Dear ChangeFashion,

I just returned from a dance performance ‘comme crâne, comme culte’ by Christian Rizzo & L’Association Fragile that was hosted at Walter, the store of Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Van Saene in Antwerp.

Christian Rizzo is a French choreographer with a past as fashion designer, rock-musician and dancer. And he is currently being invited by DeSingel in Antwerp to perform several of his choreographic works. During his visits in Antwerp, the Walter-store is one of his compulsory stops in the city. So that is why it was evident for Rizzo to perform one of his pieces at Walter.

The store – a former mechanic’s garage – was completely emptied. Using the iconic figure of a black biker with helmet Rizzo presented a slow, meditative solo-performance using quotations from break-dance  and acrobatics. Christian Rizzo: “I showed a dancer that is unrecognizable by his biker-suit, so that the audience is not fixed on the persona of the dancer. All the attention is on the movement and the costume becomes an ‘inner’ turned inside-out.”

Dear ChangeFashion,

Yesterday the Belgian fashion magazine Elle België/Belgique hosted the award ceremony Elle Style Awards 2010 in Brussels.

I went with Leonardo Van Dijl, a fashion journalist and very talented videographer who also made the making-of videos for MoMu on our Stephen Jones & The Accent of Fashion exhibition. You can see the videos via the MoMu Vimeo-page.

Leonardo just returned from the press days at the Antwerp PR-offices, loaded with goodie-bags, presents and gifts…

The award ceremony was hosted by the charming Nica Broucke and Béa Ercolini, the leading ladies of Elle België and Elle Belgique. There were several categories in which the editors of the magazine and the Elle België/Belgique readers could cast their vote on their favourite Belgian model, designer, blog, music artist and personality.

I was very happy to see that A.F. Vandevorst received the Best Belgian Designer Award. In 2010 they have presented not only a very strong A/W 2010-11 collection, but they also produced several sucessful projects such as ‘Aktion’, a series of guerillia pop-up stores in different Belgian cities (Antwerp, Knokke and currently in Ghent), and a collaboration for a capsule lingerie collection together with lingerie manufacturer Marie Jo L’Aventure.

The best blog was awarded to Stijn Verlinden and Tom Tack from ILoveBelgium.be, an interesting blog on art, design, fashion, and of course Belgium. Check it out via this link!

Dear ChangeFashion,

Yesterday I went to Leuven with Frederik to visit his brother and we saw the movie ‘Untitled’! The theme of this great movie is on the big question: What is art? The main character Adrian is a composer of experimental music, creating sounds with newspapers, glasses and metal buckets. His main credo is the less harmonious it sounds the better, because harmony is only something that was invented to sell pianos! One day, he is discovered by Madeleine Gray, the owner of a hip avant-garde art gallery in Soho, and she gives him the opportunity to let him deploy his creativity in her gallery…

I like the way Joanathan Parker, director of the movie depicts the artworld and I like one of the press reviews on the movie: “Untitled carries off a tricky balancing act. It invites us to view the fictitious avant-garde musicians, visual artists, gallery owners and critics trooping across the screen as self-deluded buffons. But at the same time it takes these visionary oddballs seriously enough to force you to examine your own reflective skepticism.”

A very subtle comedy, so if you have the opportunity to see it, please do! Here is a link to the trailer. Somehow ‘Untitled’ also made me think of this great song by Chicks On Speed, called Art Rules!

Dear Changefashion,

Coccodrillo continues to create unique projects with established designers, photographers and other creatives collaborating on the ‘Coup d’Etalage’ window displays for the boutique.

Coccodrillo is very proud to announce Coup d’Etalage #4 in collaboration with Salvatore Ferragamo ‘Creations’ from November 25th until December 15th, 2010. Ferragamo Creations is an exclusive line of shoes that draws on the extraordinary archive of footwear -over 13.000 models realized over the course of eighty years- and are a numbered, limited series of revivals of some of the brand’s most iconic shoes. Precious models made entirely by hand using the original constructions, leathers and shapes.

Ferragamo’s Creations is now available in a small number of selected Ferragamo boutiques (Florence, Capri, Milan, Paris, new Yok, Tokyo and Mexico) and in corners of multibrand stores such as 10 Corso Como (Milan and Seoul), Dover Street market (London) and now also Coccodrillo in Antwerp!

