An exhibition devoted to the ability and status of gold is scheduled to open on February 11 on the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris. However as an alternative of highlighting the worth of the dear metallic, the present focuses on the sartorial expressions of gold over the centuries.
“Au Fil de L’Or” — “Golden Thread” in English — is to retrace the artwork of embedding gold in ladies’s ceremonial clothes, costumes and different clothes all through historical past and geography, together with the Center East, India, Indonesia, China and Japan (till July 6).
Whereas the value of gold is skyrocketing stirred up the jewelry industry in current months the dear metallic has additionally been a preferred museum topic lately with exhibitions comparable to “Solid Gold” on the Brooklyn Museum (by means of July 6) and “El Dorado: Myths of Gold,” exhibited final 12 months on the Americas Society in New York.
In Paris, the exhibition goals to discover how goldsmithing has been intertwined with textile manufacturing strategies over the millennia. The shows are to incorporate the oldest identified instance of gold used on clothes: gold appliqués from 5,000 years in the past. and so on. n. BC, which had been found within the present Bulgarian metropolis of Varna. There may be additionally a bit of braid that dates again to 3000. and so on. n. is. and comes from the throne room of the palace within the historic kingdom of Ebla, in present-day Syria.
However not all that glitters among the many present’s 321 objects is definitely gold. For instance, reveals embrace naturally golden silk from Cambodia; sea silk, spun since historic occasions from the beard of a giant Mediterranean clam; Lurex, an artificial fiber launched in 1970; and even animal intestines. The visible impression is essential, mentioned Hanna Al Bana-Chidiak, lead curator of the exhibition.
“Greater than clothes,” she mentioned in an interview, “we’re making an attempt to inform the age-old story of gold.
“To know gold, you need to search for on the universe. Then we see how, after man found gold, he did all the things in his energy to work it into clothes by making it finer, hammering it, winding it round a thread of silk or linen, utilizing gold leaf, fixing it on skins. This led all the way in which to using polyester within the twentieth century.”
For the exhibition, Ms. Al Bana-Chidiak labored with Magali Ann Berton, co-curator of the present and assistant professor of vogue research on the American College of Paris, to carry up to date vogue into the combination.
So alongside North African caftans, Indian marriage ceremony saris and Edo-era Japanese kimonos, there shall be high fashion appears to be like comparable to a richly embroidered tulle and organza night gown from Chanel’s Spring 1996 couture assortment. by Karl Lagerfeld, in addition to a jacket and voluminous skirt with mosaic rhodoid gildings from Dior’s Spring 2004 vogue assortment by John Galliano.
And the official collaborator of the exhibition is Guo Pei, a relative newcomer to the style scene. The Beijing designer who shot onto the worldwide scene when Rihanna wore her canary yellow gown and cape to the 2015 Met Gala.has given 14 appears to be like to the present, 5 of which shall be proven for the primary time.
These items embrace the fully-embroidered conventional Chinese language bridal robe featured within the exhibition’s promotional supplies and a luxurious silk night gown with a practice, which the museum says required greater than 20,000 hours of hand embroidery with gold thread so as to add tons of of hundreds of sequins, flowers and different ornaments.
Bringing the theme again to Paris, the ultimate exhibition corridor will show roughly 50 works by Lesage, the embroidery specialist who celebrated its centenary final 12 months. The creations of vogue homes comparable to Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Balmain had been chosen for the way in which they replicate the artisanal traditions of the areas featured within the exhibition.
“Behind the act of carrying gold there’s all the time a narrative of creativity, expertise and ingenuity,” mentioned Ms Al Bana-Chidiak.
