A fun Sunday with friends

Yesterday I had a delightful outing with two friends. Hannah suggested that the three of us go to the Pierre Cardin show at the Brooklyn Museum. If you want to read up on Pierre Cardin you can visit his Wikipedia page and learn that he is most famous for his space -age  clothing of the 1960's

and also that he was famously a fashion sell-out by licencing his name and logo to anyone who would pay him. When I was in my teens it seemed like every man wore a Pierre Cardin belt with the distinctive PC logo.

It was the perfect touch for a pastel colored polyester suit.

Most of the reviews of the show focus on the space-age aspect /influence he had as a designer. I am not the New York Times, not the paper of record so if you want to get their take on the show read their review.

Frankly, I found the expected bits of the show to be the least interesting parts of a truly terrific exhibit.

I hadn't realized that Pierre Cardin was still alive and still designing. He is 97 and while he no longer shows at the big fashion shows ( meaning that his work is less likely to be featured in the fashion press) he is still showing and selling and designing.

I loved seeing his early work. This is a pleated mohair coat.

My photo of a similarly draped jacket from the exhibit seemed to have disappeared...so here is one  that is owned by Getty images.  Remember this great dramatic gesture of the back drape. Cardin keeps returning to it over and over again throughout his long career.

I remember reading articles in the 1970's looking down at Cardin for selling his name. What delighted me in this show is his freedom to explore ideas over and over again, each time coming at them from a slightly different way. The fact that he sold out gave him the financial cushion to explore ideas over a long period of time. His work is better for it.

Here is Cardin  using faced strips of fabric to create dynamic movement.

These garments were made from the 1960's to just a couple of years ago.

There are other ideas that he explores. Circles are a big theme for him.

There are variations of this dress made in every decade since 1967

This bag is massive, it probably reaches my knee.

 These wired dresses are great.

They are made out of comfortable knits, pack a visual punch but collapse to pack neatly into a suitcase.

I saw a Cardin quote about how he doesn't make clothing that fits women but women have to fit into his clothing. Looking at his clothing I realized that that line was a bit of PR nonsense. His clothes look like they are truly comfortable to wear. There are tons of designers who make garments that pack a visual punch but they are torture for the wearer. 

Cardin often works in lightweight or stretchy materials.  This dress is made out of stretch velveteen, the same stuff you might make lounge wear out of. But he has added the sculptural bling on a wire.

This black sheath is made out of the same material. The over sized Chinese knot and giant balls make this the perfect dress to dance in.

Notice the red dress behind. The bodice is made out of a simple jersey. The skirt is made with faced strips of red satin that end in giant circles.  It isn't hard to imagine this dress in motion.

This dress will make the wearer want to dance and make everyone in the room dance with her. 

The ensemble below is another example of something comfortable to wear that allows you to LOOK like a diva.

The under dress is made out of a four ply silk. It's a simple bias cut dress with a fancy collar. Without the jeweled collar ( not pictured- but similar to the one on the hooped dress in the background) you could wear this dress as a nightgown.  The giant bolero is made out of wired pleated silk shantung. It weighs next to nothing, but if you wear this, you own the room.

I loved how he anticipated trends.

These jackets with the serious shoulders are all from 1980.

I just loved the buttoned extended shoulders.

Cardin not only designed clothing he also designed accessories.

I just adore these gloves. Many of his dresses in the 1950's and 60's were made with coordinating gloves.

He also designed quirky home furnishings with his nephew.

This exhibit left all three of us feeling just delighted. Cardin's decision to "sell out" gave him the freedom to explore without worrying about pleasing shareholders. His commercialization gave him artistic freedom.

You can visit more of Cardin's work on his website. It isn't the easiest site to navigate. Don't say you haven't been warned.

We were at this point feeling happy but a bit peckish. We got a little lost on our way to the elevator. While wandering out we saw this terrible painting.

This image of my old neighbor John Adams

alongside his friend and rival

Thomas Jefferson.

We have all seen classical style sculpture with drapery surrounding the figure. Usually the drapery is of a general sort, a trick to help support a sculpture and you have no sense of what the fabric content of the marble drapery is.

Check out this bit of virtuosity.

You can identify the crisp embroidered linen as well as the  heavy brocade. 

One of the things that I adore about the Brooklyn museum is how they display work. How great is this installation?

The best thing is that they don't make a big deal of it. You see the modern glass installation against the classical revival sculptures both the old and the new are improved by the juxtaposition. There isn't a giant wall text  about what you are seeing. You get to to discover this great combination of two things that really don't go together but improve one another on your own. That joy of discovery makes this little bit of visual joy all the better.

In the gift shop we saw two necklaces that were beautiful that we all admired but didn't buy.

We then walked to have a little lupper...lunch/supper

and then we headed home.