Here is a selection of the shoes that will be on display and on sale:

LAUREN – Laced shoe with one set of eyelets. One-piece calf upper. Two loops with calf laces at vamp centre. Collar and back with stitched decoration. Raised toe. Wedge heel in cork covered with calf. Beige kid sock. leather sole. This model was created in 1946.

FUTURISTA – Laced-up shoe with a patchwork upper made of multicoloured embroidered cotton squares. The orginal model was created in 1930-1932. The patchwork upper is inspired by artistic avant-garde of the beginning of the 20th century.

SOPHIA – Sandal made of gold kid and Tavarnell and lace embroidered with Venetian glass beads. Stiletto heel. This model, employing a new variation of Tavarnelle lace, a Tuscan handcraft technique much admired by Ferragamo, was created (1955-1956) for the actress Sofia Loren at the launch of a new collection of shoes by Ferragamo in the Grand Hotel in Rome.

ROMANTICA – Suede pump with stiletto heel and scall oped edges. This model was one of Salvatore Ferragamo’s most successful creations in the 50s and was based on the type of pump made for Marylin Monroe.

RAINBOW – Gold kidskin sandal with cork heel and wedge inter-sole lined with variously coloured suede. Created in 1938 for Judy Garland, this model is one of the most famous ever made by Ferragamo in his career as shoemaker to the stars and shows his creative capacity to combine froms and colours.

WEDGE – A suede and kid wedge formed by three layers of lined cork. Patented in 1937, it was the first leather lined cork wedge in the history of 20th century fashion. the lacing suggest that of a Scottish shoe called a ghillie. This version was created for Peggy Guggenheim, the eminent patron of the arts.

TWIST – Suede and kid sandal with profiles wedge. The model, created in 1949, is Salvatore Ferragamo’s tribute to the Guggenheim Museum in New York, finished that year by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

AMERICA – Sandal in kid with interlaced strips inside small vinyl tubes. F-shaped wedge heel. The original model was created in 1947 as a variation on the famous “invisible’ sandal that was awarded the Neiman Marcus Award. The “F” heel is one of Ferragamo’s best known patents, created in the same year.

RAVELLO – Ballet pump shoe with one set of eyelets. Calf binding and tubular laces. Oval toe. Low, round heel in wood covered with leather. Beige kid sock. Heel in leather extended as back strap.

SALVATORE – A lace-up shoe with an assymetrical cut and curved toe in ultra soft leather. The upper is in soft, full grain, dark brown calfskin, aged in barrels using a particular chrome tanning process with aniline dyes. This is the only men’s model that Salvatore Ferragamo ever created in his career, and which he often wore. Andy Warhol was a great estimator of these shoes, and he often wore them during his painting work: that is why, re-editing them, the paint brushes and drops of colour of the original shoes have been maintained.

More info via www.coccodrillo.be & coccodrillo.be/blog

Dear ChangeFashion,

RA in Antwerp presented from yesterday until November 25th a new body of work by NY-based artist Joshua Ben Longo, a series of devilish little monster sculptures & illustrations “made to recreate that blinded excitement when you enter a toy store or the first time you go to the zoo”.

These newest pieces embody a sense of ritual and unknown function, suggesting a social narrative & a mythology for the creatures which inhabit the space. Joshua promises this show will take you “further down the Longoland monster hole!”

Since graduating from NYC’s Pratt Institute in 2003 with a degree in industrial design, Joshua has been exhibiting & creating his elaborate exhibits, sculptures, furniture & illustration in reaction to the restrictive world of commercial design. Past exhibitions include the Shelburne museum in Vermont, the Society of Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, and most recently in Créteil, France for Nouveaux Monstres (Exit Festival).

Alsongside his art, Joshua also writes music and looks forward to a long career in motivational speaking.

More info via www.longoland.com and via RA’s webshop

Dear ChangeFashion,

As promised, here is a post on the exhibition ‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’ at the Barbican Gallery in London, which still runs until February 6th 2011. The exhibition gives an overview of avant-garde Japanese fashion from 1980 until now, exploring this via different themes. Here is an overview of what I liked and saw:

* The exhibition starts with an excerpt from ‘In Praise of Shadows’, a short book by Japanese author and novelist Junichiro Tanizaki. The booklet is divided in 16 sections that discuss traditional Japanese aesthetics in contrast with change. I can only reccomend you to read the book, very heavy sometimes but also very witty!

* I loved the room with the photographs of Naoya Hatakeyama on Comme des Garçons garments, which were placed next to the actual garment on doll. It showed very nicely the simplicity and the extraordinary shapes of her designs, even unworn. The images capture Mrs. Kawakubo’s interest in asymmetry, flatness and form.

