Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty—Exhibition Tour with Andrew Bolton

[Music] thank you Carl lagerfield Atlanta busy is our most ambitious show to date with approximately 180 garments from lagerfel's remarkable 65-year career as the creative directive of multiple design houses including Fendi Chloe Chanel and his eponymous label the exhibition is inspired by William hogar's concept the line of beauty an s-shaped curved line appearing within an object or as the boundary line of an object the Hogarth s-shaped Serpentine lines represent his liveliness and movement in contrast to straight lines which signified Stillness inactivity and even death logophile was much too magnanimous to hold such aesthetic judgments for him the straight line and the serpentine line were just as beautiful exciting and engaging his imagination in equal measure these two lines are physically and conceptually manifested in the exhibition with the serpentine line representing lagerfel's historicist romantic and decorative impulses and the straight line signifying his modernist classicist and minimalist tendencies [Music] the exhibition focuses on lagerfell's practice of sketching a critical aspect of his design process that made him unique among his peers while other designers sketch is part of their creative process lockerfell sketches were a combination of a detailed technical drawing and an expressive fashion illustration we've included a video of lagaval drawing and the desk used to sketch his designs sketching was not only lagerthal's primary mode of creative expression but also his primary mode of communication to the untrained eye his sketches seem spontaneous and expressionistic but to the skilled eyes of his premiers who were responsible for translating lockerfels two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional garments they convey precise details and almost mathematical instructions adjacent to the introductory Gallery is a room dedicated to the premieres at Fendi Chloe Chanel and logeville's eponymous label with whom lockerfeld had a long established working relationship in a series of interviews they discuss how they decoded his encrypted drawings to transform them into finished pieces which are displayed in the gallery on dress forms as you continue through the exhibition each Gallery explores the serpentine line and the straight line as dualities bridging these dualities are what we call explosions garments that represent moments of convergence in which the competing Aesthetics of these contrasting dichotomies are resolved and reconciled for example the garments in the Romantic line are shown embedded in a curved wall and those in the military line are shown alongside a straight wall a rather two straight walls with the garments arranged as a pyramid the Romantic Era beginning in the late 1700s and Lasting through the 1850s was a constant source of inspiration for lagerveld especially its idealization of nature as reflected in fashions that celebrate a pastoral lifestyle this pastoralism permeates the garments in the Romantic line which prioritizes Two revivalist Silhouettes the 1830s with this distinctive zigo or leg of button sleeves in the 1850s with its characteristic dome-shaped quinoline skirt in lockerthal's imagination the costumes of romantic heroines coexisted alongside the uniforms of military Heroes whose severity and sobriety stand in stark contrast to the sentimentality of romantic era fashions as reflected in the garments in the military line lockerfell's borrowings a Four's fiery Raymond are more formal than symbolic such as braids inspired by hussar uniforms tabs simulating the closures on 18th and early 19th century uniforms and large Pockets with scalloped flaps referencing World War One uniforms for lockerfeld the hand and the Machine were creative rather than contrasting or contradictory tools in the production of fashion this Gallery shows how lagerfels drove to problematize the associative values that traditionally have been applied to the hand machine dichotomy the hand signifying exclusivity spontaneity and individuality and the Machine signifying inferiority dehumanization and homogenization this Ensemble is entirely hand embroidered with tiny paellas and sea bees that involved 700 hours of workmanship for loggerfeld embroidery Is Not Mere Lux augmentation but capability intrinsic to the Garment The Ensemble was part of Chanel's spring summer 2009 Oak Couture collection which was an Ode to paper lagaval's favorite material apart from the color white the paper equality of The Ensemble can be seen in the crispness of the squared off shoulders and the symmetry of the A-line skirt with inverted v-shaped pleat which is crafted with scissored precision [Music] in this suit from Chanel's Autumn winter 2015 Oak Couture collection loggerfeld purposely challenged the cultural and symbolic meanings behind the hand machine