The prestigious Les Arts Decoratifs museum in the Louvre presents a new exhibition of fashion from the years 1990s & 2000s as a retrospective of this groundbreaking period of design – a time when the internet, economic conditions & world affairs began to radically influence the expression of fashion designers across the globe.

Beginning in the early 1990s, the exhibition trawls the archives of many of the ‘avant-garde’ pioneers whose houses still remain today – standing as bastions of their iconic, archetypal aesthetics. The wares of Azzedine Alaia, Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garcons & Jean Paul Gaultier are just some of the many names on show – each piece carefully chosen as a testament to the vision of these willingly provocative & surprising creators.

As the show moves through into the 2000s, it details a new restriction that emerged as designers became increasingly aware and effected by global issues such as financial crises, climate change & conflict. Newer names such as Nicholas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Martin Margiela revealed formidable talent, challenging the status quo with their precise visions that projected a less-than-utopian ideal upon the human body.

Following on from the museum’s previous show of 70s & 80s fashions, this progression is an exciting insight into the deconstruction of traditional fashion codes of the 20th century, and a broad perspective of the changes in fashion design due to technology & changing markets in the recent past.

From November 25th, 2010 until May 8th, 2011.

EXHIBITING DESIGNERS:

Adeline André, Azzedine Alaïa, Balenciaga par Nicolas Ghesquière, Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Hussein Chalayan, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior by John Galliano, John Galliano, Junya Watanabe, Lanvin by Claude Montana, Lanvin by Alber Elbaz, Maison Martin Margiela, Martine Sitbon, Comme des Garçons, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries Van Noten, E2, Gucci by Tom Ford, Véronique Branquinho, Véronique Leroy,Viktor & Rolf, Helmut Lang, Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Yohji Yamamoto, Ann Demeulemeester, Alexander McQueen, Issey Miyake, Sybilla.

Les Arts Décoratifs 107, rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris – tél. : 01 44 55 57 50

(Above: Azzedine Alaïa Spring Summer 2003.)

Above: Ann Demeulemeester 1993.

Above: Dries Van Noten Spring Summer 1997.

Above: Veronique Branquinho 1993-94.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 9th, 2010 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Alaïa, Balenciaga, Exhibitions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.