Sorry, but it was not allowed to take pictures so I took some from the exhibition’s catalogue.

* There were several documentaries in the exhibition, one was a documentaru by Wim Wenders on Yohji Yamamoto ‘On Notebooks and Cities’, I enjoyed reseeing it, my favourite part is this one. Go to 5′30″, where you’ll see Mr. Yamamoto during the re-opening of one of his stores in Japan, trying to put up the perfect ‘Yamamoto’ signature at the entrance of the new store!

* In 1994, Comme des Garçons invited artist Cindy Sherman to make a series of advertising for her brand, the pictures were folded into posters and used in a direct mailing campaign, breaking alsmost every rule of conventional fashion photography and were the clothes are on the background, even not clear of this were CdG garments being used.

It was great to also see copies of the legendary ‘Six’ Magazine, published between ‘88 and ‘94 by CdG. Six stands fro the ’sixth sense’. The magazine had little text content and almost no clothing was featured, instead it had artwork by Gilbert&George, Jean Cocteau,… The main aim of the magazine was to dissemate the spirit of CdG. (Unfortunately, it was not allowed to take pictures in the exhibition…)

* There were only three outfits from Jun Takahashi’s collection and each garment had a different wallpaper with the motif from the garments. A simple but very nice way to represent mr. Takahashi’s aesthetics, fusing luxurious fabrics and trimmings with an anarchic punk style.

* There was also a room with pieces from the next generation Japanese designers. I was of course very happy to see a piece from Mikio Sakabe’s collection. It was not allowed to take pictures but somehow this picture appeared on my phone

There were also very nice pieces from Akira Naka and Taro Horiuchi!

Dear ChangeFashion,

I was in London the last three days for Muscon, a conference for museums on travelling exhibitions, and of course took the opportunity to visit several expos, including the expo at Barbican Gallery on 30 Years Japanese Fashion. But more on that later!

During a walk in Kensington Gardens it was nice to discover works by Anish Kapoor. ‘Turning the World Upside Down’ is an outdoor exhibition of 4 sculptures by Anish Kapoor, encouraging passers-by to reflect on their surroundings and playing with themes like distortion, reality and dream. It was very nice to see the reflections of the polished stainless steel of the sculptures scattering from far throughout the park!

I took some pictures but you can also see a video with interview by Mr. Kapoor via this link.

However, one of my favourite artworks is a site-specific work he did in 2008, called Svayambh (it means ‘Self-Creation’ in Sasnkrit) in which a huge block of wax with red raw pigment travels slowly through a museum, leaving traces of its passage on walls and doorways. Unfortunately I never saw it live, but when i first saw pictures of this work I was fascinated by this man!

You can discover more on Anish Kapoor via this link!

Dear ChangeFashion,

This evening I went to see the movie Yves Saint Laurent: L’Amour Fou.

I think it is a fantastic documentary, that gives an overview of the relationship between Yves Saint Laurent and his partner for life, and business Pierre Bergé. I was blown away by the passion for fashion of Saint Laurent, and also his personality. Bergé says: “He was only really happy two days in a year, when he received the applause from the public during the finales of his S/S and A/W collection”. The extremely shy Saint Laurent was in his twenties when he became a superstar in the fashionworld. The youth he missed was replaced with alcohol and drugs.

However this was not a documentary full with sensation and drama, it was very touching to hear from Pierre Bergé how they both started their fashion house and gradually became more and more succesful, and how all of this influenced their personal relationship: bittersweet.

The film also shows very nice fragments with an overview of the impressive oeuvre of Saint Laurent’s collections. I loved the most the scene with the costume he designed for the French prima ballerina, actress and chanteuse Zizi Jeanmarie. I could not find a Youtube-movie on this scene, but here is some pictures I found of the outfit. Saint Laurent designed a lot of costumes especially for her, and I believe she was also a muse for him.

If you have the opportunity to see the documentary, I can only reccommend you go and see it! Here’s the link to the trailer.

Dear ChangeFashion,

End of October another book will come out by DAA – Designers Against Aids, an organisation founded by Ninette Murk to raise awareness on HIV among young people.

