Fashion in the Museum: Dries van Noten Inspirations

 "I make clothes people can wear; I don't make art. There is no point to clothes that don't sell."
                          Dries Van Noten

Dries Van Noten Garden Inspirations

Where does the spark of inspiration come from? For Dries Van Noten, the sources of inspiration seem to be as varied as the multitudes of flowers that fill his garden (both real and imagined).

The exhibition Dries Van Noten: Inspirations at the Musée Les Art Decoratifs offers a sensory immersion into the designer's oeuvre by presenting his garments alongside a selection of objects that he has either used or linked to his work. Those objects are varied and include paintings, film, video, sculptures, as well as garments from the museum fashion archives including selections by Christian Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli, Thierry Mugler, Paul Poiret, Callot Soeurs, and Chanel.

Dries van Noten Inspirations, Gallery Shot 

The room is very dark and labelling is minimal, but is provided in both French and English.

Dries van Noten Inspirations, Gallery Shot

Some of the artworks presented in the exhibition included:

Gorden Anthony Portrait of Cecil Beaton in costume (1937)
Nick Cave  Bunny Boy video
Yves Klein Blue Venus (1966)
Elizabeth Peyton Silver Bosie (1998)
John Singer Sargent Portrait of Gabriel Faure (1889)
Kees van Dongen Portrait of Madame Jasmy Alvin (1925)
Anthony van Dyck Portrait of a Man (XVIII century)
Victor Vassely Opus III (1976)
Li Xiaofeng's Porcelain Lacoste Polo (2010)

John Singer Sargent Painting of Gabriel Faure from 1889 in "Foppish" Gallery

The exhibit is a joyful exploration of a living designer's work, offering visual links between inspiration and product.  It was evident to me that Dries van Noten's garments are unique garments that are reflective of a post-modern design sensibility that dips in and out of time, mashing up imagery, silhouettes, textures and styles into a unique pastiche for the modern man and woman. 

Dries Van Noten Inspirations, Garden Gallery

Exhibition Summary: 

What: 180 garments by designer Dries Van Noten + 100 other artifacts (paintings, sculptures, videos and other objects) juxtaposed to showcase the links between inspiration and garment.

Where: Musée des Arts Decoratifs; 107 rue de Rivoli, Paris.

Curated by: Pamela Gobelin in conjunction with Dries Van Noten

Premise: Seeking connections between the garments created by Dries Van Noten and the inspirational spark that fuelled his creative process, including paintings, film, video, and the work of other designers such as Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiaparelli, Charles Frederick Worth.

Organization: Thematic. Displays are grouped into galleries with titles like Gold, Graphic, Uniform, Foppish, Iconoclast, The Garden

Mannequins: Abstracted mannequin forms in black with no faces or hair. Many have articulated wooden arms with hands.

Displays: Behind glass cases with lighting emphasizing the forms.

When: March 1st to August 31st, 2014.

Price: 8 Euros (Advance tickets available online). 

What's on the December Fashion Exhibition Calendar

With the holiday season in full swing, stepping into a museum can bring a dose of beauty and grace into an otherwise busy schedule. Here are my top three picks of museum exhibitions for December 2013.

A Queer History of Fashion at FIT Museum in New York

A Queer History of Fashion, FIT Museum

This exhibition celebrates the influence of gay and lesbian designers on fashion and traces the origins of cross-dressing to its historical roots. This exhibit, co-curated by Valerie Steele and Fred Dennis, literally blew me away by its originality and the depth of research that underpinned its creation. Since I had expected a show that was contemporary in focus, I was surprised to learn that there is a 300 year history to consider, going back to the 18th century when cross-dressing “mollies,” foppish “macaronis,” and “men milliners” challenged gender roles. "This is about honoring the gay and lesbian designers of the past and present. By acknowledging their contributions to fashion, we want to encourage people to embrace diversity," said Dennis on the FIT Museum site. With an innovative presentation format that I had not seen in the FIT gallery before which moved the focus to the centre of the gallery away from the walls, the exhibit is also visually stunning. The show closes on January 4, 2013, but is also accessible through an exhibition website. 

What's on the Fashion Calendar for April

April looms large on the museum calendar with the opening of two concurrent shows in Paris at the Musee Galliera de la Mode  -- Comme des Carcons: White Drama and Cristobal Balenciaga, Collector of Fashions.

