photo credit: all photos courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
Elsa Schiaparelli talks to Miuccia Prada: Impossible Conversations
Hurry to the MET in New York, Prada talks to Schiaparelli
If you are in New York in the next few days, this is your last chance to see Prada talks to Schiaparelli at the Metropolitan Museum New York. This exhibit ends August 19. 2012
See the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, The Costume Institute, about an imaginary conversation about fashion, by designers Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. Come to understand their different perception about, the understanding of the body, fashion as a form of self expression and self presentation.
Schiaparelli and Prada are living in different times, but they share a canvas: The body. View clothing as an expression of individuality in the frame of a similar culture.
The focus: what do they have in common? How does their understanding of fashion and their creative vision differ? Across the distance of time, the viewer can experience their development of ideas about fashion through dressing.
The exhibition shows videos, by Exhibition Creative Consultant, Baz Luhrmann. In “Schiap”, he used material from the Schiaparelli autobiography, and information from Miguel Covarrubias’s “Impossible Interviews” created for Vanity Fair in the 1930s, in his montage. He shows us imaginary talks of the designers, and filmed sequences.
The exhibit space is organized in sections of similarities and differences of both designers. Their philosophical approach to fashion, and the expression of their own style.
“Waist Up/Waist Down”
photo credit: photo Waist Up/Waist Down Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
a focus on “decorative detailing”, and their different vision of a Look.
“Neck Up/Knees Down”
photo credit: photo Neck Up/Knees Down Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
a look at Schiaparelli’s hats and Prada’s footwear.
“Ugly Chic”
photo credit: photo Ugly Chic Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
a look at opposites expressed in colors, patterns, and shapes.
“Hard Chic”
photo credit: photo Hard Chic Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
the concept of minimalistic chic, as understood and expressed in designs by both designers.
“Naïf Chic”
photo credit: photo Naif Chic Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
the use of playful feminine elements in fashion, questioning the idea of “youthful” dressing, playing on the sub conscious mind.
“Classical Body”
photo credit: photo Classical Body Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
the designer’s inspiration from classic designs, shapes, drapes, a look to the past.
“Exotic Body”
photo credit: photo Exotic Body Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
the designer’s inspiration from traditional style dress of other cultures, India and Indonesia.
“Surreal Body”
photo credit: photo Gallery View, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.met.museum.org
design elements of the designer’s game of opposites. What is real? Is it natural? Here or Gone?
I hope, I have inspired you, hurry to see this exhibit, go to the MET for a day and have fun, meet these two exceptional women. I wish, I could be there, now. Unfortunately, I will be in New York only at the end of August...
Enjoy,
Jasmin
All photos used in this presentation: Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Fashion designs on loan: from the Costume Institute, and private collections.
This exhibit is sponsored by: Amazon.
Additional support provided by Condé Nast.
Exhibition Creative Consultant: Baz Luhrmann Production Designer : Nathan Crowley
more information: www.metmuseum.org
