LA HAUTE COUTURE Á L’HONNEUR

For your information, if you didn´t know! Right now, The City Hall of Paris is celebrating Haute Couture with this exhibition. It gives you a great opportunity to admire some exceptional examples of haute couture dresses and outfits, selected among the most beautiful pieces in the Galleria Museum collections. 

The exhibition tells the story of what we today call a luxury industry, characterised by creativity and high expertise, created by flamboyant designers and uniquely talented seamstresses.

A must see for everyone who loves and admires the history, design and craft of Haute Couture. Follow this link to all the practical information and see the teaser.

LONDON WEEKEND

This past weekend we spent in London. We managed to look at the Fashion exhibition above, just in time. It was the last day. 

In the afternoon we went to Somerset House to look at Valentino. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos. But I promise to write reviews and show you a few pictures from the first exhibition later on. 

Photos: Daniel Clément

Before that I have to finish a few commissions: A fitting for a lace dress is coming up, a few bags and some alterations. Not to mention our Project.

Update! -about my last post. We changed our minds and are not moving anywhere for now.

COUTURE BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT

Norman Hartnell 1953. My interpretation of the exhibition-poster, 

reworked in photoshop

-Couture by Royal Appointment, is a new Exhibition at The Fashion and Textile Museum in London, which was founded by British designer, Zandra Rhodes in 2003.
Today the Museum is redeveloped and operated by Newham College and is a hub of learning, ideas and networking for the fashion and jewellery industry.

"The exhibition by the designers to H.M. The Queen: Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies and milliner Frederick Fox, celebrates the timeless elegance of London couture and explores how the Queen’s patronage of groundbreaking British designers helped put London on the international fashion map after the Second World War".

Before Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell (1901 - 1979) opened his house in 1923, there was little typically British couture. His elegant gowns attracted royal and aristocratic customers.
Known for the design of the Queen's wedding dress in 1947 and Coronation Dress of 1953, the iconic dress of the mid twentieth century, Hartnell expressed the characteristics and the quality of British high fashion and set the standard for generations to come.

He even inspired Christian Dior and was also acknowledged by Coco Chanel.

Sir Hardy Amies’ career began as designer at Lachasse, noted for its tailored suits. He was in tune with Christian Dior’s New Look, by 1951 Princess Elizabeth ordered from him, and as Queen Elizabeth II did so for the next five decades.

Amies became a successful menswear designer in 1959 with the first recorded men’s catwalk show. The clothes were fashionable and affordable, and the bespoke tradition continues today.

The Exhibition also highlights the milliner’s role in London couture through the work of Australian-born designer Frederick Fox
His most famous designs are the hats he created for Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and many celebrities worldwide.

Original black and white photos reworked in Photoshop

Hartnell to Amies - Couture by Royal Appointment opened 16 of November and is running until 23 of February 2013. Another good reason to go to London.

ROYAL GALA - A REVIEW

Her Majesty The Queen of Denmark
by Andy Warhol

With much anticipation I finally had a chance to take a look at The Exhibition Royal Gala - Fairytale Haute Couture on the occasion of The Queens 40 years as Sovereign of Denmark .

The Exhibition, that I mentioned in this previous post, was on display at The Chronological Collection of the Danish Kings at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen.
A selection of dresses from 4 decades were on display. Most of the dresses were made by couturier Jørgen Bender (1938-1999) in cooperation with the Queen herself.
The Queen´s style is her very own, unconventional and bold. She is not afraid of colors and that is quite refreshing.

There was a few dresses from Erik Mortensen (1926-98) of Balmain. The Queen have through the years recieved several dresses as gifts from Jørgen Bender and Erik Mortensen at different occasions.

Verner Enquist, the compagnon of Bender, took over when he died and have made a few dresses too.

Their successor was taylor, Mogens Eriksen, who also did quite a few of her dresses.

Uffe Frank, a danish designer in Milan, Italy, designed the dress for the Queens 60th birthday and the Wedding-dress of Crown-princess Mary.

Recently tailor Birgitte Thaulow have been the one, who has executed the dresses of the Queen. This process was by the way shown with a small display within the exhibition.