The book is edited by Ninette Murk and Michael James O’Brien with essays by ao. Dr. Peter Piot, Alain de Botton and with an impressive list of contributions by more than 100 artists, like Ali Mahdavi, Hannelore Knuts, Bernhard Willhelm, Yoko Ono, Marc Jacobs, Katharina Hamnett, Oliviero Toscani, Erwin Olaf, Daniel Jackson, Tim Van Steenbergen, Dita Von Teese, Faithless, Kim Peers, Tokyo Hotel, Ziggy Marley,….

More info: www.designersagainstaids.com & www.ludion.be

Dear ChangeFashion,

Yesterday I went with Frederik and Alexander to Paris to see Suivront Mille Ans de Calme, a ballet by Angelin Preljocaj made for 10 dancers of the Bolchoi in Russia. All three of us did not want to miss this because the music for the piece was by DJ Laurent Garnier.

When making this piece Mr. Preljocaj was influenced by The Apocalypse of St John. The most impressive was the part where the female dancers were crawling under a plastic film and the male dancers coming to cradle their wrapped bodies, providing a nice image of doom! You can see a video of the ballet here, unfortunately it does not include a piece of the scene i described above.

Before the ballet we met with my friend Hortense and we went for a very nice brunch at Le Fumoir.

(Alexander and Hortense at Le Fumoir)

After we walked in Jardin des Tuileries and saw this work by Pol Bury in the West Fountain of the park.

As the ballet was in Palais Chaillot, not far from the Eifel tower, we also did the oblogate touristical pictures As it was very cold in Paris, I was very happy with my new Mikio Sakabe sweater!!

(Frederik and yours truly)

Also, there was a strike in Paris, and even the statues were supportive.

Dear ChangeFashion,

RA in Antwerp is celebrating its 1st anniversary today!

As a platform for events RA is continually pulsing with energy, whether it’s the daily life of the boutique, the kitchen or the special events hosted in the gallery space. Always formulating new ways to use the space.

Here is a selection of my favourite events at RA since last year, in non-chronological order:

RA EXHIBITION S/S11

Returning to the Marais in Paris (but in a new space) the RA S/S11 exhibition during womens fashion week in Paris was a wonderland of creative installations and artistic expressions by international guest collaborators. A new partnership with the Beaux Arts’ Academy in Paris allowed wonderful new artists to join the space alongside several loyal names who exhibited for FW10. Participations from Narelle Doré, Paula Selby Avellaneda, Daniel Andresen, Kia Utzon, Romain Brau, Dimitri Afanko, Elise gettliffe, Hide A.H., Lliure Briz, Irene Alvarez, Sayaka Yamamoto, Pierre-Antoine Vettorello + Marie Le Traon, Hicham Berrada & Sophie Gaucher.

LENA LUMELSKY + FRANçOIS GLORIEUX

Accompanied by the musical stylings of the renowned Belgian pianist François Glorieux, designer Lena Lumelsky produced a choreographed mime act under UV-lights, entrancing the audience as the main dancer was slowly dressed by an army of near-invisible helpers.

SUNSET VINTAGE RECEPTION

RA and Labels Inc. hosted an exclusive collaboration fro FW2010 with a selection of vintage fashion for sale, curated by Labels Inc.’s Erna Vandekerckhove at RA. Extending the RA vintage corner, Erna presented pieces from her own private collection, the archives of Houben and Francis, including pieces from the early 20th century as well as designers such as Yohji Yamamoto, Balenciaga, Junya Watanabe, Chanel, Claude Montana. The sunset champagne shopping preview was a jovial affair, with guests enjoying champagne from Piper Heidsieck and kinky fashion cakes featuring Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour (seen like never before!).

SHOW2010 WEEK

Australian/Belgian fashion photographer Sonny Vandevelde exhibited a series of his backstage shots from SHOW2009. Featuring the collections of Emilie Pirlot, Juan Hernandez Daels, Irina Shaposhnikova, Elise Gettliffe, Alexandra Verschueren, Lea Dickley and Stephanie Bösl. Alongside the photographs, five graduates offered a solhouette for an exhibition. On the second night of SHOW2010, Sonny and RA hosted the BACKSTAGE party, with DJ Darko and RA DJ’s.

RA ONLINE STORE

A wide selection from over fifty international designers complemented with a selection of books, music and gadgets, worldwide delivery!

