13 posts tagged "Andrew Bolton"
Prada and “Schiap”: The Conversations Begin
Today in Milan, the fashion set got a glimpse of some of the Schiaparelli and Prada pieces that will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations exhibition, opening May 10. How does one make an impossible conversation between two great designers from different eras possible? Curators Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton dug through Prada’s archive, as well as the Costume Institute’s collection and private collections, and culled 90 designs and 30 accessories by the two Italian female designers to demonstrate the arresting affinities between their work (Elsa Schiaparelli from the late twenties to early fifties, Miuccia Prada from the late eighties to the present). Take note, these are the first female designers to be the centerpiece of the annual exhibition since Coco Chanel in 2005.
The “conversation” plays out in seven themes, starting with “Waist/Waist Down” (which includes a 1937 black and white Schiaparelli number worn by Madonna’s latest film subject, Wallis Simpson, sitting next to a very similar recent look from Prada). It continues with “Ugly Chic,” “Naif Chic,” “The Classical Body,” “The Exotic Body,” and finally, “The Surreal Body.” The galleries featuring iconic ensembles by the designers are paired with videos, directed by Baz Luhrmann, with made-up conversations between the two women (the idea for these “impossible conversations” was inspired by a Vanity Fair series of unimaginable exchanges in the thirties). Here, a few images from the exhibition.
Savage Beauty Comes To Tinseltown
The Costume Institute’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty is currently drawing thronging crowds in New York (so much so that its run has already been extended), but its reach doesn’t stop there. Last night in Los Angeles, Friends of the Costume Institute Cameron Silver and Susan Casden hosted a dinner in honor of the exhibition and its curator, Andrew Bolton. Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, Peggy Moffitt, James Galanos, and Kimberly Brooks all came to raise a glass. So did actress Perrey Reeves, despite running on fumes after a day that began at 4 a.m. (She’s been filming the final season of Entourage.) “I can’t even begin to think about it,” she laughed. “But I adore Cameron.”
L.A. is known for its laid-back style, but the guests knew that where McQueen is concerned, casual wasn’t going to cut it. “Thank you all for dressing up for the chicest night in L.A.,” Silver said. (He, Casden, and several of their guests donned looks by the late designer.) “This is really becoming one of my favorite events of the year,” Bolton chimed in. “The exhibition has been such a heartwarming experience and I love seeing so many of the women tonight in his designs.” Those same women got their hands on a few more, thanks to the Savage Beauty exhibition catalog, and Bolton gamely signed them for any interested party.
Stella McCartney, Sarah Burton, SJP, And More Talk McQueen At The Met’s Savage Beauty Exhibition
Making his way through the Costume Institute’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty press preview this morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, milliner Philip Treacy, whose creations are prominently featured in the show, referred to the tears in his eyes and those of his friends, and asked, “Is it because we knew him, or because of the exhibit?”
No doubt it was a bit of both. Informed by the quote from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream tattooed on McQueen’s arm, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,” curator Andrew Bolton has organized the exhibition interpretatively, rather than chronologically, into six parts: The Romantic Mind (top), Romantic Gothic, Romantic Nationalism (below), Romantic Exoticism, Romantic Primitivism, and Romantic Naturalism. “It’s meant to evoke a gothic fairy tale,” he explained. If the masks that Guido Palau created for the show’s mannequins render the effect more gothic than fairy-tale at times, there are genuine moments of uplift, not least of which is the miniature version of the Kate Moss hologram from the finale of the designer’s Widows of Culloden show. That collection, from Fall 2006, is one of several that get the special treatment; among the others: McQueen’s 1995 Highland Rape show (above), Spring 2005‘s It’s Only a Game, and his penultimate Plato’s Atlantis.
