Recently in Fashion & Art Category

The annual Costume Institute Ball was last night, so there's a ton of coverage out today.  The ball feted the Wednesday (5/5) opening of the new Costume Institute exhibition: American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.  It runs through August 15th.

I thought Sienna Miller looked great in the dark blue Emilio Pucci dress.



As usual, there were a lot of missteps, perhaps one of the more egregious: Joy Bryant in a frou frou Marchesa gown. (yikes, this looks like an 80s flashback)



Here are some links:

New York Times article Elegance is the Norm at the Costume Institute Gala
Celebitchy's Trashy and Classy Fashion
PopSugar Pictures
Pop Sugar After Party Pictures

Starting next month, the French Institute is hosting a series of three fashion talks with Gilles Mendel, Tommy Hilfiger and Marc Jacobs. They will take place at Florence Gould Hall (59th between Madison and Park Aves) and each talk is $25 or $65 for the series (non-member prices).

You can buy tickets online, use the following links for: the series, Mendel, Hilfiger, Jacobs.

Florence Gould Hall is conveniently close to some great places to grab dinner afterwards: Le Bilboquet, La Houppa, Le Caprice, Nello... etc.

Vuitton has always been very collaborative with artists and designers from Sprouse to Murakami, to Peter Marino for the massive interiors of the New York 57th Street store...

Their new book, Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture, explores 80 of their collaborations in a beautiful edition designed by Murakami. It features a special cover, jacket and plexiglass slipcase silkscreened in the Damier pattern.  Published by Rizzoli.  $130.

The New York Times 'On The Runway' blog had an intersting tidbit today about Azzedine Alaia.

(photo credit: Jean-Luce Huré for The New York Times) Apparently seven models were going to be wearing Alaia tonight at the Gala, but at the last minute he asked them not to wear his dresses.  Naomi Campbell for one, decided not attend at all based on this.  Alaia apparently was miffed that his work wasn't really included in the "Model as Muse" exhibit, which it seemingly should have been since he had that sort of relationship with Campbell, Seymour and others... It's a good read, check it out.  And tomorrow, we'll get to see who WAS at the gala and what they were wearing.

The buzz has already started, anticipating this year's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala.  The gala is Monday May 4th.The honorary chair is Marc Jacobs and co-chairs are Kate Moss, Justin Timberlake and Ann Wintour. (sorry, but Justin Timberlake, huh? that's odd)

This Spring's big exhibit at the Costume Institute is "The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion".  It opens May 6th and runs through August 9th. The gala celebrates the opening of the exhibition and its main purpose is really fundraising for the Costume Institute.

The day after the Gala is always so much fun, to look through the pictures of what everyone wore. (here is my write-up from last year) I suppose some people must skulk around the Met to see everyone go in in person, but I am not THAT interested and certainly not star struck. 

Boo hoo, I guess as a rather plebian level member of the museum I didn't merit an invitation.

Here's some interesting news for Chanel lovers, the Paris Mint is releasing a series of coins to commemorate Coco Chanel's 125th birthday. They asked Karl Lagerfeld to design the coins.

 

It's sort of a similar idea to our beautiful state quarters coins, except these coins are not meant for circulation, they'll be cast in either gold or silver and will sell for far more than their face value of 5 euros.

 

They go on sale on Dec. 1st. The silver version for export (no VAT) will be 37.63€.

As mentioned in my last post, I finally went to the Mobile Art exhibit this past weekend. 

 

I had tickets for Saturday at 11:30 am.  They managed the whole thing beautifully, people with tickets just had to wait in a line for their time slot and were let in at the exact time, on the dot.  Since we arrived just a couple minutes before there was basically no wait at all.  (the unlucky people who didn't have tickets had to wait in a HUGE line) You are ushered into the container and they made you check everything: coats, cameras, handbags, everything!  And then you're given your headset for the audio tour.  The whole visit is paced with the narrator (at times, a bit too slow for my pace). I'm afraid to say that overall, I liked the architecture better than the art is housed.  The first room had a beautiful floral mosaic floor. One installation was a series of cardboard boxes with film projection of naked people running around inside them.  Another was a large shipping container (as in ocean freight container) with this poor giant black gummi bear like guy tied up inside with furniture, and then there is a screen where you see a film reel of a dominatrix woman beating on the bear.  At the end they had a big tree where you were instructed to write down a wish and tie it to a branch. There was also a giant black 2.55 bag laying on it's side with fur lining.  The experience was tranquil, I liked the narrator, I just thought she was a bit too slow at times. At the end when you get your coat and bags back they give you a photography magazine with some beautiful black and white shots done by Karl Lagerfeld and others. It also has a section about the exhibit and architect and the different places the container has been. You were not allowed to take any pictures inside so I only have pictures of the outside.  