As a professional I was excited to have a closer look at the designs and the execution of the dresses.
But, I must admit that I was slightly disappointed about the very traditional display.
Because most of the dresses was only shown from one side, since they were protected behind glass. Except 4 dresses in a montre that you could walk around. Five of the oldest dresses from the 60´es were even placed several meters away from the viewing point.

Some mirrors here and there would have been nice or some of the dresses slowly turning around, would have given the visitors a better experience.
Apart from that I was happy to see this exhibition, that is recommendable if you are into tailoring, fashion history and royalty.

But I will definitely look forward to the other exhibition.

Coralred silk taffeta gown by Jørgen Bender 1994

 Black, bold tulle Ballgown for her 60th birthday, by Uffe Frank

Changing midnight-blue silk taffeta gown for her 50th birthday,by Erik Mortensen/Balmain 1990, altered a few times with added black lace. Photos: Roberto Fortuna

CURATING ART & FASHION

Part of Haute Couture Exhibition by Erik Mortensen/The House of Balmain, 

1989 at The Museum of Modern Art, Kunsten i Ålborg, Denmark

Curating is often what makes something stand out.

A curator used to be someone who works in the art world, selecting art-works and arranging exhibitions.
Since then, fashion has become an extensive subject for exhibitions, fashion editors have made their entrance into that world.

But when you think about it, it is already part of stylists, fashion- and interior designers and editors work.
Because they are able to put cohesive collections together, make homes look stylish, make somebody look their best or put an inviting magazine together by selecting the right stuff, in a way that it gets noticed.

The curators choice is basically about personal taste.
When you work in a creative field you have to be very conscious about style and have the ability to select the right things, put them into a context and present it appealing.
Of course it takes experience and serious effort to do that. . . You have to be talented, conscious of style, to know about trends and what is going on, to present your work for the right people, to get noticed.

If you are conscious, you may have noticed the way I work for instance.
The lay-out, the subjects I choose to write about and the pictures I choose to display here on my blog, are picked carefully and tells you something about what I like and who I am.

But does it all matter? Are you conscious about style and do you care? How does it affect your life ? I would like to know. Feel free to leave a comment!

ROYAL EXHIBITIONS

This year we will be celebrating Queen Margrethe of Denmark, because of her 40th Jubilee as a Monarch, with two special exhibitions, that I personally look forward to.

The first one is a retrospective exhibition at The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, that tells the story of her role as a Monarch.

The other one "Kongelig Galla" - Eventyrlig Couture at "De Danske Kongers kronologiske Samling" at Amalienborg Castle, displays a selection of the Queen´s Gala-dresses since the 1960´es from Danish and international Couturiers as Pierre Balmain. Absolutely a must see if you like fashion-history and Haute Couture.

HISTORICAL CORSETS

My previous post reminded me of these historical corsets from the late nineteenth century. I took these pictures at The Danish Collection of Costume at The National Museum in Brede Værk, that I once visited.
I used to link back, but the collection does not seem to be available anymore.

The corsets were not used as outerwear back then, but for the women to show more delicate when they were taking off their clothes. 

Notice the meticulous details and just imagine how much work that went into these corsets.

Photos: John Frantsen

THE HOUSE OF WORTH

Was very influential in the last quarter of the 1900 century. The House was founded by the Englishman, Charles Frederick Worth, 1825-1895.

Worth started out working for Gagelin, a prominent Textile Company in Paris, where he founded a small dressmaking department.
Eventually when he wanted to open his own house, they found it to risky to support and he was backed by Otto Bobergh, an investor from Sweden instead.
In 1858 The house of Worth et Bobergh was a reality. Worth is considered to be the first real couturier, because of the way he was promoting the house.

He was the first to put labels in his clothes and to present his collections on real models and he set the standard by putting the business into a system.

Of course there were tailors before that. But people had to go around and buy the fabric and trimmings they needed and then explain to the dressmaker, what they wanted. Worth was bringing it all together and was offering it as a total concept.
Customers could choose from the designs of his collection and have the dresses made-by-measure afterwards. That is how Haute Couture still works today.

He was famous for his bold and opulent dresses in rich fabrics and delicate trimmings, as you can see here.