Superlatives were the order of the day at the Met, not only in the show itself, but also during the brief remarks program. In an audio recording describing a dress of the designer’s she wore to the 2006 Met gala, Sarah Jessica Parker said being fitted by McQueen was “one of the great, memorable experiences of a lifetime.” And congratulating all involved in the show, the Met’s director, Thomas Campbell, called it “perhaps the most spectacular costume exhibition ever mounted anywhere.” Stella McCartney, a colleague of McQueen’s at PPR Luxury Group and one of the co-chairs of tonight’s Costume Institute Ball, was likewise full of praise, but preferred to discuss some of the private moments she shared with McQueen. “I remember the time at a party when he asked me to introduce him to Domenico De Sole, saying, ‘Come on, Stell, let’s start my empire,’ ” she recalled, describing him as “always cheeky, and filthy in the best sense of the word.” Sarah Burton, who has received plenty of attention of her own since Catherine Middleton walked down the aisle in a dress of her creation last Friday, kept her comments brief: “I’m very proud and honored to have worked for him. He truly was a genius.”
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opens to the public on Wednesday, May 4.
The Met Gala For 2011: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
Samantha Cameron, or “SamCam” as she is affectionately known in the U.K., is one busy lady. In addition to her duties as wife of the Prime Minister, and mom, she’s also taken on the role of ambassador to the British Fashion Council. It’s in this role that the former head of Smythson and recent appointee to Vanity Fair‘s Best-Dressed List arrived at the Ritz bright and early this morning (despite last night’s party at 10 Downing Street) to introduce the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s director, Thomas P. Campbell, and Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton. The Met brass were on hand to lay out further details of the Met 2011 spring gala: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, chaired by Mr. and Mrs. François-Henri Pinault. (That Mrs. is, of course, otherwise known as Salma Hayek-Pinault.) Also in attendance were two of the ball’s co-chairs, Anna Wintour and Stella McCartney; the third, Colin Firth, is attending to awards season duties this week.
Sarah Burton, McQueen’s creative director and his right-hand woman for 14 years, was clearly emotional at the event—and understandably so. Not only was the venue the site of McQueen’s first post-graduate show, but the handful of pieces on display, including his calf-hair horned jacket and a gilded feather jacket (left), reminded everyone why McQueen was such a national treasure. SamCam gave McQueen his due gravity introducing the event: “We are so happy that one of America’s great institutions is supporting one of the U.K.’s most deeply talented designers, Alexander McQueen,” she said from the podium. Bolton, for his part, agreed wholeheartedly; McQueen, he said, was an “easy sell” for the theme, especially given the late designer’s tremendous body of work. Click at left to see more pieces from the show’s catalogue, shot by Sølve Sundsbø. Continue Reading “The Met Gala For 2011: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” »
McQueen’s Moment, Cocktail Karl,
A Wu Wedding, And More…
The Met’s Costume Institute will stage a full-scale exhibition in tribute to Alexander McQueen next year. Curator Andrew Bolton prefers not to call it a “retrospective”: The show will look at the themes underlying the late designer’s work, from his earliest pieces, created at Central Saint Martins, through his tenure at Givenchy, to the heyday of his own house. (Pictured above: Alexander McQueen Fall ’06, Fall ’08, and Fall ’09.) It will open in May and be the focus of the annual Costume Institute Gala. [WWD]
At the IHT Luxury Conference in London, Suzy Menkes posed a searching question to Karl Lagerfeld: “Who is Karl Lagerfeld?” The answer: “I am a cocktail.” One that includes Diet Coke, presumably. [@TheMoment]
The bride wore Wu—or she will soon. The much-lauded designer is launching a capsule collection of bridal looks on Net-a-Porter in January, with prices starting at around $800. [WWD]
At Lanvin’s Spring ’11 show, the models wore flats, because, Alber Elbaz said, the heels were too torturous. If the catwalkers got let off the hook, the celebs haven’t been. Gwyneth Paltrow tried a pair of the spikes on the red carpet and confirmed: They’re like “a torture vice,” she said. It goes without saying, of course, that they’re gorgeous, painful or not. [People StyleWatch]