As a follow-up to my posts from Sep. 23 and  Jul. 24 about the Chanel Mobile Art exhibit, here is a link to a review in today's New York Times, "Art and Commerce Canoodling in Central Park" by Nicolai Ouroussoff. The exhibit opened yesterday.

It's a quite critical review. He compares the unfortunate timing of this installation during an economic crisis to the similarly poor timing of the opening of the Rem Koolhaas designed Prada store in SoHo just 3 months after September 11th. Ouroussoff is mostly respectful of Zaha Hadid (the architect of the structure) but pretty much pans the artwork inside as "completely mundane: tame clichés laboring to be provocative" and the concept by Chanel as "a cynical marketing gimmick". He sums it up as a visit into "...a black hole of bad art and superficial temptations, straying farther and farther from the real world outside..."

It's an interesting perspective and I think the review deserves a read.  It makes some good points about our often pretentious and materialistic society.  But anyway, I'm still going! 

If you're interesting in fashion history, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum is a great place to explore. Many people go to the Met and never even make it to this wonderful section of the museum.  If you're not in New York or visiting soon, you can still enjoy it through their website. It features collection highlights and a searchable database.

Among the highlights are this Chanel Evening Ensemble (circa 1933-1935), silk and feathers.

Lanvin Evening Dress (circa 1939), silk.

Gilbert Adrian Evening Ensemble (circa 1945), silk.

Nettie Rosenstein Ensemble (circa 1945), silk.

It's pretty amazing that one could wear any of these today!

You can now book advance reservations to Chanel's Mobile Art Exhibit online. Several time slots are already sold out, so hurry!  They are complimentary too!

It's less than a month now until it opens!

I read about this in the New York Times this morning and it sounds fabulous, I can't wait... A "Mobile Art" exhibit sponsored by Chanel and housed in a really cool futuristic art pavilion is coming to Central Park this Fall, in October.

The structure that houses the exhibit was designed by a London architect, Zaha Hadid, and has already been to Hong Kong and Tokyo; and after New York it will be going to London, Moscow and Paris.

Inside this thing which is like art itself and a draw on its own... will be 15 works commissioned by Chanel by 15 contemporary artists that are inspired in some way by Chanel's classic quilted, chain handled handbag, "the 2.55" which was first released in February of 1955.   The works include sculpture, photograhy, videos and installation pieces. The project was inspired by the 50th anniversary of the handbag... but it has taken a few years to get it together!

The structure will be in the Rumsey Playfield area of Central Park from October 20th to November 9th.  Admission will be free.

New York in the Summer, you gotta love it... Philharmonic, Opera and picnics in the Central Park, movies in Bryant Park... this year it's even better!  "The New York City Waterfalls" just opened. It's free public art, like the Gates. The project was conceived by Olafur Eliasson, a Danish artist.

They are 4 waterfalls: 2 in Brooklyn (1 at the Brooklyn Bridge, 1 at the Brooklyn Piers), 1 in Manhattan (Pier 35) and 1 on Governors Island (north shore). They are between 90 to 120 feet tall. You can see them from land or take a special Circle Line boat tour for viewing.  They have 30 min and 1 hour versions for $10 and $25.  Or New York Water Taxi has 2 options both $25, with an evening "Sunset Waterfalls Cruise" with no kids allowed (thank you) and a cash bar. The waterfalls are lit after sunset until 10 pm and will operate through October 13th.

The Met's Costume Institute Gala was last night.  The Gala kicked off the new Costume Institute exhibition "Superheroes" Imagery in Fashion (May 7 - Sept. 1, 2008).  The gala's  Honorary Chair was Giorgio Armani and Co-Chairs George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Anna Wintour.  As usual everyone who is anyone was in attendance.
Here's Anna Wintour in an interesting silver Chanel Haute Couture dress.
   
You can see all the photos here.

Here are my votes for the best and worst dresses.
Worst: Christina Ricci in Givenchy Haute Couture

Best: I hate to say it, but Eva Longoria in Marchesa

I'm not a big fan of Eva, but this dress was a great choice. It stands out because of the color and detailing. I also liked Kelly Klein, in a green Calvin Klein Collection dress and Scarlett looked quite good in Dolce & Gabbana with a corset style top.