This particular dress by Worth from around 1890, was made for the late Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

Photos from The National Museum, Brede Værk

 

 

Photos from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

His sons Gaston-Lucien (-who by the way was the founder of Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne) and Jean-Philippe took over by his death and the house continued with his grandson, Jean-Charles until he retired in 1952 and The great fashion House closed.

Today the revival of the first Haute Couture house continues, with ready-to-wear, lingerie, accessories and perfume.
It was relaunced last year as the House of Worth Ldt., a company created by Indian fashion entrepre-neur Dilesh Mehta and Martin McCarthy with Italian Giovanni Bedin as designer. Read more here and take a look at his latest collection.

I have to say, the collection of corset/tutu dresses inspired by the past looks nice, but not very contemporary. My interpretation would have looked different. What are your opinion on this subject ?

AN ICONIC COLLECTOR

The eccentric heiress, celebrity and Fashion Icon, Daphne Guiness is another great collector of Haute Couture.

The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York has just opened an exhibition that features approxi-mately 100 garments and accessories from her personal
collection, including designs from the likes of Alexander McQueen, Azzedine Alaïa, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, and Valentino.
Daphne Guinness' own designs are also on display. The exhibition is co-curated by Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at FIT. Check her out in this interview, by Nick Knight.

As an heiress to the Guiness Brewery and a divorcee to the Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos, she has the money to buy whatever she likes.

She is fearless and an inspiration for many designers. She even upgraded her own collection by buying the collection of her friend and distant relative, the late Isabella Blow last year, to preserve and keep it together. That´s nice.

On her way to the funeral of Alexander McQueen last year.

Photo: Style.com

B FOR BLOM, HOLGER BLOM

The Golden Age of Haute Couture in Denmark, was from 1930 to the 1960´s, where the three Couturiers, Holger Blom, Preben Birch and Uffe Brydegaard, also known as the three B´s ruled.

With inspiration from Paris, they made dresses for High Society and costumes for film and theater.

Holger Blom and the actress Helle Virkner

Photo: Bent Mann/The Royal Librarys Collection.

            

Holger Blom (1906-65), was seen as the master of the three couturiers. He was selftaught and devoted to beauty, good quality and crafsmanship. 

He got his breakthrough when famous danish actresses like Bodil Kjer and Helle Virkner started wearing his gowns. 

He had his own fashion salon in Copenhagen from 1930-1965 where he dressed High society and Royals. The highlight of his career was probably the wedding-dress for Princess Anne Marie of Denmark in 1964.

Photo: Central Press, Getty Images

There is not a lot of images or documention about the three B´s on the internet.

I´m curious and would like to know if any of you readers out there knew them, own or know about any garments from these three couturiers.

To know more, take a look of my posts about the Danish movie Kispus and The exhibition: H for Haute Couture at The Collection of Time, that I wrote earlier on.

JEAN VOIGT EXHIBITION

Modebillede fra Jean Voigts Fantastic Look kollektion 1984.

Stor retrospektiv udstilling med Jean Voigts kostumer og kunst er åbnet 6. november på Textilforum  i Herning. Samtidig udgiver hans samlever og muse, Maria Sander en biografi om Jean Voigt.

Jean Voigt (1940-1996), levede et meget intenst liv. Han var uddannet skrædder i Magasin og arbejdede som ung for Balenciaga og Pierre Cardin i Paris.
Han havde egen salon i København fra 1962-67, men  arbejdede også som kostumier, modeskaber og kunstner. I 1980´erne havde han sit eget modehus en kort årrække .

De sidste år tilbragte han på Herregården Rosenlund på Lolland, hvor han havde sit atelier.
Jean Voigt døde af aids, 56 år gammel.

Udstillingen kan ses indtil den 20 marts 2011.

BALENCIAGA EXHIBITION

At The Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, Park Avenue in New York, Hamish Bowles, Editor in chief for Vogue Europa, has on the request of Oscar de la Renta, arranged an Exhibition about the Architect and Master of fashion  - One of my role models, Spanish Couturier Cristobal Balenciaga, who lived from 1895-1972.

Cristobal Balenciaga established himself around 1919 in his hometown, San Sebastian in Spanien. On request he later expanded to both Barcelona and Madrid, before he in 1937 took the plunge and opened his shop in Paris, when the Spanish Civil war broke out. The Fashion hous is still here today.