dichotomy made by the Belgian company materialize the suit was created using selective laser sintering a manufacturing technique that employs a laser to center a powdered material together one layer at a time to create a solid structure the top however as well as the lining and braiding of the Zeus pockets and Primitives were embroidered by Maison massage entailing almost 1800 hours of handwork this complex amalgam of hand and machine techniques results not only in unraveling the mythologies of the ham machine conundrum but it also produces a garment of exceptional conceptual originality and Technical ingenuity one of lagaval's most enduring and distinctive stylistic interests was the postmodern combination of the traditional proprieties of the Couture and the transgressive provocations of the edgiest and wildest Street styles the garments in the canonical line and countercultural line represent the dueling stylistic forces behind this gleeful confrontation between the establishment and the anti-establishment simultaneously asserting and enhancing their refined Elegance all the pieces in the canonical line were shown in the rarified context of a salon this Ambience of privacy and exclusivity several incorporate trumploid details that reference Gabrielle Chanel's ponchon for wearing real and artificial jewelry which in its day was a radical challenge to accepted Notions of good taste and bad taste this Ensemble from Chanel's Autumn winter in 1996 okachor collection represents a different kind of simulation the coat is made from black or cancer applied with strips of silk tool gathered crocheted and dyed to resemble a minkfo code the erstwhile sartorial symbol of wealth and power logophile's duplicity is calculated his intention is to draw attention to the hidden value of the oak Couture and to highlight the extraordinary workmanship of the metiers in service to the Couture in this case Maison montex and the 250 hours spent on creating the illusion the cope pressagged Chanel's announcement in 2018 that it was stopped using fur and exotic skins in its Fashions and instead Focus its research and development on textiles and Leathers generated by agri-food Industries while the canonical line represents the trickle across movement of Fashions moving horizontally between individuals of similar social and economic standing the countercultural line represents the trickle up movement of fashion trends that start from the street and move upward into high fashion Lagerfeld reveled in this reversal of Fortune This Ensemble from Chanel spring summer 2011 collection was inspired by punks and specifically the punk practice of deconstruction expressing torn ripped and slashed clothes which were visual symbols of disaffection encapsulated in the punk Clarion Cry of no future lockerfield's interest in Punk's rips and tears however were for their decoration rather than for any political associations the jacket is a tour de force of workmanship with each laser-cut hole carefully positioned and finished to prevent fraying in lockville's hands the aesthetic of poverty has been transformed into the aesthetic of luxury lockerfell's synthesis at the salon on the street good taste and bad taste High culture and low culture is exemplified in this Ensemble from Chanel's awesome winter 1991 collection logafel described the look as Nouveau rapper a reflection of his belief that modern dressing entailed a complete rethinking of the established standards foreign this Gallery explores The Duality between the ornamental line and the structural line lockerfeld was the consumer connoisseur his collecting practices were as eclectic as his fashion inspirations lockeville's greatest Affinity however was for the Arts of the 18th century especially for the style of Louis XV which she regarded as the epitome of Elegance and restraint this passion is evident in the garments in the ornamental line inspired by a diverse range of 18th century decorative Arts the flowers that bloom on this 1950s Style dress from Chanel spring summer 2019 at Couture collection were inspired by ceramic flowers produced by vonsen in the mid-18th century each flower petal is cut from foam or molded in ceramic powder and then hand-painted and enameled in total the dress entailed 1650 hours of workmanship in contrast to the Rococo flourishes of the ornamental line the structural line reveals a modernist exactitude expressed through logophile's approach to Tailoring featuring a series of suits and coats from his Chanel collections they reveal a fundamental difference between the designer and the founder of the house whereas Gabriel Chanel was chiefly interested in tailoring finishes lagerfell was more concerned with tailoring Construction the garments also highlight two of the designers anatomical obsessions the shoulders and the side of the rib cage this sweet suit is from chennai's Autumn winter 2016 at Couture collection in title