Exhibitions Balenciaga / Comme des Garçons

Paris’s mainstay fashion museum, the Galliera may be under renovation until next spring… but it’s an opportunity for organisers to put on two special shows at another venue, la Cite de la Mode et du Design. For the first time Olivier Saillard, director of the Galliera, is presenting an entire collection: the 2012 spring-summer show by Rei Kawakubo, founder of Japanese house Comme des Garçons.
With “White Drama” Rei Kawakubo explores the major stages in life through clothing. The entirely white collection is a statement against conventional norms... A wedding dress with tied sleeves makes giving a hand in marriage a challenge...
Rei Kawakubo has been shaking up western fashion design since the 1980s. She calls into question the conventions of seduction, sexism, the use of color, even the shape of the human body. Season after season, she never ceases to amaze. Demanding and dynamic, to this day she still brings youth to her creations.
A parallel exhibition reveals the antique clothes that inspired designer Cristobal Balenciaga, who died in 1972. On display are 18th and 19th century pieces once owned by Balenciaga.
Balenciaga and Kawakubo, unconventional and inspirational, can be seen until this fall at La Cite de la mode et du Design.