By Niki Bruce
Online Editor, herworld.com
niki@sph.com.sg

 

I LOVE fashion. Always have and probably always will, despite the fact that I haven't been blessed with a typical 'fashionista' body.

As a child of about 7-years-old I distinctly remember insisting to my harassed mother that I had to wear a particular yellow shirt with a particular navy skirt embossed with the exact same yellow-coloured flowers. Sure, not something I'd be seen dead in today, but hey, I knew what matching was all about.

I grew up and my fashion sense grew with me, and although I quickly realised that bright colours, highly detailed designs and multiple layers weren't for me, I never lost my delight in seeing glorious creations to be worn on the body.

So, when I learnt that the National Museum of Singapore was bringing an exhibition from one of the masters of colours and texture to the city, I was very excited.

Christian Lacroix; the costumier is a collection of just some of the brilliant, exotic creations the designer made over 20 years of costume design for ballet, theatre and opera.

Known for his bright colours and embellishment, Lacroix was one of the defining haute couture designers of the 1980s fashion scene. Born in 1951, Lacroix studied art history at the University of Montpellier and then went to the Sorbonne in Paris. He started in the fashion world with his first job at Hermes in 1978.

After a number of years in the industry, Lacroix opened his first couture and ready-to-wear business in 1987; he quickly built himself a reputation for opulent, fantasy creations including the 'puffball' skirt, corsets and crinolines.

Although he was often criticised for not designing 'wearable' clothes, Lacroix also released lines of jewelry, handbags, shoes, glasses, scarves and ties. In 1989 Lacroix opened boutiques in Paris, London, Geneva and Japan. He has continued to create haute couture collections as well as a number of diffusion lines including jeans, children's wear, table linen and men's wear.

The collection on show in Exhibition Gallery 1 at the museum includes almost 80 costumes and around 60 sketches from Lacroix' work for shows like Carmen, Gaite Parisienne, Othello, Cosi Fan Tutte and Phedre.

Entering the gallery is a little disconcerting – the room is completely dark with spots of light on the costumes the only bright spots. There are also no directions so I ended up walking around the exhibition the wrong way. Not that it mattered but it would have been good to know which way I should have been going.

Each production has a number of costumes showcased behind a fine black mesh – presumably to keep sticky fingers away – but making it difficult to see the details of the gowns, suits and robes.

Despite this the overall feel, colours and lines of Lacroix’ work is clear to be seen.

Knowledge of the theatre productions would be quite useful, allowing the viewer to pick out each character or scene appropriate to the item – but really, it is enough simply to enjoy the sheer colour, texture and detail of the costumes.

The costumes of the four major productions are placed in a circle in the room with the sketches lining the opposite walls. The final cell of the circle is entitled Les Arts Florissants and includes garments from Acteon, Dido and Aeneas and La Femme sans ombre or The Woman without a shadow.

La Femme sans ombre, Othello and pieces from Les Anges ternis were my favourite pieces. Costumes from these productions all had a stronger touch of modernity; with trousers tucked under skirts for La Femme sans ombre; leather pants and layered jackets for Othello and cleaner lines and details on the tutus of Les Anges ternis.

Lacroix' costumes for Carmen echoed the expected flamenco themes and colours; Phedre was suitably Greek in feel with drapery and light colours and those for Cosi Fan Tutte were deeply ornamental and true to history.

However, every costume was quintessentialy Lacroix. The multiple layers of colour and texture, the exotic fabrics, the sublime lines of the cuts; although built to be used roughly on stages, these costumes are beautiful pieces of art.

The exhibition cleverly offers a fabulous little activity book full of things for kids from about 9-years-old to do – it even came with Emma and Tim, two cardboard cut-out dolls for you to design for, with plenty of plain paper and coloured pencils to keep the kids entertained.

A brochure is also available inside the exhibition for a donation of at least $2 and is well-worth picking up as it gives an insight into how Lacroix came up with the ideas and details on how some of them are made.

I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition, although I would have loved to have seen even more costumes and perhaps some of Lacroix' famous couture pieces.

But it was certainly well-worth the $8 entry fee to remember why I love fashion so much. I may have graduated away from matchy-matchy dressing but my love for visual flamboyance hasn't entirely disappeared.

Christian Lacroix, the costumier, is at the National Museum of Singapore until June 7. It is open daily from 10am to 6pm and costs $8 for non-students.