Comme des Garcons: White Drama
Photograph copyright of Paolo Roversi

In Comme des Garcons: White Drama, designer Rei Kwakubo has choreographed an installation in which the drama of fashioning life's events - birth, marriage, death, and transcendence - is celebrated through the use of pure, ceremonial white of every hue. The exhibition includes: budding flowers, layered handkerchiefs, overcoats, a wedding gown like the silky cocoon of an insect, and other "fashion architecture" created by Rei Kawakubo.

Cape du soir haute couture 1963, Archives Cristobal Balenciaga
Photograph copyright of Schelteris & Abbenes

In Christobal Balenciaga, Collector of Fashions, items from the private archives of Balenciaga, including stays, boleros, capes, bustles dresses, mantillas, embroidery samples and other items, are presented alongside forty haute couture coats and dresses designed by Balenciaga from 1937 to 1968. The exhibition also includes photographs and sketches as well as books on art and costume history as evidence of the designer's passion for history.

Curated by Olivier Saillard, these two exhibitions promise to be visually and intellectually enchanting, and will open to the public on April 13, 2012. I was invited to the opening party, but will not get there until later in the spring.

Both shows are at Les Docks - Cite de la Mode et du Design.
34 quai Austerlitz
75013 Paris
Tel: 01 76 77 25 30

April 13 - October 7, 2012
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, except public holidays.

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.

All Eyes on Kees van Dongen in Paris

The exhibition "Van Dongen: Fauve, anarchist, socialite" at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris presents the work of a painter who was once called "The Idol of Paris" at the height of his fame. Known for his portraits of Parisian socialites, this prolific painter was also the driving force behind Fauvism. Van Dongen was born in Rotterdam in 1877 and died in Monaco at the age of 91.

Kees van Dongen was only twenty years old when he moved to Paris. Anxious to conceal his beginnings as a draughtsman, he cultivated the myth of a meteoric rise to fame as an artist. In fact, he was quite calculated in his approach to his career by befriending art critics and society patrons with regular salon and studio parties. Included in his circle of influential friends was the couturier Paul Poiret and the eccentric Italian muse Marchesa Luisa Casati. Although van Dongen also painted Paris landscapes, interiors, circus performers and other works, I was most captivated by his society portraits.  Slightly abstracted and stylized, these portraits beautifully document the fashions of the 1920s and 1930s.

The exhibition includes approximately 90 paintings and drawings, as well as ceramics, dating from 1895 to the early 1930s. Designed in association with the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, this exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris runs until July 17, 2011. The exhibition catalogue called All Eyes on Kees van Dongen (available in both French and English) provides a comprehensive history of the artist's work and life.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
11 avenue du President Wilson
75116 Paris
www.mam.paris.fr

Book Review: Lunch in Paris

This is one of the books I packed on my recent trip to Paris. When I travel overseas, I seem to want to sleep when I should be awake and am awake when I should be sleeping, so packing a good book is a must. Lunch in Paris, A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard, captivated and entertained me during several nights of jet-lag induced insomnia.

Although the book is a memoir, it reads a little bit like romantic fiction. The story is about a girl that takes a break from her studies in London, goes to Paris for a weekend, meets a handsome Frenchman -- and marries him. Uprooting herself and her ambitions for the sake of love, she fills her days by visiting the markets and conjuring up dishes like Duck Breasts with Blackberries (page 101) on the hotplate in their tiny apartment. Her husband is blissfully happy while she struggles with her ambitions to be more than a wife. The tale is charming from beginning to end and the sixty recipes included in the book seem to be both mouth-watering and manageable.

This is the perfect book for either a lazy summer afternoon when you wish you were in Paris or a late night when you are in Paris and cannot sleep.  And when you are done, you can find out what happened after the book by visiting the author's blog at www.elizabethbard.com.

Title: Lunch in Paris, A Love Story with Recipes
Author: Elizabeth Bard
Publisher: Back Bay Books, Little Brown and Company, New York. 2010
Category: Memoir
Number of Pages: 326 plus reading group guide

Some of My Favourite Places in Paris

I could go on for days about all the things I love about Paris.  Besides being the capital of fashion, it is home to some of the world's greatest art. I think it would take the entire summer to get my fill of all the museums, but I only had four days. Here are some of the places I visited on my most recent trip to Paris.

Monumenta 2011 by Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais

To read more about the Monumenta exhibition at the Grand Palais, visit the loop gallery blog for my review here.

Musee Bourdelle

Musee Bourdelle was the home and studio of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929).  Towards the end of his life, Bourdelle initiated plans to turn his studio into a museum and today it houses more than 500 sculpture works including Delacroix, Ingres and Rodin among others. This summer, Musee Bourdelle is the host to the Madame Gres retrospective. Read my review of the Madame Gres exhibition for Fashion Projects here.