Balenciaga was a true champion in cutting, who never compromised. Therefore, he was also highly re-spected by his contemporaries, the likes of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior. After 30 år in Paris, he retired in 1968 as 74 years old and closed all his stores.

Several of the renowned designers of the past, as mentioned above, Oscar De La Renta as well as André Courreges, Emanuel Ungaro and Hubert de Givenchy have worked for Balenciaga.

The Fashionhouse of Balenciaga then lay to sleep until it was bought by Jacques Bogart S.A. in 1986.  It was relaunched with the first collection in October 1987, by designs of Michel Goma.
In 1992 the Dutch designer, Josephus Thimister took over, until 1997 where he was replaced by the suc-cessful designer, Nicolas Ghesquiére.
The exhibition opened on November 19th and can be seen until February 19th, 2011.

Update!
Today, Balenciaga is owned by Kering, previously known under the name Pinault-Printemps-Redoute or PPR, which also owns Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci among others and American Alexander Wang is since 2012 their new designer.

CHARLES JAMES

Charles James (1906-1978) was one of the pasts great Couturier, that I admire and that continues to inspire designers of today

He was born in England by Anglo-American parents, but moved to USA in 1924, where he started out as a milliner and tailor in Chicago and later in New York from 1928-29.

From 1929-39 he worked in London and Paris, but at the same time he sold ready-to-wear garments to New York, where he finally moved back to in 1939.
In New York, among other things he designed the Couture-collection for Elisabeth Arden from 1943-45.

After that he establish himself as independent couturier until 1958 and was very succeesful.

Charles James was known as the first independent Couturier in USA. He was designated as a champion in cutting and known for his great aesthetic sense. He is especially famous for his sculptural evening-dresses in lavish fabrics. Take a look and enjoy some of them here.

These exsamples are very graphic and sculptural in their expression and in turn, timeless in all their simplicity.

As you can see, the term Colorblocking (composition of color fields in the design ) as used often today, was also known at that time

FASHION CONSULTATIONS & CLASSES

Would you like to learn how to make your own dress or do you need assistance in some way ?
I can help you out in case you want to do it yourself, make your own personal pattern or need help with sewing techniques or fittings.

I offer individual sewing classes/consultations for 1-2 individuals in subjects as: Wedding dresses, Corsets, Cocktail-, Gala- and Evening gowns.
Price: 60 Cad per. hour for a personal consultation and 100 Cad per. hour by two persons or for two hours. Discounts by more consultations.

On top, I offer Design- or Evening Schools sewing-classes in subjects like: From Idea to product, Patternmaking, Sewing techniques, Dressmaking and Fittings. Other suggestions are welcome though!

Feel free to make an appointment via contact and find out what I can do for you.

Ballgown made of violet silk-taffeta, backed with silk organdy, supported by a built-in corset and a big seperate tulle-skirt. Photo: John Frantsen. Model: Ann-Charlott. 

LE GRAND BAL DIOR

While we were waiting at the Lounge in Montreal, I stumbled upon Les Beaux Arts Magazine. To my big surprise I found that Christian Dior (1905-57) apparently has his own museum, that I never heart of before now.

On top, it was his home when he grew up and it is situated in Granville in Normandy, France.
This year it displays a big exhibition with more than 50 ballgowns from the masters own hand, until the 26th of September.
I would really like to visit it once. You can take a look at the Museums official webpage here.

H FOR HAUTE COUTURE

In connection with my previous post, I suddenly remembered the special exhibition, H for Haute Couture, that The Collection of Time  were organizing from September 30. 2006 until April 15. 2007.
The exhibition showed examples of the 20. century greatest and most outstanding danish Createurs, which was the master, Holger Blom and his two apprentices, Erik Mortensen and Jørgen Bender.

Holger Blom (1906-1965) created a lot of elegant creations for the Divas of danish theatre, like Liva Weel, Bodil Kjer and Helle Virkner, as the Wedding-dress for Danish Princess Anne-Marie in 1964.

Erik Mortensen (1926-1998) went to Paris after his apprenticeship at Blom and made a career in the famous fashionhouse of Pierre Balmain.

