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UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Marie Antoinette: Styling the 18th Century SuperstarSeptember 20, 2008 - January 11, 2009
Internationally acclaimed artist and fashion designer Jeffrey Mayer presents an exhibition of 20th and 21st-century fashion design inspired by the 18th-century fashion aesthetic of Marie Antoinette.
Although Marie Antoinette did not really create a style that was personally unique, what she did for fashion in the 1770s was to solidify, refine and intensify the rococo style created by Madame de Pompadour, favorite mistress of Louis XV. Madame de Pompadour died in 1764, 6 years before the 14-year-old princess had even arrived from Austria, leaving a rich legacy for future queens. What Marie Antoinette added to her style predecessor’s vocabulary were the concepts of Fantasy, Luxury, and Exoticism.
Fantasy ruled in the court of Marie Antoinette as the often-bored queen of France looked to extreme fashion for diversion. Inspired by the shepherdesses in the fields around Versailles and village life, Marie Antoinette created a fantasy version of farm life, starring herself as the chief shepherdess in elaborate silk gowns and heavily embroidered aprons. Hairstyles also defined fantasy, the top coiffeur, Léonard, creating the pouf, or extremely tall beehive hairstyle made of wire forms, backcombed hair, and hair extensions. These confections were trimmed with live birds in cages, fresh flowers, miniature scenes and models of ships in sail.
Luxury was achieved for Marie Antoinette through the use of the finest fabrics, laces and embroidery that France could create. Designed and overseen by the queen’s own Minister of Fashion, Parisian dressmaker Rose Bertin, no small detail was left unfinished.
Exoticism was promoted by Marie Antoinette as her mother, queen Maria Theresa of Austria, sent books and trinkets imported from around the world. Through these exotic gifts, Marie Antoinette became well read and worldly. Asia, Africa and the Americas provided inspiration and amused the queen, who incorporated the new forms and motifs into decoration for fashion and furnishings at Versailles. As a result, pagodas and leopard print began creeping into the rococo vocabulary.
Many 20th-century fashion designers have been influenced by the exuberance of Marie Antoinette’s rococo fashion. For example, it can be seen from the frothy hoop skirted dress of the 1950s to the embellished and embroidered garments of the present (Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film, Marie Antoinette, has again rekindled interest in the Marie Antoinette style.)
Marie Antoinette began as a small exhibition at Syracuse University’s Fashion Design Department where Jeffrey Mayer has been Associate Professor of Fashion History and Design since 1992. For the Everson’s exhibition Mayer has expanded the visual experience to include 48 mannequins painstakingly styled and accessorized with 20th and 21st-century fashion designs created by American and European designers. Mayer spares no detail with over-the-top designs and highly embellished accessories including delightful fans with interactive audio messages placed throughout the exhibition for viewers to discover. The models are tightly grouped to create mini-narratives inspired by the anything-but-ordinary life of Marie Antoinette.
This exhibition is made possible by the following sponors:
M & T Bank The Post-Standard Media sponsorship is generously provided by:
Syracuse New Times NewsChannel 9 WSYR Movin 100.3 & 96.5 FM Warhol PresentsSeptember 20, 2008 - January 11, 2009Warhol Presents highlights the early commercial career of Andy Warhol, whose whimsical drawings from the 1950s created fantasies that marketed fashion and glamour through evocation. Warhol’s penchant for combining art and advertisement quickly made him one of the most well known illustrators of women’s fashion in New York. His talent was sought out by fashion publication giants, including Glamour, Mademoiselle, Vogue, McCall’s and Harper’s Bazaar; and women’s footwear designer and retailer, I. Miller Shoe Company. The exhibition presents eighteen of Warhol’s rarely seen shoe illustrations including Fantasy Shoes (ca. 1956), a whimsical and humorous take on women’s footwear design. Exhibited also are drawings of women’s accessories and fashion figures, including Female Fashion Figure (1950s); a vibrant depiction of a chic model alongside an equally stylish car. Warhol’s unique well-wrought line also translated to commissions of large-scale window displays for New York stores, including Bonwit Teller and Tiffany’s. One example of the artist’s window displays is featured in this exhibition in the illustrated reproduction, Miss Dior (1950s); and a 1997 three-dimensional re-creation of Warhol’s 1957 Bonwit Teller Window Display, which includes glass perfume bottles and colorful reproduction of a window display screen. Warhol’s early drawings and interest in art, identity and consumerism informed his later pop-icon status, when product and identity literally became his art, and was used to fuel his experimental factory era films.
This exhibition is curated by Natalie Sanderson, Curator of Education at the University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara. The original exhibition, Andy Warhol Presents, was first exhibited at the University Art Museum in 2007.
Media sponsorhip for Warhol Presents is generously provided by:
Syracuse New Times NewsChannel 9 WSYR Movin 100.3 & 96.5 FM 50/50: Nancy JursMay 3, 2009 - February 7, 2009Rochester-based artist Nancy Jurs will showcase mized-media and clay works created during her 50-year career in a retrospective. Anne Cofer (Winner of 2008 Everson Biennial Best-of-Show Award)May 3, 2009 - February 7, 2009Anne Cofer, a Syracuse artist who works in clay and mixed media, will present new work for her solo exhibition in the Robineau Gallery. |
