A revolutionary exhibit of the world’s most visionary fashion designers has just opened at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Radical Fashion, a showcase of the spectacular, the avant garde, the provocative - anything but the ordinary - includes the work of Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang, Issey Miyake and eight other talents who have pushed the boundaries of style.
“The exhibition is about difference…You would think it would be impossible to create new clothes again, but these designers have,” says exhibitions curator, Claire Wilcox.
One of Alexander McQueen’s two handmade glass and feather dresses - the only other in existence belongs to musical enigma Bjork - is on display in a glass tank alongside some of his other outlandish designs. “Most of the time, I try to provoke people,” confesses the self-proclaimed “bad egg” of British fashion. “I’ve always said if someone leaves the show and vomits, or has a feeling of ‘What was that all about?’, then I’ve done my job.”
London-based Hussein Chalayan, who is represented in the show, says, “Generally, I don’t consider myself radical, but as someone who responds to things around me.” Innovative designer Issey Miyake falls somewhere in between. “Sometimes my clothes are radical, sometimes challenging. But I try not to fear radical things,” he explains.
Each participant developed their own installation to reflect their creative vision, and the visually stunning display choices are as diverse as the collections themselves. Martin Margiela, who has shown his collections everywhere from a Salvation Army Headquarters to an unused metro station, displays his clothes inside a series of shipping crates with viewing holes cut into them. Helmut Lang has chosen not to exhibit his clothing, and instead shows a compilation of his catwalk collection on a video screen in a dark, minimal space furnished only with a couple of benches.
At the bash for the show’s launch on Tuesday night, partygoers got the first glimpse of the layout of the exhibit. Visitors follow a silver catwalk through the displays, traversing a montage of moving images projected on to glass, floors and ceilings, large-scale photos, touchable fabric panels and life-size holograms.
The innovative exhibition proved to be a big hit with the fashion’s cutting-edge elite. Decked out in one of her trademark tartan taffeta dresses, visionary designer Vivienne Westwood, whose creations are a part of the installation, said, “I have to say that I think it all looks fantastic.”
Rule-breaking pieces of Junya Watanabe, Rei Kawakubo, Azzedine Alaia, Yohji Yamamoto and Jean Paul Gaultier are also featured. Radical Fashion runs through January 6, 2002.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
