Monday, March 26, 2012

Brilliance, Chic and a Dash of Naughty: Fashion Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier Opens Dazzling New Fashion Exhibit in San Francisco


I’ve alerted you to the delights of blockbuster fashion exhibits showcasing the designs of Yves Saint Laurent and Cristobal Balenciaga at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

Make way now for a live fashion designer—the very much alive and vividly creative Jean-Paul Gaultier.

The designer cut a swathe through San Francisco this last week—preparing his landmark museum show, charming guests at a private party in his honor in Ken Fulk’s loft (party pictures and chic guests below), dancing at the show’s opening, lecturing with Suzy Menkes, munching lunch at Zuni café (my favorite), and on Sunday returning to Paris.

I dined on truffle risotto with Gaultier at the dinner, sat enthralled through his chat with Suzy, and was fortunate to chat with him one-on-one. Join me here for a celebration of Gaultier’s talent, his brave banishing of barriers, and his witty and wild fashions. And check out Suzy Menkes’ and Gaultier’s exclusive quotes here—not to be missed. 


Pierre et Gilles, Jean Paul Gaultier, 1990
Private collection, Paris
© Pierre et Gilles/Rainer Torrado
On March 24, 2012 the de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park launched The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, the first exhibition devoted to the celebrated French designer and his personal themes of “equality, diversity and perversity.”

The de Young is the exclusive West Coast venue for this critically acclaimed international exhibition. It was planned by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition and will be on view at the de Young from March 24-August 19, 2012.

“Jean-Paul Gaultier is one of the funniest, most talented, wittiest, and funkiest fashion designers I know.” – Suzy Menkes, the greatest and hardest-working fashion journalist, the fashion editor for The International Herald Tribune 

Jean Paul Gaultier. Cages collection, Calligraphie gown
haute couture fall/winter 2008-2009
© Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier. Cages collection, Calligraphie gown (detail)
haute couture fall/winter 2008-2009
© Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

Dubbed fashion’s “enfant terrible” from his first stunning and wickedly chic runway shows in the 1970s, Jean Paul Gaultier is indisputably one of the most important fashion designers of recent decades. Collaborating with Madonna, Helen Mirren, film directors like Peter Greenaway, and on designs for the runway and global distribution, Gaultier has followed his own path to out-there design, always with a wink. 

I love Gaultier’s avant-garde and often outre fashions that reflect an understanding and empathy and curiosity for multicultural world issues and preoccupations. He has always been shaking up—with invariable good humor—and challenging established societal, sexual, aesthetic codes. “I do not set out to shock,” he told me. “I design, I am curious about life, and sometimes my ideas shock people. That’s not so bad, no?’ 

Perou, Dita Von Teese Flaunt, 2003
Dada collection
Women’s prêt-à-porter spring/summer 1983
© Perou
‘There are real reasons why designers last—knowledge, talent, technique, skill, art, craftsmanship, creativity, ideas—and Jean-Paul Gaultier has all of them, indeed. There are not many designers like him who have changed the course of fashion history and captured a fashion moment in time.” – Suzy Menkes at her de Young Museum presentation

Virgins (or Madonnas) collection, “Lumière” gown
Haute couture spring/summer 2007
Black and stained glass print jersey and chiffon gown with cape-style sleeve
© Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

Virgins (or Madonnas) collection, “Dolorès” gown
Haute couture spring/summer 2007
Black gloss-finish guipure top over an ivory silk tulle underskirt with large religious-motif jacquard medallion appliqués encircled by black guipure
© Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

More of a contemporary installation than a fashion retrospective, the Gaultier exhibition—which the couturier considers to be a creation in its own right—features approximately 140 ensembles spanning over thirty-five years from the designer’s couture and ready-to-wear collections, along with their accessories.

Through discipline, technical virtuosity, a vivid imagination, and ground-breaking artistic collaborations, Gaultier offers an open-minded vision of society.

His is a crazy, sensitive, and sexy world in which everyone can assert his or her own identity, from mutable and poetic to aggressively feminine or man-in-lace.

“Clothes became my attraction and obsession early. I wasn’t so interested in dressing myself because I was not my object of desire.” – Jean-Paul Gaultier 

Jean Paul Gaultier. Parisiennes collection, Les Particules élémentaires dress
haute couture fall/winter 2010-2011
© Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

Jean Paul Gaultier. Calligraphy collection, Labyrinth gown
Haute couture spring/summer 2009
© Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier
On full view in this extremely diverting show, Gaultier’s empathetic collections offer a curious, witty, and shoulder-shrugging vision of society.

