Cristóbal Balenciaga and Comme des Garçons, Together At Last

Is it the venue Les Docks, the newly inaugurated fashion hub and UFO of a structure overlooking the Seine River? Is it the exhibition space itself, with its raw concrete walls and visible metallic piping? Do the surprisingly handsome security guards have anything to do with it?

Surely these factors contribute in giving curator Olivier Saillard's twin exhibitions a modernity that is unusual on the Paris museum scene. But then Saillard, who's run the Musée Galliera since last year, has long proved himself to be a progressive mind, confirmed by this new and original endeavor.

The first exhibition, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Collector of Fashion, unveils, for the first time, the personal archives of the great Spanish couturier, the 18th, 19th, and early 20th-century fabrics, costumes and memorabilia that shaped his fashion vision. The second, Comme des Garçons White Drama, displays the Japanese label's current spring 2012 collection, a critically acclaimed array of white dresses inspired by life events such as christenings and weddings. The pieces are grouped under plastic bubble-like covers, a Courrèges-worthy art installation staged by Rei Kawakubo herself.

That these bubbles could be likened to time capsules is a fitting metaphor for creations that transcend notions of trend and time. There is an eternal relevance and beauty to these outfits, deceptively pristine dresses whose asymmetries, embroideries, crinolines, odd panniers, and daring fabric mixes abstractly convey the darker realities of life. To have an entire current collection displayed in a museum is quite unusual, and this bold gesture is to be applauded.

The all-whiteness of this Comme des Garçons section is in stark contrast with the Balenciaga exhibit in the adjoining space, a darker room showing a significant number of black pieces. What binds the two displays is a common emphasis on pure yet complex architectural construction and a pervading sense of dignity.

By showing Balenciaga’s prized possessions, given to the Musée Galliera in 1979, Saillard sheds new light on the couturier's fertile fashion mind. He had a fascination with dramatic pieces like capes, stays, mantillas, casaquins, as well as beautiful, often embellished black fabrics. And Saillard clearly shows the viewer how those vintage finds influenced his work. For example, a vintage “bouillonné” cape is shown alongside an embroidered faille cape he designed in 1963. A wondrous cocktail outfit from 1965 appears next to a jet embroidered fabric from the late 19th century.

Even more intriguing was his love of popular and ceremonial Spanish costume (he only moved to Paris in the late thirties). Among the movable metallic shelves, one can see men’s jackets for Andalusian ballets, a piece of fabric used to adorn balconies during religious processions, a silk bow for a first communion, or Neapolitan crib figurines. A 1969 hat with a wide, plunging brim recalling this season’s creations by Nicolas Ghesquière, was obviously inspired by a folkloric hat from the early 20th century.

By the time you leave the exhibition, with its noble and beautiful fashion treasures, you clearly understand why Balenciaga, feeling estranged in a world dominated by ready-to-wear and pop culture, shuttered his house one day in 1968, never to look back.

• Posted Apr 21, 2012
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Just the Pics, Please: Kraftwerk

As if their few lyrics weren't already well-articulated through a vocoder, Kraftwerk put them up on a giant screen behind them as they played their sold-out retrospective show at MoMA. Also enlarged onscreen: pills, race bikes and effervescent tablets dissolving in water—because they're Kraftwerk and they can. Photos by Patrick McMullan...

• Posted Apr 19, 2012
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Leelee Sobieski Wore...

an all-white cotton Jil Sander gown (spring 2012) to the Vanity Fair party during the Tribeca Film Festival last night.

• Posted Apr 18, 2012
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Hint Tip: James Franco

James Franco has proven he can get around. And while his multi-faceted career may sometimes leave us with mixed feelings, after all the art-making, the butt-modeling, the soap-starring, and the idea-selling—oh yeah, and the acting—sometimes you just can’t help but feel jealous of the guy’s stamina.

Now, if only to make the rest of us feel that much more useless, he’s going on a two-day, bicoastal book tour to promote The Dangerous Book Four Boys. The new tome from Rizzoli documents Franco’s first art show, and includes texts from art heavyweights Alanna Heiss and Klaus Biesenbach, along with Franco himself.

The tour kicks off tonight at New York’s legendary Strand bookstore, where Franco will trade wits with Ice Storm author Rick Moody and video artist Laurel Nakadate (7-8:30 pm). Then he’ll jet off to L.A. for a Saturday afternoon chat at MoCA with RISD professor Francisco Ricardo (3-5 pm), the advisor for one of Franco’s too-many-to-count PhDs. We're exhausted already.

• Posted Apr 13, 2012
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Hint Tip: Kraftwerk Music Festival

If you're one of the lucky few with a super-fast Internet connection who nabbed a ticket to Kraftwerk's eight-night retrospective concert at MoMA, the least you can do is bring your unlucky friends to the accompanying Kraftwerk Music Festival this weekend at PS1. MoMA's satellite museum has invited electronic music pioneer Juan Atkins and Kraftwerk-collaborating DJ Francois K to create a soundscape installation in the Performance Dome of the courtyard. The enclosed, sound-enhancing space will offer Kraftwerk freaks a safe place to robo-dance to their hearts' content, taking the occasional break to peruse a selection of books and audio/visual memorabilia for purchase.