Musee de la Mode

Palais Garnier Interior 

The Palais Garnier is the thirteenth home of the Paris Opera since it was founded by Louis XIV in 1669. Designed by Charles Garnier on the orders of Napolean III during the Paris reconstruction project carried out by Baron Haussman, the interior is characteristic of Baroque sumptuousness. While in Paris, I visited Palais Garnier to see a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet.

Musee d'Orsay

Home to the masters of Impressionism, the Musee d'Orsay needs no introduction. In spite of long lineups and a bad case of jet lag, I could not miss visiting this museum.

To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, Canada is my country, but Paris is my hometown.

All photos by Ingrid Mida and are subject to copyright.

Madame Gres at the Musee Bourdelle

Madame Gres White Gowns,  Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Born Germaine Krebs, the girl who wanted to become a sculptor became the designer Madame Gres and later was nicknamed the "Sphinx of Fashion". Secretive about her private life, her work was her passion and her career spanned half a century from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. Known for her use of  innovative construction techniques, her classically inspired pleated gowns, usually of silk jersey, resemble sculptures from antiquity.

An exhibition of gowns, drawings and photographs of Madame Gres work is currently being shown at the Musee Bourdelle in Paris. I visited the exhibition last week (where I ran into Hamish Bowles again!). I wrote a review of the exhibition for Fashion Projects. Visit Fashion Projects or click here to read my review.

Madame Gres, Couture at Work
March 25 - July 24, 2011
Musee Bourdelle
16 rue Antoine Bourdelle
75015 Paris

Window Shopping in Paris

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.

Bo Derek

A lacy confection from Nina Ricci

Valentino Red 2011

A Madame Gres inspired dress at Chloe
  (Watch for my review of the Madame Gres exhibition on Fashion Projects)

A hot pink number at Nina Ricci!

The windows tell a story at Chanel!

One thing I love about window shopping in Paris is that the prices are posted somewhere within the window. One glance and you know immediately whether or not you can afford to venture inside. Sadly, I could not buy anything because the only time I had for shopping was on Sunday when the shops were closed!

Photos by Ingrid Mida 2011

Jean-Paul Gaultier

Photo by Francois Guillot

This image from the recent Paris couture collections haunts me. This spectacular garment by Jean Paul Gaultier seems to combine both the corset and the crinoline in a singular piece. Not that I'd ever wear such a thing, but I find the sculptural qualities of it mesmerizing! Apparently, Gaultier's 2010 Mexican themed collection was inspired by Mel Gibson's 2007 movie Apocalypto and featured a melange of vivid colours, fringe and basket-woven leather.You won't find this in Gaultier's upcoming collection for Target. Such an object is likely destined to a fashion museum....

  

Behind the Scenes at La Comedie Francaise

All this talk of Elizabethan ruffs,  it seemed like the right time to share some of my photos from a behind the scenes tour of the La Comedie Francaise in Paris. 

La Comedie Francaise is a state theatre that was founded when two Parisian acting troupes merged under the decree of by Louis XIV on August 24, 1680. At that time, the repertoire consisted of the plays of Moliere,  Racine and others.  During the French Revolution, La Comedie Francaise was shut down by order of public safety on September 3, 1783 and the actors were imprisoned. It reopened on May 31, 1799 and been in operation ever since.

When I toured the wardrobe department last spring, I marveled at the incredible knowledge and passion of the staff as well as the exquisite craftsmanship of the costumes and accessories created there.

  

Elizabethan Ruff in the Ironing Department of Le Comedie Francaise

copyright of Ingrid Mida 2009

 

The Hat Department of Le Comedie Francaise

Copyright of Ingrid Mida 2009

  

A Men's 18th Century Costume from Le Comedie Francaise

Copyright of Ingrid Mida 2009

 

The Wardrobe Inventory Book from Le Comedie Francaise

Copyright of Ingrid Mida 2009

To attend a performance of La Comedie Francaise, visit their website here.

The 2010 Spring-Summer Collection at Dior

Last spring, I had the glorious privilege of visiting the haute couture salon at Dior and this photo of me was taken in the alcove off the staircase. Sadly, I did not get to meet John Galliano and surprisingly, no one suggested that I try on any of the exquisite gowns (even though I am a sample size! LOL!).

