spotting some modern art

A few days ago I visited Tilburg's De Pont museum of modern art. I think art is also an important influence for fashion and of course very interesting! The exhibition presented various artists with the main attention drawn to Robert Therrien, an American artist who has earned a reputation with his monumental sculptures and installations. In addition to enjoying the museum experience, I also thought the space was excellent in its industrial tone. 
Here are some images from various artists at De Pont. 
http://www.depont.nl/

Piers Atkinson is definitely the most visionary and avant-garde milliner of current fashion. I have always admired his bold work!
a/w 2011 teaser.

and visit his website to see more!

Fashion Ahoy!

Here are some pictures I took today from the Fashion Ahoy! exhibition at the Martiem Museum in Rotterdam. The fashion exhibition offers an overview of international haute couture and prêt-à-porter from Paris and London. Fashion houses including Dior, Gaultier, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Rykiel, Castelbajac, Westwood and home-grown Dutch designers such as Viktor & Rolf, Francisco van Bentum, Jeroen van Tuyl and Marlies Dekkers present their view on marine-influenced fashion.

The exhibition will be open to visitors from 25 September to 13 March 2011.

http://www.maritiemmuseum.nl/website/index.cfm?fuseaction=tentoon.digest&lang=engels

Diane Pernet interviews

I am a fan of Diane Pernet's husky voice and I think she has an interesting character. The past few days I have enjoyed watching her interviews with different designers, such as Dries van Noten, Castelbajac, Ann Demeulemeester among others. The atmosphere of these interviews is relaxed and upbeat. If you have a spare minute, watch them HERE !

The image: interviewing Dsquared 

More of Diane http://www.ashadedviewonfashion.com/

Stephen Jones at Momu

I had a fabulous day in Antwerpen and what made it even better, was that I got to see the Stephen Jones and the Accent of Fashion at MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp. I really enjoyed the exhibition and was very inspired by the amazingly crafted work. The exhibition brochure states:
"Millinery, Stephen Jones has worked with many of the greatest names in the international fashion scene for three decades: Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Comme des Garcons, Claude Montana, John Galliano, Christian Dior, Azzedine Alaïa, Walter Van Beirendonck, Marc Jacobs and many more. Stephen Jones plays a unique behind-the-scenes role in fashion because of the unparalleled freedom he is given by designers, allowing his work to influence the image of a collection. Just a accents in language lead to the correct reading and rhythm of a text, Jones's hats add the appropriate punctuation to a designer's fashion statement."
I recommend people who still want to see the exhibition to go very soon, since it is going to end on the 13th of February! http://www.momu.be/en/index_momu.jsp?layout=momu

A poster of Anna Piaggi and Stephen Jones

Walter Van Beirendonck and Stephen Jones

Walter Van Beirendonck and Stephen Jones

Walter Van Beirendonck and Stephen Jones

Walter Van Beirendonck and Stephen Jones

If you don't have time to see this exhibition, the next one at Momu will be 16.03-14.08.2011, Unravel, Knitwear in Fashion.

Fashion is change

I found something interesting to read again! The text below is a quote from an article on defining dress and fashion by Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins, Dress and Identity (1995)

"The term dress and fashion are not synonymous. Discard of a cultural form and its replacement by another is characteristic of fashion. Thus, fashion means more than dress; it also means change. In addition, it implies awareness of change by members of a collectivity. In a society where change in cultural forms; for members of the society, the collectivity, do not recognize and consciously share the experience of change, let alone promote it. One means for determining if fashion in dress exists as a concept among a group of people is to consider fashion in relation to the life span. If people in a society are generally not aware of change in form of dress during their lifetimes, fashion does not exist in society. Awareness of change is a necessary condition for fashion to exists; the retrospective view of historian does not produce fashion. It is the response of living human beings interacting within an environment in which they are able to observe changing forms of dress. Their collective recognition, acceptance, and use of particular form of dress, which they eventually replace with another form, makes it a fashion."

The images below present traditional dress and fashion.

Images: Daria Werbowy by Mario Testino Vogue UK (fashiongonerogue.com)