Many of the pieces in the San Francisco show have never previously been exhibited.

Throughout the galleries, thirty unique and sometimes captivating mannequins wear dramatic wigs and headdresses by Odile Gilbert, as well as interactive faces created by technologically ingenious audiovisual projections. Startling!

“I have always been drawn to designing fashions that are rebellious, like black leather jackets on suburban kinds, a corset dress, punk, blue jeans. I love that. Fashion changes all the time, and what is considered extreme or elegant or luxurious (or not luxurious) is changing all the time.” –Jean-Paul Gaultier in conversation with Suzy Menkes 

Perou, Dita Von Teese Flaunt, 2003
Buttons collection, “Circé” ensemble
Haute couture spring/summer 2003
Black hat-gown of lace appliqué on fine straw and
black horsehair, jet pin; black lace bloomers; black fishnet tights
© Perou

Jean Paul Gaultier. Calligraphy collection, Monogramme jacket
haute couture spring/summer 2009
© Rainer Torrado/Jean Paul Gaultier

When you visit the show, expect a multi-media extravaganza complete with strange and compelling and startling animated mannequins, film loops, runway clips, imagery, sound, and video excerpts from his extensive film and music collaborations.

It’s chic, raw, glamorous, hardedge, and chaotic and presented with force and energy that portrays Gaultier’s world.

“I love and admire everyone who is different. I love that. The ‘jet set’ is banal. ‘Good taste’ is banal. Eccentricity is chic. Good taste paralyzes. But punk or street fashion or a tattoo-covered body, that is interesting to me, and that I love. I didn’t go to fashion school. I learned from watching couture shows on TV and reading magazines. That made me dream.” –Jean-Paul Gaultier in conversation 

Pierre et Gilles, The Virgin with the Serpents (Kylie Minogue), 2008
Virgins (or Madonnas) collection, “Auréole” gown
Haute couture spring/summer 2007.
Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris
© Pierre et Gilles. Courtesy Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris

Party, Party
In honor of Jean-Paul Gaultier, San Francisco interior designer / event planner Ken Fulk dreamed up a dazzling fete at his San Francisco loft, complete with Dita von Teese for after-dinner delectation. (Thank you, Juliet de Baubigny.) The party raised funds for the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums. Bravo to museum trustees.

Gaultier, charming, humorous, and gracious, brought along members of his atelier, his favorite model, Farida Khelfa, pals, his crew and his team. Lovely. I adored meeting them.

Congratulations, Ken, for planning the identical twins playing harps during dinner, and for your inspired impresario touches.

Guests included Denise Hale, Dede Wilsey, Vanessa Getty in a dramatic Gaultier Roman general-inspired black leather dress, Trevor and Alexis Traina, Juliet de Baubigny, Dita von Teese, the superb Suzy Menkes, and friends from near and far, too glamorous and fabulous to mention. 

Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vanessa Getty in Gaultier couture from Decades, Los Angeles

Becca Cason Thrash in Gaultier couture 
Suzy Menkes, Ken Fulk, Dita von Teese and Jean-Paul Gaultier

Juliet de Baubigny and Alexis Swanson

Jelka Music, global public relations director for Jean-Paul Gaultier, with Denise Hale

Dede Wilsey in Chanel 

Alexis Swanson and Ken Fulk

Dita von Teese with Avhi Ardath and Casey Jones


When he was in San Francisco recently, Jean-Paul Gaultier also made a highly successful and hotly anticipated visit to the Academy of Art University Fashion Department, under the direction of the brilliant Gladys Palmer:

Click here for a visit with Jean-Paul Gaultier and the lively and talented students of the fashion department: 
http://youtu.be/7LJHbqVPK98




Exhibition Catalogue:

Buy the Book!  The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts published a 424-page monograph, the first on Gaultier, in collaboration with Abrams.

It can be ordered through the museum. http://deyoung.famsf.org


Where to see the show:
de Young Museum
Golden Gate Park

50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
San Francisco, CA 
415-750-3600
http://deyoung.famsf.org




Credits: 
Social photography at Ken Fulk’s San Francisco loft, a party to benefit the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, by Drew Altizer. www.drewaltizer.com. Ken Fulk: www.kenfulk.com

Photographs of Jean-Paul Gaultier, the exhibit and fashions courtesy SFFAS, used with express permission.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Artist I’m Crazy About: The Brilliant and Divine Fashion Illustrator, David Downton


David Downton recently came to San Francisco from London for a splendid fete.

