6 fashion exhibitions to see this summer

The sunny days are here; I think we could cool ourselves in the most beautiful museums of the world. Admiring the displays of the best fashion exhibitions we could se this summer. Here they are – the 6 fashion exhibitions to see this summer of 2022, all over the world.

*** #ArtBlogger #English

First stop: Los Angeles. At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on display is “Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse”, an exhibition that contextualises the work of Lee Alexander McQueen within art history and examines the interdisciplinary impulse that defined the designer’s career. 

The exhibition interprets the designer’s work through the lens of inspiration, juxtaposing his designs with non-fashion artworks by makers who drew upon analogous themes and visual references. Exploring imagination, artistic process, and innovation in fashion and art, the exhibition presents a case study of McQueen’s methods and influences. (until 9 October 2022 – https://www.lacma.org) 

The second stop: Paris. At Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, the exhibition “Alaïa before Alaïa (Alaïa avant Alaïa)” puts a spotlight on the couturier Azzedine Alaïa and retraces his career as a fashion designer from his arrival in Paris in the 1950s to the presentation of his first collection in 1982. 

“I work on a [woman] model It’s as if I’m moulding clay. I shape it, I pull it up, I pull it down, I sew it and unpick it. I’ll redo a sleeve ad infinitum. Through endless trial and error, working by hand, I’ve learned about tailoring, and I think I’ve come close to understanding some of it’s mysteries.”

The exhibition features photographs, archival documents and iconic creations such as the prototype of Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dress, the coat Alaïa designed for the actress Greta Garbo, the dresses with zippers he created for the French actress Arletty, and hand-painted Alaïa labels. (until 23 October 2022 – https://fondationazzedinealaia.org) 

The third and the fourth fashion encounter are taking place in Hamburg, at Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G).

* The exhibition “The Language of Fashion” shows the significance of text for fashion products. The items on view are variously emblazoned with brand names or logos, political messages, typography or plays on words, and that’s because writing on textile implies some significant messages or just simple puns. All objects on display come from MK&G’s own fashion collection, including more than 35 items from the 19th century until today by established designers such as Walter Van Beirendonck, Coco Chanel, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, Martin Margiela and up-and-coming young designers such as Edda Gimnes and Flora Miranda Seierl. (until 31 October 2022, https://www.mkg-hamburg.de) 

* The second exhibition in Hamburg it is all about fashion, as well. It’s is about seven fashion-conscious women and their wardrobes, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present day. The exhibition “Dressed. 7 Women – 200 Years of Fashion” puts the accent on the personalities and biographies of the wearers, who reveal themselves to be both performers and consumers of fashion. Their wardrobes tell of the status-consciousness of high-society wives, of an existence marked by illness, of “power dressing” for projecting confidence in the executive suite, of Hamburg’s punk scene, and of the aesthetics of resistive aesthetics embraced by an art and design collector. (until 28 August 2022, https://www.mkg-hamburg.de) 

The fifth exhibition takes us in Manhattan, at the most beloved museum, The Met. The Costume Institute’s “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” is the second portion of a two-part exhibition exploring fashion in the United States. Presented in collaboration with The Met’s American Wing, the exhibition features approximately 100 examples of men’s and women’s dress dating from the 19th to the mid-late 20th century that reveal unfinished stories about American fashion. Men’s and women’s dress dating from the eighteenth century to the present will be featured in vignettes installed in select period rooms; a Shaker Retiring Room from the 1830s; a nineteenth-century parlor from Richmond, Virginia; a panoramic 1819 mural of Versailles; and a twentieth-century living room designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, among others.

Part one, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion – currently on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center – establishes a modern vocabulary of American fashion based on its expressive qualities. (until 5 September 2022, https://www.metmuseum.org) 

For the sixth fashion exhibition we move to London and we plan a visit to Saatchi Gallery, where “Vision & Virtuosity by Tiffany & Co.” will be on display this summer, marking the jeweller’s 150th anniversary in London. The exhibition brings in the gallery more than 400 objects form the House’s archives. A visual chronicle of the storied jeweller since its founding in New York City in 1837, “Vision & Virtuosity” takes visitors on a journey through everything from archival high jewellery designs, Tiffany’s famed window displays and its recently acquired Empire Diamond of over 80 carats to important relics of popular culture such as the original script from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 

The exhibition has seven different chapters that explore separate themes that are central to Tiffany’s brand identity, heritage, and creative influence – the founder, the work of the creatives, the annual Blue Book high jewellery collection, the Tiffany’s heritage in the world of love, the famous movie and Tiffany’s renowned diamond creations. (until 19 August 2022, https://www.saatchigallery.com) 

Photography: (c) courtesy of archive galleries. 

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