Jørgen Bender (1938-1999) took over the Salon of Blom after his dead  and created among other things, the Royale wedding gowns for Queen Margrethe of Denmark, Princess Benedikte and former Princess Alexandre.

During this exhibition I was offered to do two weekend-workshops by the request of Cæcilie Ning Hage, the Head of The Collection of Time. Because she thought it would be a good idea for the visitors to see how dresses like that are created. It turned out to be a good idea and was a great attraction.

I was very honored to sit there among all the creations of my heros and work on my own stuff. Though it was limited what I was able to do, because people were so interested, talking and asking questions. I even spoke with somebody who had known Holger Blom.

Apart from that, Jørgen Bender was one of the judges at the 1998 DM ( The Danish Championship ) for students of tailoring and clothes-craft at Holmen, Copenhagen, where I was participating on the sug-gestion from one of my teachers.

In 1988, when I together with my friend Karen went to see the special exhibition "Stars in French Fashion" at  Designmuseum Denmark, and to hear Erik Mortensen´s  talk, we were so lucky to meet him and to have his biography "Ej blot til pynt" (Not only for decoration) signed.

 

 

A few years earlier I was also asked to participate in another Exhibition at Tidens Samling. Take a look here.

YSL - RETROSPECTIVE

Currently showing at Petit Palais in Paris, "Yves Saint Laurent - retrospective", that I really would like to see. The Exhibition contains of 300 Haute couture and "Ready-to-wear" models and shows the evolution of all his collections over the years.

Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008) was one of my great role models and inspiration, when my interest in fashion and design began around 1980.

A whole new world opened up to me. Partly because it was a male designer and because of his design and unexpected color combinations. But also because Didder Rønlund, who wrote for BT at the time, did it so well.

Yves Saint Laurent was admitted at the "Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture"- School in 1954.
The first time he was mentioned, he won the 1st prize in the International wool Secretariat's Design Competition in 1954 with a cocktail dress. Karl Lagerfeld became second with a coat. After that, he got employed by Dior, where he takes over when Christian dior dies in 1957.

He meets Pierre Bergé at Dior's funeral. But, in the meantime, he gets drafted for the military, where he has a nervous breakdown and is being hospitalized. The fashion house Dior instead employs Marc Bohan in 1960.

In 1961, with the help of his life-long partner Pierre Bergé, he founded his fashion house, which is getting a flying start when the first collection is launched January 1962.
He became especially known for the Smoking and Safari jacket for women and was very inspired by different artists. He was also the first designer to launch "Pret á porter" / Ready-to-wear collections.

Yves Saint Laurent decides to retire on January 7, 2002 after 40 years, because his health is declining after a constant abuse and the pressure to constantly perform and renew. He dies on June 1, 2008, 71 years old.

Yves Saint Laurent was in many ways innovative and made a lasting impact on the 19th century fashion world.

The exhibition will be on display until 29 august.

A ROYAL WEDDING DRESS

In 2004 I was approach by the founder of Tidens Samling, the late Annette Hage. She was planning a Special exhibition in connection with the Royal wedding between Crown-prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson later this year. 

 

She wanted me to create my bit on how a Royal wedding dress could look like. I came up with this classic design, but in a cognac-colored Dupion silk. 

The wedding dress has an empire-cut, long wide sleeves and a long square train with a big border and of course a matching lace veil.

It was mentioned in different papers and magazines.

 

 

 

MADELEINE VIONNET EXHIBITION

The museum, Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, is currently celebrating Madeleine Vionnet with a large exhibition. The fashion designer donated 200 dresses, 750 dress patterns and 75 photo albums to the museum in 1952. Selected Avantgarde models from the period 1912-1939 have been carefully restored and are now finally exhibited.

Madeleine Vionnet was the founder of the bias-cutting technique and her career was characterized by her quest for freeing the female body with her refined draped dresses inspired by form and function, anatomy, architecture, contemporary and classical art.

She was an innovative and progressive fashion designer who still inspires contemporary designers like Issey Miyake, Yamamoto, Alaia and John Galliano for Dior.
You can read the whole fascinated story in this new book by Pamela Golbin, which can be purchased at Amazon.

The exhibition lasts until 31 January 2010.