Tag: fashion

Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion

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Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion was a retrospective of the work of the pioneering couturier, known for his futuristic creations and extensive licensing, which ultimately had a negative impact on the brand’s image (I remember growing up, the Cardin signature was omnipresent, from exclusive, out of my reach fashions, to cheap lighters and pens sold at the corner newspaper shop). The exhibition presented over 170 objects drawn from Cardin’s atelier and archive, which may sound like a lot, but was a mere fraction of the designer’s work over the decades.

Brooklyn Museum

August 25th, 2019

Rainbows

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“Camp is ‘those men and women…leaking laughter and tears while reliving their favorite nuances from…Off-key strains of Somewhere over the Rainbow.'” —J. Bryan Lowder, 2013

Burberry, Christopher Bailey Cape, A/W 2018-19
Salvatore Ferragamo Sandal, 1938, designed for Judy Garland & Gucci, Alessandro Michele Shoe, resort 2017
Bridget Riley, Elysium, 1973/2003 – Acrylic on canvas

Camp: Notes on Fashion @The Metropolitan Museum of Art, paired with Bridget Riley’s painting from the Met collection.

June 1st, 2019

A Second Childhood

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“Since camp involves the refusal to grow up, it sees aging as a particularly unattractive process which it is important to carry out with good humor.” —Mark Booth, 1983

Walter Van Beirendonck ensemble A/W 2001-2 & Comme des Garçons coat, S/S 2018

Camp: Notes on Fashion @The Metropolitan Museum of Art

June 1st, 2019

The REDЯUM Dress

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“Camp is the psychopathology of affluence.”

“Camp is things-being-what-they-are-not.” —Susan Sontag 1964

Undercover “Ensembles,” S/S 2018

“The horror genre, in particular, is susceptible to a camp interpretation. Not all horror films are camp, of course; only those which make the most stylish conventions for expressing instant feeling, thrills, sharply defined personality, outrageous and ‘unacceptable’ sentiments, and so on.” —Jack Babuscio, 1977

Camp: Notes on Fashion @The Metropolitan Museum of Art

June 1st, 2019

Went Camping

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“Camp is a means by which cultivated taste is deliberately thrown into reverse so that aesthetic absurdities become desirable.” —Scott Byrd quoting John Canaday, 1968

Gucci || Accessory set, pre-fall 2019
House of Moschino || Jeremy Scott || Bag A/W 2017-18 (grey synthetic leather and silver metal)
Giles Deacon || Stephen Jones || Headpiece, S/S 2012 (white ostrich feathers, white coque feathers, and orange and black crystals)
Chloé || Karl Lagerfeld || Necklace A/W 1983-84
Marc Jacobs || Ensemble, S/S 2016
Wild and Lethal Trash || Walter Van Beirendonck || S/S 1996
Mary Katrantzou || Ensemble, S/S 2011
Jeremy Scott || S/S 2011 || A prosciutto inspired dress, perhaps after the controversial Meat Dress by Franc Fernandez, which Lady Gaga wore at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards; that dress was made from 40 pounds of flank steak, but Jeremy Scott’s one is an ‘elegant’ white and pink latex
Walter Van Beirendonck || Ensemble, S/S 2009 || Nude synthetic-spandex knit printed with a trompe l’oeil male body motif & Vivienne Westwood || Ensemble, A/W 1989-90 || Nude synthetic-spandex mesh, pink silk-synthetic satin, white synthetic lace, and red acrylic

“Camp transforms what was ugly yesterday into today’s object of aesthetic pleasure.” –Umberto Eco, 2007

From Camp: Notes on Fashion, The Costume Institute’s spring 2019 exhibition at The Met. Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay ”Notes on ‘Camp”’ provided the framework, and 250 objects dating from the seventeenth century to the present took care of the entertainment.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

June 1st, 2019

Wearable Art

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Taking its rightful place alongside more traditional forms of art.

Alessandro Michele (Italian, b. 1972) for Gucci
Ensemble F/W 2016

Stephen Jones (British, b. 1957)
”Show” Hat, F/W 2013 ”Art School”
Perspex Plexiglas

Deborah Williams Remington (American, 1930-2010)
Dover, 1975
Oil on canvas

Stephen Jones (British, b. 1957)
”Sewing” Hat, S/S 2018
Printed cotton with satin cord and metal bodkin

Rei  Kawakubo (Japanese, b. 1942)
Comme des Garçons, S/S 2018

Rei  Kawakubo (Japanese, b. 1942)
Comme des Garçons, S/S 2018

Rei  Kawakubo (Japanese, b. 1942)
Comme des Garçons, S/S 2018

Rei  Kawakubo (Japanese, b. 1942)
Comme des Garçons, S/S 2018

Viola Frey (American, 1933-2004)
Nude Man, 1989
Glazed ceramic

John Galliano (British, b. 1960) for Maison Margiela
Ensemble Fall 2018

Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977)
Marechal Floriano  Peixoto (from The World Stage: Brazil Series), 2009
Oil on canvas

Phoenix Art Museum

January 30th, 2019

A Heavenly Garden

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Of Earthly Delights

Dolce & Gabbana
”Penelope” wedding ensemble, S/S 2013

Valentino
Evening dress, S/S 2014

Undercover, Jun Takahashi
Ensembles, S/S 2015, printed with iconography from Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych ”The Garden of Earthly Delights”

House of Dior
Raf Simons, Evening dress, A/W 2015-16
A more abstracted interpretation of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting ”The Garden of Earthly Delights”

Valentino
Evening Dress, A/W 2015-16

Jean Paul Gaultier
‘Lumiere’, Evening ensemble, S/S 2007

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir
Armors, 2016-2018

Rick Owens
Ensemble, A/W 2015-16.
With a pee(p) hole at the crotch, Owens’ playful,  subversive ”habit” evokes the popular literary stereotype of the lecherous, debauched and scandalous medieval monk, satirized by Geoffrey Chaucer in ”The Canterbury Tales” (1387-1400).

The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park

July 14th, 2018