Sumptuously monumental. This is how the exhibition "The Love of Couture - Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time," kicking off today at Hong Kong's K11 Art & Cultural Centre at K11 MUSEA, can be summarised.
Curated by K11, a group founded in 2008 by renowned entrepreneur Adrian Cheng, in collaboration with London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and award-winning production designer and Oscar nominee William Chang Suk Ping, the event is a celebration of the artisanal skills of a new generation of East Asian fashion designers.
Chang is the creative force behind the exhibition design: known for his work ranging from visual and costume design to film editing and production, Chang is famous for the spellbinding vintage cheongsam dresses he picked for the wardrobe of actress Maggie Cheung in "In the Mood for Love".
In 2014, Chang received an Academy Award for Best Costume Design nomination for his work on Kar-Wai Wong's "The Grandmaster" and, in 2015, he supervised styling for the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, "China: Through the Looking Glass".
For "The Love of Couture", Chang moved from a literary inspiration, the Nobel Prize-winning author Derek Walcott's poem "Love After Love" and from the concept of artisanship transformed, reimagined, readapted and carried through century after century.
K11 commissioned six fashion designers from Japan, China, South Korea and Hong Kong to create new bespoke designs inspired by historical British and French womenswear from the V&A's fashion collection.
Tomo Koizumi, Ryunosuke Okazaki, Sensen Lii, Celine Kwan, Yueqi Qi and Sohee Park enthusiastically answered this call to explore and renew the link between the East and West, coming up with grand designs that will give the chance to visitors to make new connections between the past and the present and maybe even get some glimpses of the future of fashion.
At the centre of the exhibition space a giant human head reveals an MRI scan of a brain when one is in love or in an inebriated state, a metaphorical expression for a brain in the throes of creation.
The designs are exhibited on different platforms surrounding the human head and twelve designs from the V&A collections are also displayed as part of the exhibition.
The twelve pieces, shown in Hong Kong for the first time, chronicle the evolution of British and French womenswear fashions from the 1830s to around 1960, and serve as the starting points for the six up-and-coming East Asian fashion designers.
The designers involved in the project moved indeed from these creations, dissected them and re-contextualised their structures, fabrics and functions in a contemporary key.
The commissioned pieces are showcased alongside some of the designers' existing creations, so that even visitors who are not accustomed with the work of these creative minds will get an insight into their practice and discover more about their favourite materials and techniques.
Japanese costume designer Tomo Koizumi is probably the one we have learnt to recognize the most thanks to his monumental confections of organza ruffles.
Known for his creations for performers, entertainers (including Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and Japanese singer Misia at the Tokyo Summer Olympics), Koizumi launched his eponymous fashion brand as an arts major at National Chiba University in the early 2010s, before he was invited to showcase in New York in 2019. For the exhibition, he created a new piece that consists of a figure-hugging vest jacket and voluminous skirt constructed with his iconic cascade of colourful ruffles.
Born in Hiroshima in 1995 and based in Tokyo, Ryunosuke Okazaki graduated from the School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in 2021 with a collection inspired by Jōmon-era pottery.
A finalist of the LVMH Prize 2022 and named in Forbes' "Japan 30 Under 30 2022" list, the young designer has so far explored in his practice different creative methods, including automatism and the work of André Breton, the founder of the surrealist movement.
His more extravagant gowns, sculptural yet full of motion, like the ones on display in this exhibition, feature three-dimensional sculptural swirls jutting out from the body that extend in all directions, morphing the human sihouette and evoking forms and shapes found in nature.
Chinese designer Sensen Lii studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and founded his own fashion brand, WINDOWSEN, in 2019, winning the favour of celebrities as well, including Rihanna, and Doja Cat.
For the exhibition he created designs that blend historical references with his usual performative, dramatic and theatrical styles in contrasting colours and exaggerated shapes that he matched with his trademark futuristic platform shoes.
A graduate of the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London, Hong Kong-born Celine Kwan combines 1960s silhouettes and childish flowers à la Courrèges with psychedelic colours, adding whimsical twists to her collections such as inflatable garments and cutting-edge production techniques like 3D printing.
Guangzhou-based designer Yueqi Qi majored in knitwear at Central Saint Martins and established her eponymous label in 2019. Her architectural designs, revolving around the idea of deconstructing and reconstructing men's suits, are characterised by clean lines, sophisticated palettes and mixed use of materials.
For the exhibition she created four looks, each of them paying homage to a specific item from the V&A collections, but reinterpreted with an unexpected, edgy spin (see the metal-embellishments) that leaves the designs suspended between the elegant and the rebellious.
A fellow alumna of Central Saint Martins, Sohee Park is a South Korean couturier whose gowns have been worn by Ariana Grande, Cardi B and Naomi Campbell among the others.
Park favours ultra-feminine silhouettes and a sensibility that evokes a bygone era of classic beauty. For this event she crafted an elegant black-and-fuchsia gown with embroidery on the hem borrowing details from Yves Saint Laurent's "Polynésie" evening dress from the V&A (View this photo).
We may not be able to immediately trace a connection between an ivory gown from the late 1880s and some of these designs such as Tomo Koizumi’s explosion of multi-coloured tulle ruffles, but that is not the point of this event.
The idea behind "The Love of Couture" is indeed to show how fashion changes over time, especially when it clashes with a variety of stimuli, cultures and influences. As Adrian Cheng, Chair of K11 Night, comments: "Fashion throughout history is reflective of how traditions, craftsmanship, creativity and societies continue to evolve. This collaboration truly reflects my mission to create a deeper cultural exchange between east and west by providing a platform for next generation talent."
Given the time of the year, our minds may be set on Winter wonderlands, but at K11 MUSEA there's instead a couture wonderland that awaits to be discovered and that will take visitors on a rather unusual journey through fashion from the 1830s to the present day while exploring creativity, refined craftsmanship, visual splendour, and the boundless possibilities of couture.
"The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time" is at K11 Art & Cultural Centre, K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong, until 29 January 2023.
Image credits for this post
Installation views for "The Love of Couture - Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time" exhibition, K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong, Courtesy K11.
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