Breaking the Mode

Hussein Chalayan, Dress from the "Medea" Collection, spring/ summer 2002

A number of fashion exhibitions are taking place in the US outside of New York’s confines. "Breaking the Mode: Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art" is opening March 16th at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where it will be on view through June 1st.

The exhibition, which includes iconic pieces from a number of contemporary designers (for the most part Europeans and Japanese) attest to the LACMA's thorough collecting policy. The exhibit sets out to examine "designers who have challenged the canons of the body’s fashionable silhouette, revolutionized methods of garment construction, rejected the formulaic use of materials and techniques, and exploited new technology in textile production. Among the more than 40 international designers whose work will be exhibited are Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Thierry Mugler and Yohiji Yamamoto, with historical examples by Gilbert Adrian, Christian Dior and Charles James."

Francesca