2012 Museum Fashion Exhibits | Schiaparelli, Prada, YSL

What: “Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion”
Where: The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
When: May 10 – August 19

The title is based on Umberto Eco’s books On Beauty and On Ugliness, which explore the philosophy of aesthetics. Videos in the galleries of simulated conversations between Schiaparelli and Prada will follow the book’s outline and will be organized by topics such as “On Art,” “On Politics,” “On Women,” “On Creativity,” and more.

The exhibition will explore how both women employed unconventional textiles, colors, and prints to play with conventional ideas of good and bad taste, and how they exploited whimsical fastenings, fanciful trompe l’oeil details, and deliberately rudimentary embroideries for strange and provocative outcomes. Experimental technologies and modes of presentation will bring together masterworks from the designers in an unexpected series of conversations on the relationship between fashion and culture.

What: “Christian Louboutin,” a retrospective of the designer
Where: Design Museum, London
When: March 28 – July1

The Design Museum presents the first UK retrospective of iconic French shoe designer Christian Louboutin, celebrating a career which has pushed the boundaries of high fashion shoe design. This exhibition celebrates Louboutin’s career to date and showcases twenty years of designs and inspiration, revealing the artistry and theatricality of his shoe design from stilettos to lace-up boots, studded sneakers and bejewelled pumps. Louboutin’s shoes are the epitome of style, glamour, power, femininity and elegance.

What: “IMPACT: 50 Years of the CFDA”
Where: The Museum at FIT, New York
When: February 10 – April 17, 2012

Conceived by CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg and curated by Patricia Mears, deputy director of The Museum at FIT, IMPACT: 50 Years of the CFDA will be an ode to the illustrious designs of the CFDA’s many members and will mark the organization’s fiftieth anniversary in 2012. The exhibition will include approximately 100 objects, both garments and accessories, by the CFDA’s most impactful creators of the last 50 years. Also included will be visual images and acknowledgement of the nearly 600 designers who have been members over the past five decades. Each living designer selected to participate in the exhibition is choosing a single object or ensemble that best represents his or her impact on the fashion world. A visually rich publication also entitled Impact, produced by the CFDA and published by Harry N. Abrams, will be the companion book to the exhibition.

What: “Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950″
Where: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
When: May 19, 2012 – January 26, 2013

From spring 2012 the V&A celebrates the opening of the newly renovated Fashion Galleries with an exhibition of beautiful ballgowns, red carpet evening dresses and catwalk showstoppers.  Displayed over two floors, Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 will feature more than sixty designs for social events such as private parties, royal balls, state occasions and opening nights.

A selection of royal ballgowns will be on display, including a Norman Hartnell gown designed for Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Diana’s ‘Elvis Dress’ designed by Catherine Walker and gowns worn by today’s young royals. Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 will also include dresses worn by actresses and celebrities including Elizabeth Hurley, Bianca Jagger and Sandra Bullock, and a stunning metallic leather dress created especially for the exhibition by innovative designer Gareth Pugh.

What: “Yves Saint Laurent — The Retrospective”
Where: Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
When: Opens March 25

A sweeping retrospective of the designer’s 40 years of creativity, Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective features a stunning selection of 200 haute couture garments along with numerous photographs, drawings, and films that illustrate the development of Saint Laurent’s style and the historical foundations of his work. Organized thematically, the presentation melds design and art to explore the full arc of Saint Laurent’s career, from his first days at Dior in 1958 through the splendor of his evening dresses from 2002. The DAM will be the only United States venue for the exhibition.

What: “Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs,” a retrospective of Jacobs’ work at LV
Where: Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris
When: March 9 to September 16

This exhibition tells the stories of two men, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs (artistic director of LV), and will highlight their contributions to the fashion world. How did they succeed in taking the pulse of their respective periods to innovate and take an entire industry forward? How did these two personalities, each with their own language, appropriate cultural phenomena and codes to write the history of contemporary fashion? An analysis rather than a retrospective, this parallel Vuitton-Jacobs comparison will provide new insight into the fashion system during its pivotal periods, beginning with its industrialisation and ending with its globalisation, focussing also on its artistic professions and crafts, technological advances, stylistic creations and artistic collaborations. It will also be homecoming for Louis Vuitton, who set up shop only a stone’s throw from the Louvre, the home of his first great patron, Empress Eugénie. Over a century separates Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs, but both come together in the excellence of their creativity.

What: Diana Vreeland
Where: Fortuny Museum, Venice, Italy
When: March 2012

What: “Fifty Years of James Bond Style” with pieces from Giorgio Armani, Prada, Oscar de la Renta and other designers
Where: The Barbican, London
When: April 2012

list via Fashionista