Fashion killed off dandyism

"Fashion is a collective imitation of regular novelty, even when it uses the alibi of expressing individuality, or as we might now say, 'personality'. It is essentially a mass phenomenon that has attracted the interest of sociologists, who see it as a good example of pure dialectic between the individual and the community. Moreover, Fashion has entered the mainstream, as evidenced in the remarkable boom in specialized women's magazines. Fashion is an institution, and nobody today still believes that it distinguishes. Now only unfashionable is distinctive. In other words, from the mass point of view, Fashion is perceived only by its opposite: if Fashion is health and morality, unfashionable is merely sickness and perversion.
We have witnessed a paradox. Fashion killed off all conceived originality in clothing by tyrannically taking over its institutional originality."

- Roland Barthes, Dandyism and Fashion
(The New Man, ArtEZ Press, 2010)

A new exhibition curated by my lovely tutor José Teunissen. 
Art & Fashion. Between Skin and Clothing in the Kunstmuseum in Wolfburg (05.03.2011 - 07.08.2011)
The Fashion and objects by Walter Van Beirendonck, Louise Bourgeois, Hussein Chalayan, Christophe Coppens, Comme des Garçons, Salvador Dalí, Naomi Filmer, Robert Gober, Martin Margiela, Francesco Vezzoli, Viktor & Rolf, Anna-Nicole Zische and many others.
The exhibition explores the relation between art and fashion. Since the sixties art and fashion share the same avant garde feeling. From then on fashion no longer expresses power, money and social class. Instead it starts to express art and culture. Fashion and popular visual cultures – like pop art – became from the sixties on the new visual aesthetics of society. Fashion and Art became in the same way conceptual. During the eighties Japanese designers as Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons start to explore the boundaries of clothing and the meaning of fashion. Viktor & Rolf and Hussein Chalayan too started to present fashion shows in the new millenium that looked like art-installations.


The exhibition was presented before in the Museum Boijman Van Beuningen. Watch the introduction video for Art & Fashion!

http://www.kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de/

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.