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 to write my reviews for Fashion Projects.

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.

My Fantasy Fashion Calendar for 2011

A new year always holds so much promise and potential. This is my fantasy calendar for the first half of 2011.

Fashioning Fashion 

I'd begin my tour in Los Angeles to attend  the fifth R. L. Shep Triennial Symposium on Textiles and Dress entitled On Fashioning a Collection: Vision and Viewpoints at LACMA. This event which will be held on Saturday, January 15 begins at 10:00 am and  will focus on the museum's recently acquired collection of European costumes and textiles. Held in conjunction with the exhibition, Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915, currently on view, this daylong program features international scholars Akiko Fukai (Director and Chief Curator, Kyoto Costume Institute) and Pamela Golbin (Chief Curator, Twentieth Century and Contemporary Collections, Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Les Arts Décoratifs, Musée du Louvre, Paris) as well as Fashioning Fashion co-curator Sharon Takeda and other experts in the field. Rounding out the program will be a conversation between curators and collectors as well as presentations by LACMA experts. The symposium is free but tickets are required. Please call 323 857-6010 to reserve a ticket.

My next stop would be at Loop Gallery in Toronto to see my series of limited edition black and white chromogenic photographs on display in a show I called Vanitus Vanitum: All is Vanity.  These photographs reference the transitory nature of beauty and life and seek to portray a journey of grief and acceptance. My opening reception is on Saturday, January 22 and the show runs until February 13.

Chanel 2010

On Sunday, January 23rd, I'd fly to Paris to attend the Spring Summer 2011 Haute Couture designer runway presentations which run from Monday, January 24th to January 27th. Of course, I'd have front row seats at the Dior show on January 24th at 2 pm and Chanel on January 25th at 11 am.

In March, I'd jet back to Paris for the Fall Winter 2011-2012 Ready to Wear runway presentations which run March 1-9th. Then it would be off to San Francisco to attend the opening on March 26th of the exhibition Balenciaga: Spanish Master at the de Young Museum. This exhibition which originally opened at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in New York will be expanded to include more garments from the Spanish couturier Cristobal Balenciaga. The show runs until July 11th.

In May, I'd attend the retrospective of Lee Alexander McQueen's work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This exhibition entitled Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opens May 4 and will run until  July 31, 2011 and features approximately 100 garments created during the designers 19 year career. Signature pieces such as the bumster trouser, the kimono jacket, and the origami frock coat will be on display along with a selection of garments from the Alexander McQueen archive, the Givenchy archive, and private collections.

This is my fantasy.... It's a full schedule, but I'd make it work if I had to ;)

If I were in New York over the Holidays.....

Sometimes I wish I was Eloise and lived in the Plaza Hotel with the magic of Manhattan at my doorstep. I'm not going to be in New York over the holidays but a friend is and she asked me what I'd recommend. Here is my list of top three shows in the Big Apple.

Overcoat 2004 by Charles LeDray
Photograph by Tom Powel

Charles LeDray WORKWORKWORKWORKWORK at the Whitney Museum
945 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021, United States
(212) 570-3600
Subway: 77th Street - Lexington

This retrospective of New York-based sculptor Charles LeDray's work celebrates his highly original and uncanny manipulation of scale to create objects such as tiny men's jackets out of cloth, teeny flip flops out of rubber and embroidery floss and little chairs carved out of bone. His meticulous technique and the small scale of his work, some of which is the size of a child's finger, evoke whimsy and wonder.

Balenciaga Infanta evening dress 1939 (left) and Evening dress and stole 1952 (right)

Balenciaga Exhibition at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute
684 Park Avenue, New York
(212) 628-0420

One of the great fashion couturiers was Balenciaga (1895-1972). His mastery of line, cut and tailoring created sculptural pieces that are unparalleled in their elegance and beauty. In the exhibition BALENCIAGA: Spanish Master,  curator Hamish Bowles presents important examples of the couturier’s designs borrowed from archives and private collectors, including the flamenco-style gowns, the fichu stoles and matador-inspired hats, the evening dresses that evoke the austere sweep of a nun’s wimple.

Men's 3 piece court suit, France c1785

His and Hers Exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
7th Ave W 27th St
New York, NY 10001
(212) 217-7676

His & Hers explores changing perceptions of "masculine" and "feminine" dress from the mid-18th century to the present and includes more than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles.