Hussein Chalayan, récits de mode
5 July–13 November 2011

The Arts Décoratifs has given ‘carte blanche’ to one of the most innovative and creative fashion designers of our time: Hussein Chalayan.
Born in Nicosia in 1970, he moved to London as a child traveling back and forth between Cyprus and England until he went to university. He earned his degree from Central Saint Martins College in 1993.
Following his own unique approach to design for seventeen years, he stands on the frontier of fashion, architecture and design. His work is characterized by an intellectual rigor and a quest for technical perfection that often defies fashion stereotypes. Chalayan stood out from the start of his career through his highly inventive exploration of various mediums, including sculpture, furniture, video and special effects, which he uses in his fashion shows, drawing inspiration directly from the political, social and economic realities of his era.
The exhibition showcases this rich, complex world, in which clothing, installations, fashion shows, projections and research are shown by side to illustrate Chalayan’s distinctive process.

Antwerp's MoMu fashion museum opened its doors on 8th of September for the latest exhibition for Fall Winter 2010-11, in a retrospective of the 30 year career of British hat designer Stephen Jones. Having collaborated with the world's most distinguished fashion designers, Stephen's hats have become synonymous with a quirky and glamorous aesthetic - the finishing artistic touch to many fabulous and memorable outfits.
Collectors' Geert Bruloot and Eddy Michiels of Coccodrillo boutique in Antwerp have offered their extensive personal hat collection to the exhibition, alongside pieces directly from the archives of Azzedine Alaïa, Jean Paul Gaultier, Comme des Garçons, Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano. Not only offering their hats, Geert himself has co-curated the exhibition with the MoMu's Kaat Debo, engineering a four part journey through Stephen's fantastical realms - beginning with "Adventure", "Science", "Rococo" and finishing with "Glamour".
The exhibition's layout is anything but spare - a surprise considering the focus is a rather petite object designed to perch atop the human head. Instead the space is filled with giant white hat boxes emblazoned with Stephen's logo, and each section is punctuated with a giant recreation of one of his designs.
Rounding out the hats themselves are many iconic photographs from the pages of international fashion titles - from Stephen's hometown of London to one of his most popular fashion markets of Tokyo, Japan. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors can view a video of Stephen's earliest days in the business, dressing his ‘New Romantic' friends like singer Boy George and model Sybille de St Phalle. Italian Vogue's Anna Piaggi, another close friend, dedicated a collage to Stephen featuring images of her own extensive collection, shot inside her Milan apartment.
From his punk beginnings in the clubland of 80s London to the forefront of Parisian couture, the exhibition is truly a triumphant celebration of Stephen's larger-than-life persona, reflected in over 300 of his exquisitely delicate objets d'art.
Till 13/2/2010

 

The more banal aspects of clothing a body have never hampered Hussein Chalayan's creativity. In fact, he has long been inspired by "disembodiment" - an idea that poses a challenge, perhaps, for the fashion runways but one that is certainly well suited to an art gallery. For "I Am Sad Leyla (Üzgünüm Leyla)," the designer's solo exhibition at London's Lisson gallery, which openend Sept. 8, Chalayan has created a sound-art installation that includes audio, film, sculpture, musical notation and yes, even a bit of fashion.

Chalayan filmed the Turkish pop star and Eurovision Song Contest winner Sertab Erener performing the classical Turkish song "I Am Sad Leyla (Üzgünüm Leyla)," accompanied by an Ottoman orchestra, at the Istanbul Kadiköy Halk Egitim Merkezi theater. Visitors to the gallery will encounter a life-size sculpture of Erener dressed in Chalayan's updated version of a traditional Turkish costume, which he created from a three-dimensional scan of her body. The sculpture will be silent, but Erener's voice will be heard from another room in the gallery, where Chalayan will play only the sound from his film.

"I am examining the different elements of a song separately," Chalayan explained from his London studio. "I am splitting the singer's voice from her body. Disembodiment is a theme throughout my work. I like to create a body and then deconstruct it. I create a body to become disembodied from."

Along with "disembodiment," Chalayan is also interested in ideas of displacement. He moved to England when he was 8, but he has become one of Turkey's most internationally respected creative figures, even representing Turkey in the 2005 Venice Biennial. "London lets me understand my culture better," he said. "Turkey is so multilayered. There are so many influences from the Byzantine and Ottoman upwards. I can dissect the nuances from a distance."

According to Chalayan, the Turkish fashion scene, which will be showcased in the third Istanbul Fashion Week at the end of August, is self-consciously forward thinking. "I am a London designer," he pointed out, "but what I notice about Istanbul's fashion community is that it's similar to what I've seen on Moscow's catwalks and in the Middle East. It is mostly concerned with what is new. Whereas the West is interested in deconstructing its history, Turkish fashion holds little stake in the past."

By untangling the fabric of Turkey's musical heritage and weaving its pop present into its rich classical history, Chalayan is staking his claim on its future.

"I Am Sad Leyla (Üzgünüm Leyla)" runs through Oct. 2 at Lisson Gallery, 52-54 Bell Street, London; lissongallery.com.