18+

Valentine’s eve with Andrea Cammarosano, Petrus Heeren, Spaghetti GangBang + L.I.A in a steamy music/performance/art/party. Spaghetti GangBang broadcast over the internet from inside their pink furry phallus, mixing erotic fruit juices for their voyeuristic onlookers in RA & accross the web. Andrea Cammarosano offered his ’services’ for the night, with a veritable smorgasbord of cut+paste ‘andrea aliases’ from all over the map, for paying customers to take home and enjoy. Petrus Heeren performed a sensual adolescent ritual in the front hut, recreating a teenage boy’s bedroom scene exploring his own physicality in the ‘private’ of his own space.

MATERIAL BOY

Australian designer Mic Eaton presented the European revival of his menswear line, with “a veritable wardrobe for the modern nomad’. For F/W 2010 the material boy became a renaissance man with a static show in RA, as models posed in eery still-lifes.

UN ANIMAL DEVRA MOURIR

La Cambre graduate Giuseppe Virgone showed his shredded, dissected collection of opulent menswear in a theatrical presentation, on young boys with golden masks by Guillaume Airriaud + live cassette tape electronica by Nomoi (Berlin).

ITS#9 RA AWARD

RA announced the recipient of the 2010 inaugural RA award at the ITS#9 fashion competition in Trieste, awarded to the Antwerp Academy designer Niels Peeraer, with his collection “Kisokuzy Akai No Dorei Geishan 58-65″. Niels Peeraer chose to show his collection on a group of Asian boys, as a relevant social piece that asks us to look past gender to see his utopian beauty. The garments were an array of body conscious stretch corsetery, high-waisted skirts, draped silk dresses and bondage harnesses worn with coats. Accessories were crafted from equestrian equipments, tying in with his study of the Japanese “ponyplay” fetish, when people dress as horses.

COLLECSSION

Japanese designer Sayaka Yamamoto presented her latest collection of handmade brooches and other unique jewellery pieces through the RA corridor, offering her works like a museum exhibit by presenting her pieces like found organic specimens in perspex cases. She accompanied the collections with her own intricate illustrations, published in a 20-page limited edition book, on sale with RA printed matter. 3 separate series “second life”, “tuber” and “sketch 1 – pine” were created from such unusual materials as toy soldoers, vintage buttons, inspired by new life and alternate perspectives of nature.

THE BLACK THEATRE

A lightbox shadow puppet theatre, edited by RA printed matter and illustrated by Lena Lumelsky, featuring scenes and characters from 20th century fashion history. Created as a limited edition of 200 copies, handmade in Belgium and sold at RA and MoMu on the occasion of the exhibition ‘BLACK. Masters of Black in Fashion & Costume’. Click here to check out the video on The Black Theatre!

More info on RA via http://www.ra13.be

Dear ChangeFashion,

I am very happy to announce a new book by make-up artist Inge Grognard and photographer Ronald Stoops.

The book is an anthology of over 30 years of collaboration, with emphasis on their non-commercial work, including projects with other like-minded people such as Narcisse Tordoir, Martin Margiela, A.F. Vandevorst, Jurgi Persoons and Andrea Cammarosano.

Sputnik Magazine 1998

Belgian beauty, (B)eople Magazine 2001

Jurgi Persoons A/W 1998-99, Antwerp March 1998

Inge and Ronald started their careers in the early 1980s, coinciding with the international breakthrough of Belgian fashion. In their early years they made valuable contributions to the imagery of Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene and Martin Margiela amongst others. The second generation of Belgian designers including Raf Simons, Veronique Branquinho, A.F. Vandevorst and Jurgi Persoons have also found Grognard and Stoops’ strong visual language invaluable.

Next to the fantastic imagery in the book I also love the introduction by Kaat Debo, director of the MoMu Fashion Museum, who wrote a very nice passage defining the work and also personality of Inge and Ronald:

“This book starts and ends with a scream”, Inge Grognard confides to me at the beginning of our conversation. The images Inge is referring to are a black-an-white photo of Kristina -one of Martin Margiela’s house models- with her two brothers, and a colour photo of two of Inge’s cats.

Hallway at a friend’s studio in Antwerp, showing a selection of imagery from Inge & Ronald

“The scream symbolizes how Ronald and I communicate. To outsiders the way we work together must come across as very harsh. We tend to yell at each other a lot and discussions can easily get out of hand.” Later Inge tells me she deliberately seeks this tension and it clearly shows in their collective work. The images mentionned above embrace the rest of the book and joilt you with a shock to an oeuvre that balances between the brutal -often to the point of aggressive- with the fragile.

Inge grognard/Ronald Stoops is available in bookstores at the end of October 2010.

Published by Ludion, ISBN 978-90-5544-984-2, €39,90