TAILORS OF VOLUMES
Exhibition from 12 October 2024 to 16 February 2025
“Tailor: noun (from tailoring): Craftsman who makes custom-made clothing. Worker specialised in cutting certain materials.”
Larousse Dictionary, 2024.
There are many similarities that can be observed between the sculptor and the fashion designer. Equipped with an engraving chisel and a hammer or a sewing needle and pins, both have the ability to transform their raw materials in three-dimensional space to create silhouettes, bodies and new realities. Whether it is by using some of their techniques, the most obvious of which is moulding, or by exploring various configurations of texture, colour palette and volume, fashion stands out as an essential art form applied to living things.
Designed to protect, dress and convey meaning, clothing is a medium of expression with limitless creative possibilities, that can sometimes transform the morphology of the wearer using devices such as the boned corset, bustles and other shaping materials. In its ongoing endeavour to reshape the body, it has a dual status, i.e. to be a medium for creation and provide a malleable material.
“Tailors of volumes” presents an anthology of outfits from the museum’s collections. With pleats, gathers, smocking and ruffles, the sculpted textiles are taking over the fashion cabins at La Piscine, making Jean-Paul Gaultier, Comme des Garçons and Popy Moreni the masters of volume.
This exhibition is presented in the spaces dedicated to the permanent collections with free admission on every first Sunday of the month.
Scientific curator and management: Amélie Boron, in charge of the fashion collection, La Piscine – André Diligent museum of art and industry
Preview on Friday 11 October 2024 from 6pm.