Nevertheless, I did have the opportunity to examine several Dior haute couture gowns up close and the exquisite beauty and precise craftsmanship of the pieces I saw was simply beyond description. And while I was permitted to photograph the dresses, I also agreed not to publish them. You'll just have to take my word that the reason they cost as much as a car is obvious when you see one up close.

Keep this in mind when you read my guest post today on the blog Sanity Fair about Marie Antoinette and the Dior Spring 2010 Couture collection. Although it is my own interpretation that this collection may have been inspired by Marie Antoinette and the court of Versailles, have a look and decide for yourself.

I normally do not write about recent collections, but I made an exception because Skyla convinced me that I was the only person who could write this post. And after doing so, it struck me that I should sometimes break my own rules. Although there are lots of fashion bloggers out there, I present a unique perspective when a collection seems to reference history or art.

Chanel and Sailor Chic

Where does inspiration come from? That is a question that lingers in my mind, especially when I think I have come up with an original idea only to discover that someone else has beat me to it.

On January 7th, Christina Binkley wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal about the wave in sailor chic for spring fashions and linked the trend to the 2009 movie Coco before Chanel featuring Audrey Tautou. She wrote:

"A popular film and several recent books about Coco Chanel have everything to do with the mariniere revival. When the French-language film "Coco Before Chanel" debuted in April 2009, it helped ignite new interest in the designer's 60 year career and habit of adapting menswear to her own devices. The marieniere is so closely connected with Ms. Chanel that its use in fashion is often attributed to her. The actress Audrey Tautou wore a mariniere in her role as Ms. Chanel."

In art as in fashion, it is sometimes difficult to pin down the source of a movement or a trend. But I had to wonder whether it really was the movie that inspired Jean Paul Gaultier, Riccardo Tisci, Michael Bastien, Proenza Schouler to design marine-inspired looks for spring 2010. And the reason that I ask that question is because there was a show called Les Marins Font La Mode (Sailor Chic) at the Musee National de la Marine last spring in Paris. I had the good fortune to walk through with the commissaire Delphine Allannic-Costa and learned a great deal from her. 

The show began with a display of marine uniforms and ended with a spectacular display of contemporary haute couture fashions that incorporated the sailor theme(including Givenchy, Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Kenzo). In between, the exhibition traced the history of sailor chic in fashion back as far as the 19th Century, years before Chanel was even born. In Victorian times,  anchor embroidery, striped designs, navy-inspired hats, and Sunday sailor outfits for rowing on the Seine were popular. As well, Queen Victoria had navy outfits made for her children, a trend which was then adopted across Europe. And while Chanel may have drawn on the marine influence in her Deauville creations, it is a myth that she alone inspired sailor chic.

Having seen the exhibition Les Marins Font La Mode in Paris last spring, I would speculate that the sailor chic trend for spring is more likely to have come from this incredible show. After all, the exhibition was three years in the making and many of the designers who lent outfits to the show would have known about it and perhaps seen the show themselves. What do you think?

Flowers and Plumes at Atelier Bruno Legeron

Photo by Ingrid Mida, 2009

While some people might argue that haute couture is an unnecessary luxury in this tough economic climate, there are many artisans who make their living working behind the scenes to bring a couture collection to life. This includes ateliers like Bruno Legeron who make silk flowers and plumes for such couture houses as Dior, Givenchy, and Chanel.

While in Paris, I visited the atelier of Bruno Legeron, who is one of three flower and plume makers left in France. When his grandfather purchased the atelier many years ago, there were several hundred ateliers making flowers and plumes. Twenty years ago, there were about 30 ateliers.

The charming Monsieur Legeron walked through all the steps in crafting a silk flower by hand. Each petal and leaf is cut from silk, hand-dyed, and crafted into a flower. The number of petals and leaves depends on the type of flower. Monsieur Legeron spoke so lovingly and passionately about the process of creation, that it was an incredible gift to watch him bring a piece of fabric to life.

Photo by Ingrid Mida 2009

Monsieur Legeron said that he was too busy creating flowers and plumes to have married and has no heir to pass the business on to. One can only hope that he can endure the recession and that one of his talented workers will someday be able to take over the business of creating beauty!

Photo by Ingrid Mida 2009

Bruno Legeron
20 rue des Petits Champs
Paris 75002

P.S. Elena at the lovely blog Tea at Trianon has written about my fashion plates today. I created three new plates using 18th century hats for her post.

Christian Lacroix: On Fashion

Talent does not always equate to success in the worlds of art and fashion. And yesterday, one of the greatest fashion talents Christian Lacroix staged what is likely his last haute couture collection at the Musee des Art Decoratifs in Paris. Forced into receivership in May, Lacroix has been looking for a buyer to rescue the fashion house and unless he finds one, the beautiful clothing shown yesterday will likely never go into production.

