Luxury in Fashion Reconsidered

I work in a museum and my favourite thing to do during my holidays overseas is to visit museums. I know: what a geek.

There are two exhibitions that I consider myself extremely lucky to catch and will forever be etched in my memory. One of them is Cai Guo Qiang’s I want to believe at Guggenheim New York and the other is Luxury in Fashion Reconsidered at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. My trip to Japan left me in awe with the immense possibilities of fashion and fueled my passion for this art form. That was when I came back and started describing what I saw to Alex. Motivated and encouraged by what we saw and wanted to see more of, we started this blog.

Luxury in fashion Reconsidered consisted of a special exhibit by Kazuyo Sejima for Comme des Garçons (one of our favourite labels) and a section on Uniqueness, featuring the works of Maison Martin Margiela. Personally, I felt that his use of everyday materials to create items of clothing is artwork worthy. The concept is not new; the use of recycled materials to make accessories and clothing but Martin Margiela had managed to create beautiful functional pieces that I would personally wear. Some may think that wearing a vest made out of poker cards, bottle caps or broken porcelain glass pieces is crazy but to me; it’s the contemporary lifestyle. Live a little, I say. I believe that art is meant to be functional and therefore I never shy away from the extremes. Although I must say, the degree of insanity I inject into my outfits very much depends on how early I have to get out of bed.

His dresses are beautiful, especially the one made with vinyl records. I would wear it to an awards ceremony, if I had to attend one. Sitting down may be an issue though. Works in the exhibition also featured the use of Christmas garland, oil canvases, bow-ties and women’s wigs. As Alex would put it, “pure artistry”.

Now that Martin Margiela has left his label, I sincerely hope that he continues to create works of art for commoners like us to appreciate, admire and apply in our daily lives. For there is no other way of living than to live life surrounded by art.

X Sybil

(Images from Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)