Fashion as Art Attraction
Fashion and art collide this summer with blockbuster exhibits featuring a fashion icon, a little black dress, a toast to 80’s club culture and a bunch of punks.
Oscar de la Renta “American Icon” is being held at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock Arkansas.
The exhibit showcases the life, designs and clothes from the man who adorns aristocrats, movie stars like Michelle Williams and Cameron Diaz and first ladies such as Hillary Clinton whose ‘now famous’ Oscar de la Renta teal pantsuit is in the exhibit.
Oscar’s famous floral evening gowns are scattered beautifully throughout the exhibit, while Spanish inspired frocks are also strong in the collection reflecting the Dominican-born designer’s time in Spain.
This exhibit, which is free by the way, runs through December 1.
The Little Black Dress Exhibit at the Savannah College of Art and Design details the historic rise of one singular dress that is part icon and staple for all women around the world. Curated by André Leon Talley a contributing editor at Vogue, the show documents the evolution and staying power of the little black dress over shifting tastes and culture.
Top fashion houses such as Comme des Garçons, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent are presented, in addition to pieces from the private collections of those on the Internationally Best Dressed List such as Muccia Prada and Marc Jacobs. Over 80 unique dresses are on display and when the show debuted in Paris it was a huge hit so if you missed it this is your chance. The exhibit book is really quite a gem too and I have a coffee table that is looking forward to meeting it soon.
Club to Catwalk is all about 80’s fashion and club culture in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The show shines a bright techno spotlight on the creative relationship between the real world on the street and the conceptual world of design. Music of the decade plays an important part of the show, serving as inspiration for designers as Katharine Hamnett, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith and John Galliano during their formative years. The looks are intense and border on a mix of costume and fashion while documenting experimental unique looks for a group movement.
This spring the Metropolitan Museum’s spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition examines Punk: Chaos to Culture which runs until August 14 in New York City,
Dramatically highlighting over 100 “do it yourself” punk inspired designs, the show blasts the beats of Johnny Rotten beside wild colored hair and splattered ball gowns. Movements from New York City and London are shown with curated sections called Hardware, Bricolage, Graffiti, Agitprop, and Destroy that inspire movement down the seven galleries filled with sight, sound and mostly fashion.