That prompted me to pull out the book "Christian Lacroix: On Fashion" from my library of fashion and art books. This exquisite book is filled with pages and pages of gorgeous haute couture confections, some of which look as if they could have been worn in the 18th century. And perhaps in this world of casual dress where people wear jeans to the opera, Lacroix's talent was not sufficiently appreciated.

I was particularly taken with a chapter of the book called Cobwebs where Lacrois says "From sketch to dress, from fabric to lace, thread is another running theme. It is both a motif and a form of writing; the bare bones of fashion, a glittering spider's web that has no wrong side or right side when it becomes a transparent dress." (page 171).


I've been researching spider webs myself for my artwork (spider webs are nature's lace!) and I will be posting images of how I've integrated this into my fashion plates later this week. Needless to say, I found Lacroix's work breath-taking in conception and execution.

Title: Christian Lacroix, On Fashion
Text by: Christian Lacroix, Patrick Mauries and Olivier Saillard
Photographs by Gregoire Alexandre
Publisher: Thames and Hudson, 2007
Price: USA $65 Canada $71.50

I Love Paris!

How quickly the month of June has passed! I thought one month would give me enough time to post about my Paris adventures but surprisingly I'm not even close to being finished. And so, I'll continue to write about Paris but I will also get back to writing about the intersection of fashion, style, art, history and books.

Please watch for a special announcement tomorrow on Canada Day, July 1st.

La Petite Robe Noire

I have had a long fascination with la petite robe noire (the little black dress). In fact, my very first fashion illustration from age 12 was of a little black dress.


"You can wear black at any hour of day or night, at any age and for any occasion. A little black dress is the most essential thing in any woman's wardrobe. I could write a book about black."
Christian Dior

"Black is both material and colour, shadow and light. It is neither happy nor sad, but bearing and elegance. Perfect and inescapable, it is as irrestable as night."
Christian Lacroix

"You should wear a black dress at all ages. When the little black dress is right, there is nothing else."
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

I wrote down the above quotes on the exhibition pamphlet from a 2004 display of little black dresses in Toronto. La Petite Robe Noire presented 54 little black dresses from Didier Ludot's private collection of vintage couture and included labels such as Chanel, Lucien Lelong, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Azzadine Alaia, John Galliano and others.


Of course, when I was in Paris in May, I had to visit Didier Ludot's vintage shops at the Palais Royale. Didier Ludot has an extensive collection of vintage couture, not all of which is black!

Photo credit: Ingrid Mida, 2009

As well, he has a storage facility packed with the most beautiful gowns, some of which he has made available to museums for display. I was quite taken with this lovely pink gown by Dior.

Photo credit: Ingrid Mida, 2009

I have many little black dresses in my closet but one of my favourites is this one from Didier Ludot's private label. It was a prototype dress (made as a sample for production) and was a little too big when I wore it for a dinner in Paris. I basted the side seems on the top and used a ribbon from a Dior gift bag for my belt! (Notice my "purse" on the stool nearby which is actually my toiletry bag!)


If you cannot make it to Paris to visit Didier Ludot's shops at the Palais Royale, you might want to pick up a copy of his Assouline book "The Little Black Dress, Vintage Treasure" (New York, 2001).

The Chair Gallery at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs

Chairs can have incredible personality. Their lines and shapes can be as expressive as a haute couture dress. While visiting the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, I was enchanted by their extensive collection of chairs.

The chair, which can be either an instrument of comfort or torture, conveyed the status of the person who was invited to or allowed to sit in it. For example, in the 18th century, there was a rigid protocol in the French court for who was allowed to sit in the presence of royalty.

Over time, stylistic trends in chairs have evolved to reflect the societal, political and aesthetic morays of any given period. Those types of changes were beautifully displayed in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs chair gallery.


Throughout the museum, there were many interesting examples of unusual chairs including this terribly uncomfortable looking Medevial chair dated 1540-1560 from Florence.


This set of chairs were also dated to the 16th century and were chairs designed for Fountainbleu using Italian artisans brought to France by Francoise I.


Photo credits: Ingrid Mida, 2009

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs is filled with eclectic treasures including jewelery, glass, ceramics, furniture, and other ornamental and decorative objects. The Musee de la Mode et du Textile is housed in the same facility but was not open during my visit.

Musee des Arts Decoratifs
Palais du Louvre
107 Rue de Rivoli
75001