David, whose super-chic clients include Chanel and Gucci and Vogue—is the world’s top fashion illustrator.

He lives within sound of the English Channel (almost)—and frequents the most insider fashion spots in Paris, Milan, London, New York.

Today on THE STYLE SALONISTE you’ll meet David and learn about his new appointment as Fashion Artist in Residence at Claridge’s in London, the chic-est hotel in the world. 



David is the most delightful man—droll, nice, perceptive, stylish and cool—in his turquoise Alexander McQueen scarf. During his brief California visit we had lunch, dinner, drinks, and I viewed his recent portraits. Exquisite. He’s great company at a dinner party—but most of all he’s a genius illustrator. 

Come with me and meet David, read about his fabulous new appointment at Claridge’s (where he has his own suite), buy his book, and swoon over his newest portraits. 





You’ve seen David Downton’s sexy and sensual and wonderfully soulful sketches that capture famous woman like Paloma Picasso and Catherine Deneuve, as well as Anouk Aimee and Carmen, and Linda Evangelista. They’re on Vogue covers and in every stylish publication. Fashion editors and designers adore him.

Come and learn about his life, his work, and his acute insights.

David lives in the lovely countryside south of London.

He recently received an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the arts from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. 

San Francisco interior designer Ken Fulk recently honored David Downton with a booksigning party at his San Francisco gallery, Peepshow. David’s new book, ‘Masters of Fashion Illustration’ was recently published. See below for more information.

David Downton

Ken Fulk and Denise Hale

David Downton and Tatiana Sorokko

I sat down for a chat with David. He put down his pens and brushes for the moment and we talked about fashion, Claridge’s, fashion figures, famous faces, travel, and clients—and much more.

Please make a cup of tea—or pour a glass of delicious wine—and join us for a chat.


DDS: It is such a pleasure to meet you. I've admired your very distinctive and elegant fashion drawings for many years.

Your portraits of Paloma Picasso and Catherine Deneuve, and the lovely Dita von Teese are powerful. Who are the latest subjects of your portraits?

DD:
Thank you! Can I say, first of all, that I have had the best time in San Francisco. I have Denise Hale and Ken Fulk to thank for masterminding it. From now on, I’m not leaving home without them.

Regarding my recent sitters, they have mostly been to do with my appointment as Artist in Residence at Claridge’s. They include Diane Von Furstenberg, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alber Elbaz (of Lanvin) Dita Von Teese, Sir Paul Smith, Joan Collins and Denise Hale, of course.

All have close ties with the hotel and the drawings will eventually go on permanent display there. No doubt we’ll get to that later. 


DDS: More than other fashion illustrator, you are able to define and capture an essential sense of femininity and grace. Your illustrations define beauty, elegance and timeless style. They burst with a vibrant sense of life.
DD:
“Keep working until it looks spontaneous”, is my mantra. I love it when people describe my work as effortless. It implies I’m much more talented than I am! Actually each drawing is a mini drama, a fight to the death. Forests have died in the name of this. I’m not proud of it!


DDS: No doubt this perfectionism and frantic editing is why you are so popular with companies like Chanel, Lancome, Tiffany's New York, Harrod's, Neiman Marcus, Tom Ford Beauty, Dior, Van Cleef & Arpels and many others. 

DD: These lists of new clients and projects are always cyclical. I try not to analyze them too much. I certainly never think about my ‘style’, as it all becomes a hindrance and defines and limits expectations. Someone once described my work as ‘contemporary nostalgia’. I like that. It pretty much sums up what I am trying to do.



DDS: You were recently in Paris for the couture collections, and then you flew to San Francisco, to be feted and admired by all your fans here. Then you hopped back to London for Fashion Week, and then it is once more on to Milan and Paris. How do you find time to actually illustrate? 
DD: I live in East Sussex, between the Downs and the sea. It’s an hour from London and less from Gatwick airport. Traveling is part of the job and I love it, but living away from the centre of things means that when I am in my studio I am working, not socializing or being otherwise distracted. It’s quiet. I can focus. I love it. 


