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.

Finding Balance

Do you ever wish there were more hours in the day? Lately I've been feeling that way as the hours and days fly by in a blur. Finding balance in my life when I'm juggling so many roles means I have to make choices. I find I am saying no much more often than I used to.

One lovely invite that I really wish I could accept is to see Saena's capsule collection in Paris. I discovered Saena - a sophisticated and romantic line of women's clothing and accessories - this summer when I was in Berlin. The designer, Saena Chun, completed an internship at Celine and then worked at Sonia Rykiel as well as Chloe before beginning her own label in Berlin. "Every woman has the desire to have something special in her wardrobe, something that only belongs to her and no one else - this one favourite garment, which gives her the confidence to get through the day." Between her major collections,  Saena works on various projects that reflect her creative spirit and artistic perspective in collaboration with other artists.

Instead of going to Paris, I'll be finalizing my keynote address for the Costume Society of America mid-west conference, doing research, trying to narrow down my thesis topic and hoping to find a new equilibrium in my life.

Thank you so much to all of you who sent me emails, Facebook messages and left comments on my last post. It means more to me than words can express to get so many kind and thoughtful words of support and encouragement. I know I can do it, but it is not going to be pretty and it is definitely not going to be easy!

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