Kraftwerk Music Festival
April 14 & 15, 3–6:00 pm
MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY
$15 per day

• Posted Apr 09, 2012
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Just the Pics, Please

Like the personal appearances designers used to make to meet their adoring clientele, Alber Elbaz swooped into Barneys New York today in a flurry of ribbons and flowers for an intimate presentation of his fall 2012 Lanvin collection.

Hosted by a preggers Uma Thurman, the afternoon get-together was also a celebration of Alber Elbaz's first decade at the house. “It’s almost like California cuisine," he said in a pre-show speech. "We take the tradition, but we take off the butter and replace it with olive oil. The house of Lanvin is the oldest couture house in the world. And so I took some old pieces and remade them to be relevant, and that’s what it’s about...Because there’s nothing intellectual about a red dress, and there’s nothing intellectual about a roasted chicken. It’s just beautiful.”

Photos by Billy Farrell/BFA...

• Posted Apr 05, 2012
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Scottish for a Night

Last night I had the pleasure of judging From Scotland With Love (aka Dressed to Kilt), the Highlands-inspired fashion show and charity auction. Each year a bunch of celebs, from Hollywood actors to Scottish rugby players, throw back Chivas on the rocks and get tartaned up in kilts, trews and whatnot for a good cause (Wounded Warrior Project and Cash for Kids). Highlights from the evening...

- Borrowing a Vivienne Westwood statement suit, a three-piece tartan number fitted on top and drop-crotched on bottom.
- Having Fred Schneider fix my tie backstage to achieve a perfect tie dimple.
- Sitting within earshot of co-judge Wendy Williams ("Her slit is so high you can almost see her Highlands"), as if her stacked diamond rings weren't distraction enough.
- Being seated next to and under the platform runway. How else were we to know if the kilts were being worn properly?
- Exchanging winks with Glenn O'Brien, another co-judge, over what appeared to be a few girls gone commando. 
- Watching New York City ballet dancer Tom Gold twirl down the catwalk in his kilt.
- Joe Boxer's Nick Graham reaching the end of runway and flashing the audience with his...boxers.
- Remembering that Kiefer Sutherland and Chris Noth flashed last year's audience with their actual asses (and back of you know what—Google it), and hoping there'd be more of that. There wasn't.
- Learning later that a Holland & Sherry kilt donated by Sean Connery raised a nice chunk of money for the two charities.

• Posted Apr 04, 2012
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Hint Tip: Taylor Mead at Anthology Film Archives

If you're a denizen of the East Village and find yourself walking home late at night on occasion, chances are you've spotted a slow-moving apparition in the cemetery on Second Street, feeding stray cats and looking very ghostly. That apparition is, in fact, not a ghost, but Taylor Mead, the poet, actor, performance artist, and one of the last of Andy Warhol's great Superstars. He's quirky, friendly, funny, fey, lovable, and every bit an icon of underground cinema, appearing in no fewer than six Warhol films, including the irreverent Tarzan and Jane Regained...Sort Of and the downright cheeky Taylor Mead's Ass.

Nearly a nonagenarian, Mead doesn't get out as much as he used to, but you can catch him tomorrow night at Anthology Film Archives, where he'll introduce the New York premiere of a recent restoration of Passion in a Seaside Slum. Directed by Robert Wade Chatterton, the 1961 farce follows "the faggot," played by Mead, as he traipses after an overtly macho guy who just wants to go fishing in the canals of L.A. and laughs at the sexual advances. Those 32 minutes of buffoonery will be followed by two other low-budget shorts from the era, Lemon Hearts and To L.A.…With Lust, both directed by Vernon Zimmerman.

To watch these gems in their original form on the big screen is a rare treat. It's only a matter of time before James Franco reprises the inimitable Taylor Mead.

Taylor Mead: On Film, In Person
Thursday, April 5, 7:30 pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue @ Second Street

• Posted Apr 04, 2012
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Rihanna Wore...

an embellished top and leather gloves by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy and black knit trousers by Stella McCartney to a press conference for her new film, Battleship, on the USS George Washington in Yokosuka, Japan.

• Posted Apr 03, 2012
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Hint Tip: Sleepwalkers at MoMA PS1

In 2007, artist Doug Aitken presented his Sleepwalkers installation at MoMA. Eight videos—showcasing art-appreciating actors from Tilda Swinton to Donald Sutherland—were projected on the outside walls of the museum, while Cat Power rocked the inside.

Now comes the box set. The short films have been re-imagined as a multimedia publication from Princeton Architectural Press. In the spirit of multimedia editions of the past, most notably Andy Warhol's Index, The Sleepwalkers Box is a special volume designed to encourage audiences to create their own multi-sensory experiences as they explore a kaleidoscopic universe of printed images, motion pictures, and audio recordings.

For its launch, DFA Records' Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Jonathan Galkin will create an all-immersive live percussion and electronic score alongside projected installation visuals in the Performance Dome of MoMA PS1 from 5-7 pm, Sunday, April 1—no joke! 

• Posted Mar 29, 2012
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