graphic cards which was a study in angularity the jacket shoulders are extended and flattened into two Dimensions without any internal padding an effect achieved through a technique called bizote loggerfeld held the strong opinion that fashion was not ours and that fashion designers were not artists for loggerfeld fashion was intensely practical and irrevocably commercial but despite being skeptical of the Confluence between art and fashion he often looked to find out for both inspiration and information as the figurative line and the abstract line demonstrates lockerfell's figurative Tendencies were most fully expressed in his designs for Chloe and Fendi the latter manifested in his Autumn winter 2016 oat Couture collection which was inspired by K Nielsen's illustrations for the 1914 book East of the Sun and west of the moon this dress from the collection is titled Lassie and the prince and features an image that references one of Nielsen's drawings for the story The Lassie and her godmother and was created by the British illustrator K Bailey especially for the collection the image is both printed and hand-painted on silk gazaar to reflect the fine lines delicate colors internal variety of Nielsen's original artwork which incorporates the influences of Art Nouveau filter through a chilly Nordic modernism this Ensemble from Chloe spring summer 1971 collection was hand-painted by Nicola Ford and was inspired by Sonia Delaney's Rhythm and color paintings which expressed her concept of simultaneism a mode of art that rejects the representation of figures in favor of the simultaneous contrast of colors the exhibition concludes with the satirical line which consists of two parts the first includes Gammas that reflect lockeville's razor sharp wit and the second features ensembles that mirror lockerfell's self-presentation through various representations of his iconic black and white uniform in this dress from the Autumn winter 1985 collection of lagerfell's eponymous label the embroidered Candlestick becomes a surrogate for a woman's body speaking of metaphor and metamorphosis it also invokes the somnambulant world of surrealism suggesting nocturnal reverie and the transition from day to night from the real to the imagined and from the conscious to the subconscious Lagerfeld arrived at his black and white uniform after years and years of self-study as with Gabriel Chanel he looked to The Dandy for his self-styling lagerfels globally recognized uniform was a clerk of invisibility making it possible for him to hide in plain sight and pass incognito on the world stage to deepen this deceit lockerfell deliberately lent himself to caricature channeling Andy Warhol another Dandy lagerfell presented this caricature as a commercial experiment through various representations of his black and white look primarily in collections for Chanel and his eponymous label the apogee of this warholian experiment was his 2004 collaboration with a High Street chain H M this Ensemble from the h m collaboration includes the Cornerstone of the collection a white T-shirt printed with a graphic representation of loganville's face and shoulders signed by the designer fulfilling his Infamous comment I am a living label my name is labelfeld not Lagerfeld this Echo chamber shows footage from loic pregunt documenting an impromptu moment from 2011 when lagerfell was filming a special feature for the French German television channel Arte the footage shows lagerfell dissolving into laughter as he confuses his French English and his native German the space reveals the centrality of his iPhone to his creator process and presents his epigrams or callisms in a dynamic installation conceived by the British director Bailey Walsh granting lagerfell the final word the exhibition ends with the collage of lagerfel's dandiaco black and white uniform which was paradoxical in its modernist and historicist Aesthetics adjacent to this collage is a video of Lagerfeld drawing himself beginning with a leder hose on he wore as a child ending with the Carlito charm from planned this Autumn winter 2014 collection which represented Lagerfeld as a dolly or puppet reduced to the elements of collar tie sunglasses and ponytail [Music]

Channel: The Met

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Keywords: Art, Museum, History, New York, New York City, Education, karl lagerfeld, documentary, chanel, fendi, conde nast, sneakers, cat, choupette, met gala, red carpet, fashion, show, Anna Wintour, designer, paris, dresses, shoes, a line of beauty, theme, bag, german, vintage, sketches, illustration, Balmain, Patou, Chloé, modernist, historicist, satire, whimsical, iphone, Fabergé, egg, first Monday in may, tom ford, thom browne, visit, tickets, open, date, about, brand, 2023, exhibit, store, shop, drama, book, inside, women

Id: 61SVhw_bDj4

Length: 16min 11sec (971 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023