, I had a one-on-one half hour interview for Fashion Projects with Ms. Bondil and she was as articulate, gracious and fresh as if it was her first interview.

Nathalie Bondil, JPG, and Thierry Maxime Loroit
Photo courtesy of the MMFA

Jean Paul Gaultier being interviewed for TV in the Skin Deep Gallery
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Jean Paul Gaultier laughed often and was both humble and sweet. He said "I am no longer l'enfant terrible. I am just the old terrible."  He worked hard to convey his message that "there is not only one type of beauty".   I'm not sure how many other journalists appreciated his humanist approach to fashion, but it was refreshing to hear it spoken.

On the steps of the MMFA
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

I have so much more to share about The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier and will follow up in upcoming posts with links to my review and interview for Fashion Projects as well as photos and video clips.

This exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts opens to the public on Friday, June 17, 2011 and runs until October 2, 2011. It will later travel to Dallas, San Francisco, Madrid and the Netherlands.

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier
Photo courtesy of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

I'm off to Montreal this morning to attend tomorrow's press preview of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk. And I'm going even though there is a looming strike at Air Canada and there are a myriad of important events on the schedule for this week.

From what I've read and seen in the advance press materials, the show is going to be spectacular. I was granted interviews with curators Nathalie Bondil and Thierry Maxime Loriot and will be writing an exhibition review for Fashion Projects.

In preparation for my trip, I looked back at posts I wrote about Gaultier in the past (of which there are nine!). I also reread my posts from June 2008 about the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective which also was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Back then, I wished that I'd been able to attend the opening for that exhibition and three years later I have just such an invitation in hand....

Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective Opens at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

The Yves Saint Laurent retrospective opened in at the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco on Saturday.

Having attended the retrospective during its Canadian stop at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum this past summer, I can attest to the magnificence of the show. His designs were not only timeless, elegant but works of art unto themselves. His admiration for artists was evident in a room devoted to dresses that used artwork as their inspiration. He "borrowed" inspiration from paintings by Mondrian, Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Van Gogh and other artists. He also took inspiration from other cultures (Russia, Spain, Japan, India, Africa), authors (Shakespeare, Apollinaire, Cocteau, Aragon, Wilde), nature, history, and design (redefining the silouette). His genius is apparent in the 130 works of wearable art on display.

And yet, Saint Laurent thought himself to be "a failed painter". ('Sayings of the Week', The Observer, 1 November 1992, p.22) How sad it is to think that this creative genius considered himself a failed artist!

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
November 1, 2008 - April 5, 2009
Golden Gate Park
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118
www.famsf.org 415-750-3600