fashionista-ta
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Just thought I'd mention that I went to this exhibit this past weekend ... http://www.meadowsmuseumdallas.org/exhibitions_current.htm
I had intended to go for my birthday last year, but it got rescheduled, so we went to the Tiffany exhibit instead (which was much better).
This is the first fashion exhibit I've been to, so I can only compare it to other museum exhibits. It appeared to have been done on a low budget (my friend commented that some of the shoes were currently available at Ross
)
I enjoyed it, but it could have been better.
As you can see from the title, the exhibit purports to be about Balenciaga, but it was really about the two women whose major collections/donations made up the bulk of the exhibit--Claudia Heard de Osborne, a socialite, and Bert de Winter, who worked for Neimans. Their personalities, especially Claudia's (who was a flamboyant dresser after my own heart), were so evident that the clothes seemed quite empty without them, and their absence from the exhibit was palpable.
It was quite interesting how you could tell for the most part whose clothes were whose ... even though both women were known for wearing Balenciaga during the same era. Some of the clothes I would feel very comfortable wearing today, and some were startlingly modern ... for example, a pink mink top (reminded me of Prada) worn over black silk 3/4 length pants that tied in bows at the calf.
There was a fabulous aqua silk gauze billowing bubble-type evening dress that was Bert de Winter's that was one of my favorites.
Some of the clothes were quite well-worn. The most touching dress in the exhibit I thought was a red velvet gown covered with faux pearls that Claudia had worn for Christmas every year. The pearls were hanging by threads and some were missing. It clearly had been very well loved.
Also in Claudia's case, you could see clearly how the clothes were made to flatter her particular body.
A quote from Cristobal was mentioned, about how a woman needs to be neither perfect nor beautiful to wear his clothes--the dress will do all that for her. Certainly a seductive notion, but one that was not born out by this exhibit. Claudia seemed to be both, and the clothes were palpably empty without her.
There were also clothes designed by Givenchy, Courreges (sp?), Oscar de la Renta, and others. In some cases the links between Balenciaga and these other designers were there, in other cases they were extraordinarily tenuous. There was an Oscar de la Renta number from 1989 that absolutely screamed 1980s, there apparently because it had been donated by Mercedes Bass. At the entrance to the (Balenciaga!) exhibit was that unattractive beaded Oscar that Laura Bush wore to an inauguration. So both placement and selection appeared to be significantly based on sucking up.
I noticed that the clothes looked much better in the catalog photos than they did in real life. The signs of age are definitely there. When you consider how new these clothes are compared to other things we see in museums all the time, it's clear how fragile textiles, especially those that are actually used, really are.
In some cases Claudia had Roger Vivier shoes made in the fabrics of her Givenchy dresses. I was disappointed that these were separated from the dresses and displayed separately, and inferior shoes displayed with the dresses.
I was surprised that I wasn't more impressed with the clothes themselves. They were certainly beautiful ... most weren't very embellished ... but we hear all the time about couture dying, and I guess I was expecting to see things that couldn't be obtained today. For the most part, that wasn't the case. There was a dress entirely of lace, and another dress lavishly trimmed in lace (I suppose perhaps it was an underskirt?), and the lace was impressive and perhaps could not be gotten today at any price. For the most part, though, that was not the case.
There were some photographs of the donors wearing the garments, and there were a number of archival Balenciaga photos of models wearing the original designs which in many cases were altered for the orderer.
I enjoyed the exhibit, but it had the air of most estate sales ... depressing due to the absence of the person who gave the clothes life.
I had intended to go for my birthday last year, but it got rescheduled, so we went to the Tiffany exhibit instead (which was much better).
This is the first fashion exhibit I've been to, so I can only compare it to other museum exhibits. It appeared to have been done on a low budget (my friend commented that some of the shoes were currently available at Ross
)I enjoyed it, but it could have been better.
As you can see from the title, the exhibit purports to be about Balenciaga, but it was really about the two women whose major collections/donations made up the bulk of the exhibit--Claudia Heard de Osborne, a socialite, and Bert de Winter, who worked for Neimans. Their personalities, especially Claudia's (who was a flamboyant dresser after my own heart), were so evident that the clothes seemed quite empty without them, and their absence from the exhibit was palpable.
It was quite interesting how you could tell for the most part whose clothes were whose ... even though both women were known for wearing Balenciaga during the same era. Some of the clothes I would feel very comfortable wearing today, and some were startlingly modern ... for example, a pink mink top (reminded me of Prada) worn over black silk 3/4 length pants that tied in bows at the calf.
There was a fabulous aqua silk gauze billowing bubble-type evening dress that was Bert de Winter's that was one of my favorites.
Some of the clothes were quite well-worn. The most touching dress in the exhibit I thought was a red velvet gown covered with faux pearls that Claudia had worn for Christmas every year. The pearls were hanging by threads and some were missing. It clearly had been very well loved.
Also in Claudia's case, you could see clearly how the clothes were made to flatter her particular body.
A quote from Cristobal was mentioned, about how a woman needs to be neither perfect nor beautiful to wear his clothes--the dress will do all that for her. Certainly a seductive notion, but one that was not born out by this exhibit. Claudia seemed to be both, and the clothes were palpably empty without her.
There were also clothes designed by Givenchy, Courreges (sp?), Oscar de la Renta, and others. In some cases the links between Balenciaga and these other designers were there, in other cases they were extraordinarily tenuous. There was an Oscar de la Renta number from 1989 that absolutely screamed 1980s, there apparently because it had been donated by Mercedes Bass. At the entrance to the (Balenciaga!) exhibit was that unattractive beaded Oscar that Laura Bush wore to an inauguration. So both placement and selection appeared to be significantly based on sucking up.
I noticed that the clothes looked much better in the catalog photos than they did in real life. The signs of age are definitely there. When you consider how new these clothes are compared to other things we see in museums all the time, it's clear how fragile textiles, especially those that are actually used, really are.
In some cases Claudia had Roger Vivier shoes made in the fabrics of her Givenchy dresses. I was disappointed that these were separated from the dresses and displayed separately, and inferior shoes displayed with the dresses.
I was surprised that I wasn't more impressed with the clothes themselves. They were certainly beautiful ... most weren't very embellished ... but we hear all the time about couture dying, and I guess I was expecting to see things that couldn't be obtained today. For the most part, that wasn't the case. There was a dress entirely of lace, and another dress lavishly trimmed in lace (I suppose perhaps it was an underskirt?), and the lace was impressive and perhaps could not be gotten today at any price. For the most part, though, that was not the case.
There were some photographs of the donors wearing the garments, and there were a number of archival Balenciaga photos of models wearing the original designs which in many cases were altered for the orderer.
I enjoyed the exhibit, but it had the air of most estate sales ... depressing due to the absence of the person who gave the clothes life.
