Curated Couture, A History of High Fashion
When one thinks of haute couture, the divine houses of luxury French fashion may spring to mind. Icons such as Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, and of course, Dior. With over 72 years of fashion history, you can only begin to imagine how immense the couture archive of the Dior fashion house could be, with so much history and influence behind it.
Well, wonder no more. After a successful showing at the Denver Art Museum last year, design studio, OMA, with partner, Shohei Shigematsu, have designed a retrospective exhibition displaying the legacy of the Dior fashion house, showing now at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA).
The exhibition, Dior: From Paris to the World, displays nearly 200 haute couture gowns, as well as accessories, photographs, original sketches, runway footage, and other archival material, showing the breadth of work from its founder, Christian Dior, and the many talented creative directors who followed.
Transforming the gallery space into an infinite “catwalk” and enhancing the geometry of the existing space to transform it into an extension of Dallas’ cultural district, Flora Street.
“The history and impact of The House of Dior is the result of a convergence of several artistic directors who have made visionary, yet distinct, contributions to the French haute couture House,” says exhibition curator, Sarah Schleuning, of The Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the DMA. “The exhibition takes audiences through more than seven decades of innovation, bringing together the most exciting, dynamic, and pivotal pieces.”
Images by James Florio
