Sunday December 7, 2008
Stylishly arty
By ELIZABETH TAI
We continue last week’s examination of the China-fashion-art connection with a walk through a Christian Dior-inspired exhibition that opened in Beijing recently.
BEFORE Christian Dior established one of the world’s most prestigious fashion houses, he actually owned an art gallery.
Born in 1905, Dior hit his 20s just when the visual arts scene in Europe was blooming with Cubism, Surrealism, Purism, and other “-isms”. He was friends with artists like Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, and Joseph Fernand Henri Léger, and exhibited their works in a gallery that he opened with his friend Jacques Bonhan in 1928. After his family was hit with financial troubles, though, Dior was forced to close it. But he continued his association with art – through fashion. After working for and with several designers, such as Robert Piguet and Pierre Balmain, Dior struck out on his own in 1946 with the backing of textile manufacturer Marcel Boussac. And once Dior had established himself – with his very first collection, no less (see Dior’s dazzlers, opposite) – and began setting up his boutiques, he made sure their walls were graced with original fine art. Dior died in 1957.
Liu Jian Hua’s Daily.fragile– Starlight comprises hundreds of porcelain replicas of Dior products and the label’s iconic ‘D’, which often hangs from its bags. – Photos from Dior It, therefore, seems apt to celebrate his fashion legacy with a unique art exhibition in China: Christian Dior and Chinese Artists began last month, and goes on until Jan 15 at Beijing’s Ullens Centre of Contemporary Art. About 20 contemporary Chinese artists (and one Japanese artist) were commissioned to “create a dialogue between two continents and two different means of expression, contemporary art and fashion”.
To inspire them, these artists were flown to Paris to attend fashion shows, and to go backstage: “...They took pictures, they went backstage; and for some it was the first time they flew, and their first trip outside China. The result is absolutely fascinating,” said Jerome Sans, director of the Ullens Centre in an interview with Wallpaper magazine in October.
Christian Dior owned an art gallery before he founded his eponymous fashion house. This being contemporary art, the exhibition isn’t just a display of art hung on walls: It’s art that you can experience, and even walk on.
In fact, I didn’t realise that, after entering the exhibit via Huang Rui’s Timeless White Cloud (curtains of fake pearls with black pearls forming numbers listing the years 1947 to 2007, the Dior label’s 60 years of existence), I was stepping on a massive art piece: Tim Yip’s Floating Leaf Garden, which comprises a series of wooden platforms that wind their way through the entire maze-like exhibition area.
Some pieces are like carnival attractions. In a dark room, 40cm-tall statues, some dressed in Dior’s New Look (see Dior’s dazzlers below), revolve around a table, lighted up by flickering strobe lights. Xu Zhongmin’s U Walk creates an illusion that the statues are stripping and morphing into skeletons.
Then there’s Daily.fragile – starlight. Liu Jianhua, one of contemporary art’s most influential ceramists, created hundreds of ceramic replicas of Dior accessories, such as Lady Dior bags and the famous ballet shoes. Comically, a nervous-looking attendant stood guard at the installation, shooing away viewers who tried to touch the fragile pieces.
Huang Rui’s Timeless White Cloud installation is made up of layers of artificial pear curtains with black pearls forming figures denoting the years the fashion house has existed. While the pieces at the exhibit might have been commissioned, none of the artists were constrained from making personal statements; and a common personal theme seems to be an exploration of the schism between modern China’s embrace of consumerism and its anti-materialistic communist past.
In Quentin Shih’s The Stranger in the Glass Box, for instance, iconic figures from China’s communist era – workers carrying shovels, soldiers in uniform – stare perplexedly at a model wearing Dior couture and encased in a glass box, very much like a zoo exhibit.
The theme is repeated in Zhang Xiaogang’s Worker Peasant Businessman Student Soldier, whose figures – depicted in paintings and as bronze statues – that clearly hail from China’s communist times stare stoically at rows of mannequins decked out in handsome Dior suits.
Wen Fang’s Hole in the Wall, Hope in the World, is a Berlin Wall-like structure decorated with fashion magazine covers and communist propaganda posters that appears to have been blown apart.
Worker Peasant Businessman Student Soldier by Zhang Xiaogang. For those familiar with Dior’s 60-year history and its iconic products, the exhibition will be a treat as there are vintage dresses (most encased in glass cases) to admire. Among the numerous vintage Dior gowns (many hailing from the 1940s to 1960s), there is, of course, the legendary 1947 New Look outfit – with its wasp-like waist and voluminous skirt – that made Christian Dior an overnight sensation.
These outfits were flown in from Europe for the exhibition, so admiring the very well cut and tailored outfits in close proximity was a special treat. Despite their age, the clothes have a kind of beauty and elegance that is timeless. It is true what they say: they certainly don’t make clothes like these any more.
This gorgeous satin gown with a voluminous white tulle skirt is from Christian Dior’s Autumn/Winter 1949-1950 collection. It was recreated in 1987 at a Dior workshop. Standing in wild contrast to these gowns are the numerous pieces from John Galliano’s collection. Galliano – the bad boy Brit designer took over in 1997 from Italian Glanfranco Ferré who had been Dior’s designer since 1989 – is said to have made the Dior hip and cool again with his flamboyant, wildly creative, and glamorous pieces.
Christian Dior and Chinese Artists is a beautiful marriage of two art forms. It not only showcases Dior’s artistic legacy, but it adds to the push Chinese contemporary art has been experiencing over the last few years as it makes its way back into the world’s eye after decades of cultural suppression.
‘Christian Dior and Chinese Artists’ is on until Jan 15 at the Ullens Centre of Contemporary Art in Beijing (798 Art District, No. 4, Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District). The centre is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 7pm; entry is 15 RMB (about RM8) for adults, except on Thursdays, when it’s free. For more information go to (the English language portal of the centre’s website) ucca.org.cn/portal/home/index.798?lang=en&menuId=0 or call +86-10-8459 9269.
Related Story:
Dior’s dazzlers
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