Art galleries and museums around the world are hosting fashion exhibitions at an increasing rate, but why the sudden interest in fashion, and how is it working? Síomha Connolly explores …
Fashion hasn’t always been considered an art form. Perhaps that’s because fashion has a practical purpose that art does not. It is utilitarian, intended to be worn and used by the owner, while a piece of art is symbolic, created to be admired but not used. Both, when collected carefully, are sources of joy and status symbols – one woman’s collection of contemporary art is another woman’s archive of couture Balenciaga. Who can forget Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali’s lobster-illustrated evening gown modelled by Wallis Simpson in Vogue in 1937? Or Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 six-piece collection of dresses using adaptations of Piet Mondrian’s paintings? Art and fashion have always collaborated, just never before in such a high-profile and democratic way. We should enjoy and be inspired by it. As Oscar Wilde said, “One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.”
And as the fashion industry becomes increasingly more significant (according to the British Fashion Council the fashion industry is worth £32billion stg in the UK) cultural institutions are taking note of both the power of fashion and most importantly the extended and engaged audience that it can help to attract.
The V&A’s 2019 exhibition “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams”, curated by Irishwoman Oriole Cullen, is the most visited exhibition in the history of the museum, attracting 600,000 visitors across a seven-month period. Visitor numbers surpassed those of “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” which had more than 490,000 visitors in 2015. “Heavenly Bodies”, the 2018 fashion exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York – exploring how Catholicism has influenced fashion – had over 1.6 million visitors. “An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik” at the Wallace Collection in London displayed the shoe designer’s archive pieces alongside world-renowned paintings, revealing the strong dialogue between art and craft. This year, the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris will host an exhibition of Christian Louboutin’s designs, where never-before-seen shoes will be on display alongside iconic designs from February-July 2020.
Hosting fashion exhibitions allows established museums and galleries to reach a much wider audience than their usual coterie of visitors. When luxury brands do the same, they gain cultural kudos and a way to connect with customers on a deeper level by explaining their brand philosophy and history. Visitors are given an opportunity to learn the history of the brand and enjoy a tangible experience – increasingly important for shoppers, in particular millennials, who desire meaning along with their purchases.
Luxury brands are also beginning to open their own museums of sorts. The Alexander McQueen store on Old Bond Street in London re-opened last year and houses an exhibition space on the second floor which contains archive pieces along with photography, artwork and sketches. Yves Saint Laurent has a museum with rotating exhibitions in the former couture house on avenue Marceau in Paris; and Gucci has a museum in Florence, just a stone’s throw from the Uffizi in the cultural heart of the historical Italian city. Such dedicated spaces allow brands showcase their archive collections. It is only in relatively recent years that brands began keeping their archive collections. Before the 1960s and 1970s, prototypes or pieces included in runway shows were often gifted to models or sold in-store, which is why curators of fashion exhibitions often put a call out to collectors to donate archive pieces they may have in their possession for the duration of the exhibition. One such collector is the subject of her own fashion exhibition: Sandy Schreier, who owns over 15,000 pieces of vintage fashion pieces, from Christian Dior to Jeanne Lanvin, has donated over 150 pieces to The Met which will be on display until May 17 2020.
It’s apparent that fashion has become a fascination for the many rather than the few, and the art world is taking notice, resulting in a delicately woven thread that ties the worlds of fashion, culture and art together for the better as we move forward through turbulent times.