DDS: Your first Paris couture trip was in 1996. It must have been a dream for you as an artist. Now you are a regular. How brilliant. 
DD: I had no idea what I was getting into! I had never seen a fashion show before, much less a couture show. I went straight to the black run in ski-ing terms-- there are no nursery slopes in fashion. I got off Eurostar and went to draw the Valentino fittings at the Ritz. Later that evening, my first show was Versace (the year before he was murdered).

Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Christie Turlington came onto the runway together. I felt as though I’d landed in Narnia.


DDS: You're versatile. You can capture Yves Saint Laurent (the original), and Chanel. But you also draw for Topshop. 
DD: Illustrators draw what they see. We are not designers; we are interpreters. That presents a creative challenge. You have to respect the designer’s vision and bring something of yourself to bear.

Sometimes there is complete harmony between the artist and the designer, as with Christian Dior and René Gruau in the 40s and 50s, or more recently Francois Berthoud with Viktor and Rolf. 


DDS: I love your portrait of Amanda Harlech, and there's Ann Piaggi, and Cate Blanchett. They have such spontaneity and life. 
DD: I am very lucky. I sit across the drawing board from the worlds most beautiful and fascinating women. Who knew that was a job? I always say the sitter IS the drawing; I just have to get it down on paper. 



DDS: You recently published your second book 'Masters of Fashion Illustration' which is a stunningly in-depth and beautiful overview of all the most influential and talented and original fashion illustrators of the twentieth century, up to 1984. Included in the book are, of course, Tom Keogh, Bob Peak, Andy Warhol, Coby Whitmore, Antonio and René Bouché. Each so distinctive. 
DD: It is a book about drawing and my love of these great artists. I have always believed that fashion is as legitimate a subject for art as any – and that includes the Mont Ste-Victoire of Cezanne and Tracey Emin’s emotional temperature. Fashion illustration has often been dismissed as fleeting or ephemeral, but to me it is a great, and largely unsung, figurative art form. The book gave me the chance to celebrate my heroes including Eric, Viramontes and Tom Keogh, all of whom are neglected today. René Bouché was another great hero of mine and I was so happy to finally meet his widow, who lives in San Francisco, on this trip. A big moment for me. 


DDS: How do you personally appraise a fashion illustration? You included in the book such varied approaches—from pop to washy and splashy watercolors to collage ink drawings, oils, to the utter chic of Carl Erickson, to the sexy and slightly satirical style of Vertes. What do you admire in fashion drawings? 
DD: I admire fluidity, mastery of the medium, humor. Fashion drawing tells not just the story of the dress, but also the story around the dress. A great fashion illustration, by Eric, say, or Antonio Lopez, can reveal so much about the way we wanted to look (and how we wanted to live) at any given moment.

DDS: In your book, you speak of the Golden Age of Fashion Illustration, when fashion artists from the thirties to the sixties flew First Class, stayed at the Ritz and the Crillon, and were a regular part of Vogue and WWD and Bazaar fashion reporting. They used to do portraits of presidents (Kennedy) and film stars. You seem to be enjoying your own Golden Age now—with so many projects and such acclaim. 
DD: I am certainly doing my best, one drawing at a time! Apart from anything else, it is great fun. “If it’s not fun, it’s no fun!” to quote my great friend Carmen Dell’ Orefice


DDS: You were recently appointed Fashion Artist in Residence at Claridge's, the most glorious hotel in London. I am so envious! It is one of the great all-time concepts. Tell us who dreamed this up--and what it involves? 
DD: Don’t envy me—I envy myself! The concept was originally dreamed up by the PR director, Paula Fitzherbert and her brilliant team. I met with Paula and Claridges’ general manager, Thomas Kochs, and together we came up with a plan.

The project involves drawing some of the hotel’s most illustrious guests. We are hoping to create a modern icon of Claridge’s and its collection. 



DDS: And when you are in residence at Claridge's you also hold court, drawing, at the Fumoir. It is so original and chic. 
DD: I am obsessed with the Fumoir! It is the most glamorous and grown up bar in London. Not to mention the most beautiful. I regard Table 4 as ‘my’ table, and I don’t like anyone going near it. The night I arrived in San Francisco a friend texted from London to say that George Clooney and Daniel Craig were at my table.

I nearly flew straight home! 


