At the Venice Biennale 2017 two pavilions stood out. Germany with Anne Imhof and her work entitled Faust, which won the Golden Lion and the French Pavilion, which Xavier Veilhan took over to transform it into a recording studio called Studio Venezia. Clad in plywood from floor to ceiling it resembled a modern cave. This Biennale made both artists international stars. Riccardo Tisci collaborated with Imhof for one of his pandemic shows where she provided image direction and Burberry sponsored her trailblazing show at the Palais de Tokyo recently. Xavier Veilhan was now taken under the wings by Chanel’s creative director Virginie Viard who let Veilhan transform the Grand Palais Éphémère into a giant constructivist installation, which reprised Studio Venezia elements from which Sébastian Tellier created the live sound for the show. Viard who is friends with Tellier met Veilhan at the musician’s home. This signaled Chanel’s return to the mega show. Before Chanel, the Grand Palais hosted the monumental Anselm Kiefer exhibition to commemorate France’s EU presidency. In fact, we would not be surprised if the Grand Palais director Chris Dercon, formerly of Volksbühne Berlin, played a bigger role in this Veilhan space intervention of giant spinning discs and cubus carpentry around a sandy walkway. If the 20’s reference in art was Kurt Schwitters – a source of inspiration for Veilhan -, in fashion the 1920’s mean the Great Gatsby, a favorite period of Viard. So her chiffon and organza dresses had uneven hems with trailing scarves and her sexy satin evening dresses would have fit perfectly on the Gatsby Long Island estate during a summer party. Her classic Chanel tweed suiting seemed rather demure but the trouser legs were split open at the side.

At the Dior show venue in the Musée Rodin last Monday guests walked into a tent filled with colorful, oversized art works. Maria Grazia Chiuri commissioned an embroidery workshop and school in India to produce renditions of the work of Madhvi and Manu Parekh, two of the country’s leading contemporary artists. Several of the pristine and sober dresses and tunics were made in collaboration with the Chanakya workshop in Mumbai which Chiuri has been working with since her days at Fendi. Basically, she has turned Christian Dior into a modern fashion house with an emphatic feminist message which resonates with a new generation and hence the cash register is on fire. The messaging is mostly coming from more or less not famous female artists like Judy Chicago. The formula works.

Art and Alaïa?

Designer Pieter Mulier thanked Raf Simons for showing him how to mix art with his creations. Clearly, he was well taught and worked on Dior collections, which engaged with the estate of Andy Warhol. Mulier himself turned to a partnership with the Picasso administration to translate ceramic works by Pablo Picasso, a late period in the artist’s oeuvre. Mulier presented custom-woven embroidered and knitted dresses with tactile surfaces in the middle section of the show.

What makes us wonder in the end. Are we not longing for fashion for fashion’s sake?