Voici Paris!!!....in The Hague

Today I went with 3 colleagues and about 50 students from Higher Textile Education by train to The Hague. The main reason was to visit the exhibition: Voici Paris! about the history of Haute Couture in the Gemeente museum. It is always a joy to go there. The museum is designed by Architect Berlage and is in my opinion a very good building for a museum.It doesn't have the darkness of other buildings from Berlage. It has a lightness and very open atmosphere and usually the exhibitions are very nice.

So today it was about Haute Couture... The exhibition is designed by a famous Dutch stylist: Maarten Spruyt and he did a marvellous job. I have always admired "Haute Couture" ever since I was young. It has this combination of the work of the fashion-designer combined with the craftsmanship of all workers who work in a fashion-house. No one can work without each-other and together they can make the most wonderful outfits..Hours of work in one dress.. millions of paillettes stitched on a dress one by one..beautiful embroideries.. stunning handwoven fabrics...embellishments from silk..and much much more.. On the other hand it is very silly to buy a dress for over 100.000 Euro's and this always gives me a kind of confusion. It is only for the very , very rich and that really is not my thing...But I have this "double feeling" on more topics of life...Why are there people so rich that they can afford dresses like this and why is the other part of humans starving from hunger? But today I watched in amazing all the beautiful dresses from the famous Fashion houses from Paris together with the students. I did a kind of guided tour with a big group even tough I hadn't seen the exhibition. I always love to lecture during a visit in a museum...so I had great fun telling them all the ins and outs of the Haute Couture World. I have read a lot of it and my favourite 2 books about the background of fashion is "The Fashion Conspiracy" from Nicholas Coleridge and "TheLuxe" from Dana Thomas. Both books give a real insight in the "strange world called fashion". The exhibition did start with a collection from Chanel for Spring/Summer 2009 in white and black with paper head pieces which came back at panels in the back also made from paper.The craftsmanship could be seen in the embroidery and the luxury fabrics. Couture is about luxury and a perfect fit. and so are the famous Chanel jackets also designed with a silk lining and a tiny chain to keep the jacket in shape. But is not only about embroidery as can be seen in this dress from Madeleine Vionnet with it's spectacular shape by using the fabric on the bias, and on the right a dress from Maggy Rouff with a beautiful pattern and a very elegant dress. Not everybody could afford a dress from a fashion-house but you could buy patterns and have it made by a tailor. Examples were a dress after a pattern from Christobal Balenciaga the famous Spanish fashion designer who worked with architectual shapes and a jacket from Jack Desses made by C.H.Kühne & Zn in Holland were you can see the perfection of the sewing. In another room pieces from Christian Lacroix could be seen. Unfortunately the house went bankrupt last year but I have always loved his collections because he has the guts to put really pieces of bright colours into his designs as can be seen in this polka-dot dress with the flaming red part. I can imagine that the model could have worn apple green gloves wit it. Of-course pieces from the "rebel of fashion" were there: Jean Paul Gaultier who's couture collections are always beautiful and special. I remember when I went to Art school he just came up and we all loved his designs. His pin- stripe suits, his Junior collection (I had 2 pieces of it), his skirts for men, his sailor stripes and many , many more... The biggest room was a homage to Christian Dior and all the famous shapes he showed in the beginning of his fashion-house and these dresses are now designed by John Galliano. It was a very strange romantic atmosphere with snails walking everywhere...and you could see all details...AMAZING!!! But the biggest surprise to me was the collection from a Chinese Designer called: Ma Ke. It was a couture installation about the lifecycle.Surrounded by huge photos from a chines family dressed in her clothes were simple clothes layed on the floor which was covered with sand. It is all handmade and made in natural fabric and dyed with natural pigments. So very touching and breath taking..In interview with her can be read here.For me the absolute highlight of the exhibition...