DDS: You also accept special commissions for portraits, like the ones recently of Valentino for a publication, and the notable new private one of Denise Hale. Tell us how you created the first brilliant and vivacious illustration of Denise.
DD:
We met a couple of years ago in San Francisco. Denise enjoyed a speech I made (I was given an honorary doctorate by the Academy of Art University) and made a point of telling me so. We talked vaguely about doing a drawing. Then, last summer, when she was briefly in London on her way to Dubrovnik, we had lunch. I pounced, “why not now?” We did a sitting for an hour or so at Claridge’s. It's the black and white one. Denise is a great subject because she has such spirit and because she’s glamorous in a way that people have forgotten how to be. If my apartment building were on fire I would call Denise. She would know the architect and the quickest way out. If I were lost at sea, she’d get hold of her nearest friend with a yacht. It’s not often you meet people like that! 


DDS: Can my readers contact you for privately commissioned portraits through your website? (www.daviddownton.com) 
DD: I’d be delighted to hear from them.


DDS: David, thank you. It has been a great pleasure. I’ll see you at the Fumoir! Soon, I hope.


David Downton Recently Checked In at Claridge’s


Here is the official announcement.

Watch out for David at the Fumoir at Claridge’s next time you stop in for a drink! You know where to find him. Be sure to say hello, and tell him your read about him on THE STYLE SALONISTE.

London: Claridge’s, the Art Deco landmark in Mayfair, recently announced the appointment of David Downton as Fashion Artist in Residence. Downton, known for his classically elegant yet highly contemporary illustrations of style icons such as Carmen Dell’Orefice, Cate Blanchett and Dita von Teese, established his atelier at Claridge’s, drawing some of the hotel’s most illustrious guests. This collection of drawings will be on permanent public display, creating a timeless addition to the Claridge’s historical art collection. 


Claridge’s has long been recognized as a London favorite for the fashion, art and cinema world. Marc Jacobs has used the hotel as the inspiration for his latest Louis Vuitton collection and regular guests such as Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Paul Smith and Carolina Herrera name Claridge’s as their home in London.

David Downton said: “Glamour and an effortless assurance are the hallmarks of Claridge's. I am excited and honored to be the first ever artist in residence at high fashion's home from home.”

Claridge’s General Manager Thomas Kochs said: “Over the years, some of our most celebrated guests have been captured on camera and we feel David’s drawings will add another dimension to the already established archives of Claridge’s. David Downton has been a long-time friend of the hotel and we have admired his work for many years. It is a pleasure to share David’s talent with our guests!” 


CREDITS:
All illustrations published here are by David Downton, used with express permission.

Follow David at www.daviddownton.com

David's illustrations are available for purchase at www.fashionillustrationgallery.com

Party photographs at Ken Fulk’s Peepshow gallery by Drew Altizer, www.drewaltizer.com, used with express permission of the photographer. 




Claridge’s
For more information: 
www.claridges.co.uk
Photographs of Claridge’s used with permission of Claridge’s, London.
Claridge’s, Brook Street, London, UK





Monday, March 12, 2012

Pizzazz! The Divine Diana Vreeland in Venice


A Dazzling New Exhibition Honoring Diana Vreeland has just opened at the Museo Fortuny in Venice. Too, too divine.

An exclusive look and first report.


DIANA VREELAND AFTER
DIANA VREELAND
Venice, Palazzo Fortuny, March 10 – June 26, 2012


The first major exhibition to be dedicated to the extraordinary and complex Diana Vreeland (Paris, 1903 - New York, 1989) is certain to set Diana-maniacs’ hearts fluttering. And it gives me a great reason to head to Venice very soon.

The exhibit, which includes a shimmering array of gowns and dresses by Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy, explores the passions and opinions and vivid life of Vreeland.

I can’t wait. Calling Lufthansa. 


Diana Vreeland in Venice, 1973

The Palazzo Fortuny exhibit offers a new insight into her kaleidoscopic career—editor, style beacon, museum curator, fashion insider, traveler, wit, fashion’s fairy godmother, and a generous and imaginative spirit.

“I want to die young—at seventy. I want to die young—at eighty. I want to die young—at ninety.” – Diane Vreeland interviewed in the new Diana Vreeland by Lisa Immordino Vreeland



Diane Vreeland, Andy Warhol and Fred Hughes in Venice


The exhibition short-circuits time to paint a vivid image of Diane Vreeland, her era, her fashion influence, her enduring spirit.

