Blog 7
Sorry! I’ve been AWOL for months! But I’ve been super busy….
The Museum at FIT is now featuring two great exhibitions: 1) Eco-Fashion: Going Green (curated by Colleen Hill and Jennifer Farley) and 2) Japan Fashion Now, the exhibition that I’ve been working on for the past two years. Eco-Fashion closes in November, to be replaced by Colleen and Jennifer’s new show, His & Hers, but Japan Fashion Now is being extended through mid-April, 2011.
Long long ago (in July) I had two weeks vacation in France – the Loire Valley, northern Burgundy, and Normandy with a half a day in Paris to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition and the History of fashion show at the Musée de la Mode. After all the chateaux on the Loire, I saw a really cute little fashion museum in Avalon (Burgundy). At a friend’s Louis XIII chateau in Normandy, I met a really fascinating older man who had known Coco Chanel. He said that she talked a lot about the famous men she had known, but never mentioned another woman…
Later in the summer, I had the opportunity to attend Copenhagen Fashion Week. In addition to seeing the world’s longest runway, I also saw a lot of fashion shows – of which my favorite was by NOIR, a really cool (and ecological) line.
Back in New York City, we held the Couture Council summer party at the French Consulate, which was very chic, and attracted publicity for our (sold-out) Awards Luncheon, which took place at Lincoln Center on September 10. This year the Couture Council honored Karl Lagerfeld with a special Fashion Visionary Award. It was an amazing event with hundreds of ladies, almost all wearing Chanel.
At New York Fashion Week, my favorite shows were Rodarte and Altuzarra.
The opening reception for Japan Fashion Now (September 22) was a lot of fun. We’ve also been having a lot of great public programs about Japan, including a Lolita Tea Party, featuring Gashicon, creator of Hangry and Angry, and the owners of the store Tokyo Rebel. Now that Japan is up-and-running, we’re working on next September’s big show, Daphne Guinness.
In Blog October 18th, 2010
Dana Tyler covers Japan Fashion Now on the Sunday morning show with Valerie Steele.
WCBS coverage of Japan Fashion Now
In Blog Exhibitions Press October 18th, 2010
Blog 6
Almost as soon as I returned from Tokyo, I set off again for Moscow, where my book The Corset was just published in Russian. I arrived the day after the terrible bombing in the Moscow subway, so I anticipated lockdown conditions, but everyday life continued. My hosts were really terrific and I had a wonderful trip. Moscow is an amazing city. I am a huge fan of Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita so I went to see Patriarch’s Pond, where the novel opens. I also saw Bulgakov’s apartment with all the graffiti drawn on the stairwell by his fans.
In addition to giving several talks (including one at the new art center, The Garage), I was able to see an exhibition of couture dresses from the collection of Tatiana Sorokko (lots of beautiful Ralph Rucci, a lovely evening dress by Madame Grès, Westwood, Gaultier, etc.) at the decorative arts museum. I also saw an amazing private collection of shoes. It turns out that some of the most fabulous objects at the Shoe Museum in Romans (France) are single LEFT shoes – and the collector in Russia has the matching RIGHT shoes.
The Museum at FIT has had a really active series of public programs this spring. Caroline Weber spoke about her book Queen of Fashion (April 19), and as part of our fashion culture series, I was in conversation with Prabal Gurung (April 12), Kate and Laura Mullheavy of Rodarte (May 4) and André Leon Talley (May 6). Work on Japan Fashion Now continues full speed ahead, along with all our other exhibition and publication projects, not to mention next September’s Couture Council awards luncheon, our application for accreditation by the American Association of Museums, etc., etc.
I also zoomed over to Berlin for two days to give a lecture on “Museum Quality: The Rise of the Fashion Exhibition.” At the Kunstbibliothek, I saw Heidi Rasche’s latest exhibition on fashion photographs and illustrations from the 1960s. May Day was celebrated with demonstrations in Berlin and all the stores closed (rats!), but, to compensate, there were a lot of great art events. Back in New York, I went to the opening of the Brooklyn Museum’s costume exhibition – filled with masterpieces by Charles James, Worth, and Schiaparelli – and curated by Jan Reeder, who also wrote the catalogue.
PS. To the person who asked about my eyeglasses: They are hand-made in France for Selima Optique.
In Blog May 14th, 2010
