Exhibition "The Magicians of Parisian Fashion. 1920–1999"
20 September 2018 – 8 September 2019
The exhibition The Magicians of Paris Fashion features nine prominent couturiers, who established their own fashion houses. Among them are some of still living stars of the past century fashion.
The exhibition begins with Jeanne Lanvin’s house established by the French designer in 1889. The signature feminine image created by Lanvin was recognizable through certain shades of blue highlighting the elegance of her designs. One such particular shade of blue decorated not only many of Lanvin’s fashion pieces, but also the interior of the founder’s apartment, still preserved at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
Gabrielle Chanel is the second fabulously famous heroine of our exhibition. A self-taught dressmaker from a peasant’s family made history by giving knits a revolutionary look and popularised the ‘little black dress’, remaining in vogue nowadays. Chanel actively collaborated with Russian aristocracy. Grand Duchess Maria Romanova led the embroidery department of the house of Chanel, while her brother Dimitri Romanov was Chanel’s friend. The celebrated perfume Chanel No5 was created, in 1921, by perfumer Ernest Beaux, of French father, born and based in Moscow.
The third personality of the show Maggy Rouff is also famous but, surely, cannot equal the eminence of the first two. Rouff emerged in the word of fashion during the 1929 crisis, and her name enjoyed success for longer than 40 years. She branded herself through a feminine silhouette created using fine fabrics printed in flower patterns.
Jacques Heim, from a Polish-Jewish family, rose to fame in 1925, when collaborating with Sonia Delaunay, one of the leading creators of art deco style fashion. Before war, he was mostly creating fur clothes, later he started producing ball and cocktail dress designs.
Christian Dior is another participant of the show whose name is known worldwide. The house of Dior endures the reputation of the major pillar of the refined French taste in the haute couture world. Founded in 1947, his couture house built its fame on the New Look of the feminine shape. These were dresses of huge skirts blossoming out from tiny waists. The post-war Europe embraced Dior’s innovation with enthusiasm. The models of the grand couturier came in pastel tones- black, brown, grey, dark blue. When Yves Saint Laurent at the age of 21 became artistic director of the house of Dior, the approach changed radically. With the slim silhouette and raised waistline introduced by Ives Saint Laurent, the house of Dior got a second breath, while Yves gained self-confidence to open his own house in 1962, in Paris.
Yves Saint Laurent was largely responsible for the dissemination of European fashion in the 1960s and 1970s. He created the iconic Mondriani dress inspired by the Dutch Piet Mondrian’s abstract paintings, and embraced by his designs Bohemian-chic, safari, Gypsy, Chinese, Japanese and Russian styles, part and parcel of today’s fashion. The prodigy fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent was born in the French ruled Algeria. During scorching seasons, he moved to Moroccan Marrakech, where at the Majorelle Garden he created his gorgeous collections, which were then realized at his Paris couture house.
The work by Hubert de Givenchy occupies an important part of the exhibition. In his youth, this great artist collaborated with Cristóbal Balenciaga and Elsa Schiaparelli, while his as individual designer’s ascent was connected with the divine Audrey Hepburn, who selected him as her personal designer. The unrivalled icon of style appears in most of her movies wearing dresses created by Hubert de Givenchy. These days, the owner of these designs and the pieces, too, have become classic. The style by Givenchy is more simple and elegant compared to the complex designs by Yves Saint Laurent.
It is impossible to leave out Pierre Cardin when discussing the magicians of Paris fashion. He came from Venice and started his career at Dior’s as a constructor. Cardin built his reputation in the era of space research, founding his couture house in 1950. He was the one to convert the new wave of futurism into reality. Most of his house models mirror the cosmic vision of man and woman. Among his merits is the invention of golf trousers, black tights, thigh high boots and dresses of dense wool. Maya Plisetskaya, who adored Lithuania and had a homestead near Trakai, was considered his muse. Pierre Cardin dressed the ballerina assoluta both for the stage and in life. Maya Plisetskaya’s rainbow chiton is a precious pearl of the exhibition.
Pierre Cardin shared his entitlement to the name of modernist and futurist with Andre Courreges. The latter was a construction engineer by training, and created ultra-modern clothing. He adored the colour white, and matched it with bright yellow, orange and brown. His youthful style is related primarily with the introduction of the mini dress. He shares the honour of inventing the mini dress with the British designer Mary Quant. His designs made him famous round the globe, especially in Japan, where the world of fashion still venerates his name.
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