The aim, curator Maria Lisa Frisa told me, is to restore a sense of the ‘magnificent gait’ with which Diana Vreeland processed through fashion of the 20th century. 

Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Diana
Vreeland Estate.


Francesca Bortolotto Possati, CEO and owner of the BAUERS hotels in Venice launched the exhibit with great style, with an inaugural cocktail party on March 9 at the Hotel Bauer. 

Francesca Bortolotto Possati at the Hotel Bauer
Hotel Bauer
Bauer Villa F
Bauer Palladio
She was called 'The best connected woman in Venice': The glamorous and dashing Francesca Bortolotto Possati, CEO and owner of the Bauer Hotels in Venice, is shown at the star-studded opening night party with her son, Alessandro, and her daughter, Olimpia, and friends Harold Coda from the Met Museum in New York, as well as T editor Stafano Tonchi, and Rosita Missoni.



International style connoisseurs, designers, academics, models, and chic friends gathered at the Hotel Bauer glittering salons.

Fashion luminaries mingling among the Murano glass chandeliers included Benedetta Barzini (a favorite model and frequent cover girl of Vreeland’s in the sixties), Fiona Thyssen, Stefano Tonchi, editor in chief of W Magazine, Frances Corner, head of the London College of Fashion; Becky Conekin, Professor of History and Culture in Fashion at Yale; Laurent Cotta, Curator of Galliera Museum in Paris; Amy De La Haye, fashion historian; Debo Kaat, Director of Mode Museum in Antwerp; Fukai Akiko, Director and chief curator of The Kyoto Costume Institute; Louise Wallenberg, Director of Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University and Miren Arzalluz, curator at the Balenciaga Foundation. 

Photograph by Arnold Newman, 1974. Courtesy of
Getty Images.

At the exhibition, designs by Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy worn by Diana Vreeland, loaned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. There will also be some extraordinary articles by Balenciaga from the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum, some of the most iconic creations by Saint Laurent from the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent and, finally, other precious garments that have made some of the history of 20th-century fashion, loaned from prestigious private collections and company archives, and including such labels as Chanel, Schiaparelli, Missoni, Pucci together with costumes for the Ballets Russes.

‘When fashion turns over it brings in little tiny cracks and creaks. That is the fascination and that is where you have to watch every step.’

‘It is very easy to do what everybody does. It is very hard to select and use only the best.’

– Diana Vreeland, from her two final and last Vogue memos, Feb 2 and Feb 3, 1971. From Visionaire’s ‘Diana Vreeland Memos’


Diana Vreeland in Vogue Office 1965,
James Karales
Photograph by James Karales. Courtesy of
the Estate of James Karales.

Vreeland exhibition co-produced by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the Diana Vreeland Estate

Curators: Judith Clark and Maria Luisa Frisa

Commissioned by Lisa Immordino Vreeland 

Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Conde Nast.



Biographical Highlights:
Diana Vreeland was born into the Dalziel family in Paris in 1903 to an English father and American mother

She became Mrs. T. Reed Vreeland in 1924.

In 1936, she was discovered by Carmel Snow, who saw her dancing in Chanel one evening at the St. Regis. Harpers Bazaar job followed.

In 1962, she moved to the US edition of Vogue and became editor-in-chief the following year.

She was fired from Vogue in 1971, but by the following year she had already been invited by Thomas Hoving, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, to work as Special Consultant at the Costume Institute.

Her era at the Met was also marked by the style of her fashion exhibitions.

She died in New York in 1989.

At her memorial service, Richard Avedon said of her: “Diana lived for imagination ruled by discipline. No one has equaled her”.

DIANA VREELAND AFTER
DIANA VREELAND
Venice, Palazzo Fortuny, March 10 – June 26, 2012 
Credits:

Photographs of Diane Vreeland from the exhibit at the Fortuny Museum published here with express permission from the Museo Fortuny.

Images from ‘Diana Vreeland The Eye Must Travel’ (Abrams 2011) published here with express permission from Abrams.

Images of the Bauer hotels used with specific permission from Francesca Bortolotto Posati, CEO of the Bauers, Venice.

With thanks.


Palazzo Fortuny
San Marco 3780 – San Beneto, Venice, Italy
Booking and information: www.visitmuve.it
info@fmcvenezia.it


For more information:
Palazzo Fortuny, http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it

The Bauer hotels: 

Diana Vreeland The Eye Must Travel’ (Abrams 2011)