VIA PARIS!

If You happen to be as lucky as I was, to find Yourself in Paris these days, make sure You don't miss the Fashion history exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts named:" Histoire ideal de la mode contemporairie - les plus beaux defiles de 1971 a nos jours". It is located at the same venue with the famous Louvre Museum: Palais du Louvre, 107, rue de Rivoli , 75001 Paris and for a modest price of 9 euro You are invited to a magic journey into the fashion world. This journey is accompanied not only by the famous designs that I was able to see live and close ( but behind the glass), but also with the videos of the long forgotten fashion shows of the great names from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

With 150 rooms and 40 iconic movies, there are 20 years of collections that are screened at the Museum of Decorative Arts.
This is the parade of Yves Saint Laurent in 1971, which opens the door and that of Jean Paul Gaultier in 1990 that the fence with his collection "the report pious.
The history of the ideal mode reveals its contemporary collections made by the most influential couturiers and designers less known to the public.
Thus, throughout the exhibition , visitors relive the major stylistic changes that have taken 70-90 years: Between the widespread phenomenon of "Ready-to-use" of the 70s to the desire for independence and extravagance 1980s, the whole history of how contemporary these years is presented here.
The designers chosen to represent the 70s and 80s Yves Saint Laurent, Jean Muir, Stoneware, Issey Miyake, Sonia Rykiel, Chloe by Karl Lagerfeld, Dorothee Bis, Cacharel, Kenzo, and Ter BANTINE by Chantal Thomass, Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Popy Moreni, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garcons, Marc Audibet, Anne-Marie Beretta, Romeo Gigli, Sybilla, Azzedine Alaia, Karl Lagerfeld Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Jean Paul Gaultier.

 

It was such an excitement to see all these famous master-peaces gathered all in one place. It was quite a discovery to see the secret stitching and finishes on the garments as well as educative. The videos of the fashion defiles just open an another perspective much different that we nowadays have about the catwalk.  Finally it is definitely a must see.

Information Expo "History of the ideal mode today, the 70s and 80s "

Venue: Museum of Decorative Arts, 75001 Paris
Date: April 1 to October 10, 2010
Hours: Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11h to 18h and Thursday from 11h to 21h
Entry Price: 9 €

Handbag Paradise in Amsterdam!

If You are visiting Amsterdam, make sure You go to the Museum of handbags and purses. Believe me its worth visiting. The Museum of Bags and Purses contains more than 3,500 bags and accessories that illustrate the history of women's purses in Western culture. The museum, including a cafe, is in a 17th century building at 573 Herengracht, behind Rembrandtplein. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except Christmas and New Year's. For all the bag lovers it is indeed a paradise. The Museum of Bags and Purses displays the history of the western handbag from the late Middle Ages right up to the present. The collection provides a fascinating picture of how the bag has changed over the centuries in terms of function, form, material and decoration.

The modern part of the collection features, among others, the splendid examples of the Jugenstil and Art Deco period, evening bags and vanity-cases and of course the bags of famous designers (such as Schiaparelli, Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Judith Leiber, Paul Smith, Alexander McQueen, Lulu Guinness, Tom Ford) and the bags of famous labels (including Gucci, Hermès, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, MiuMiu, Chloé and Fendi).

The most interesting part of the collection for me personally were the bags that are totaly unconventional bags in terms of shape. As well as some legendary bags featured in movies like Sex and the City like the legendary cupcake bag.

These are just a few examples of what You can see in the museum. For additional information visit The official web site of the Museum. Besides all the beautiful bags You can see, the Museum has a shop where You may shop for bags and also some replica bags of the exponents are available too.

Ethno trends in modern fashion history

Ethnic fashion has been and still is an ultimate source of inspiration, coming in and out of fashion countless times. Starting from the 19th century and later Jaques Ducett and Paul Poiret, the oriental Japanese style came into the fashion. Names like Jeanne Paquin, Callot Soeurs, Charles Frederik Worth, Mariano Fortuny, Madeleine Vionnet, Jeanne Lanvin, Madame Gres and others followed the early 20th centry ethnic frenzy. Even before, trough the conquests of India and Africa and the American Natives, the European culture had been influenced by the flamboyant style, new fabrics, colors, shapes, forms and motifs that opened a new chapter in prestige and luxury. Trough trade and exchange the influences mixed to create an amazing and magical fusion.

Ethnic fashion has Indeed always been extremely rich source of inspiration to the creative minds in fashion. The second half of the 20th century brought Japanese ethnic fashion to Europe trough designs of Kenzo, Myake, Kawakubo and Yamamoto translating the ethnic into modern trend.They had stirred the Paris fashion scene with their fusion collections incorporating futuristic modern vision and ethnic.
The famous Yves Saint Laurent with his exotic and wild ethnic style revolutionized the modern couture by braking out of the 60's modernist style and was the first to create the ethnic "back to nature" 70' style. In the 70's every type of ethnic image set a trend. The ethnic influence was so strong that it revived craft skills from past times and distant places. Ethnic fashion and style trends became popular due to the broader travel experience. 80's ethnic style was represented mainly in jewelery, accessories and fabric design. We all remember New Romantics and icons like Boy George and Cindy Lauper. 90's bring Chinese collars and prints, motifs for inside of garments and affordable embroidery and beedwork.

The last 10 years, fashion witnessed many ethnic inspired collections. The ethnic revives itself in fusion with other influences as fusion itself and it ranges from very light application of ethnic details to the total look as the culmination of the ethnic frenzy. After the gourmet fusion of tastes, the trend definitely passes over to fashion and the fusion of ethnic as its basic ingredient.

Author of the text: Dusanka Duric
Text is just a chapter from the DaRousso research project called Balkan Kingdom, All Rights Reserved