The International City of lace and fashion offers until April 28, 2013 an exhibition that illustrates the relationship between fashion and the body.

Located in Saint-Pierre, the historic heart of Calais lace, the International City of lace and fashion is built in an authentic lace factory dating from the nineteenth century. The proposed exhibition full eyes! The fashion show” shows that over the ages, fashion has put the body on stage by pushing it beyond its natural limits. Through costumes, photos, film clips, sketches, paintings and pieces of high couture, the scenic route stresses in privileged circumstances, Western societies have created appearances clothing can be extremely dramatic. Scenography develops around five acts that illustrate this report theatrical body with fashion.

Act 1: Strawberry Party

The impressive strawberries and other large collars have peaked in Europe in the late sixteenth century. These accessories for their whiteness, the refinement of lace and volume are put at the service of an appearance that you want extraordinary. Strawberry and large collars are emblematic of the emphasis on self-presentation when it comes to signify his rank or social success. Drawing the eye to the face, their corollas emphasize the identity of the individual and provide a proud head carriage.

Act 2: Habits of light

Then they are Habits of light, the luxury and magnificence ornaments that are presented. The sumptuousness of the materials is to measure the power of those who wear them. For princes, it is to be brilliant, light clothes in woven or embroidered with gold and silver. Being well dressed is physical performance (weight, body discomfort, bulky volume) but what counts is to captivate the eye and dazzle the viewer.

Act 3: body cage

Looking for a bulky body, characteristic of the fashion elite since the Renaissance can physically occupy the space in which it is represented. The garment is superstructure, subtracting the body of flesh in order to better reconstruct the morphology dramatically. Its most extreme forms primarily affect women from the sixteenth century until the early twentieth century. Body farthingales whales and the famous Renaissance Announce corsets, baskets, crinolines and bustles of the following centuries.

Act 4: “costumerie”, an invitation to the public!

At the heart of the course, a space “costumerie” invites the public to experience itself changing shape by fitting replica costumes and props from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Replicas allow practical understanding some aspects of elitist modes: a long dress and requiring assistance, the stress on the body in its movements and displacements. So today, fashion and ready-to-wear in particular are rather placed under the sign of comfort and practicality.

Act 5: Fashion

In conclusion, a “Fashion Show” accepts the spectacular staging of the body, today, on the catwalks of designers. We are witnessing a real collision of clothing styles. The shoulders are broad, exuberant shapes or conversely fitting. Everything is allowed. The biggest names in fashion closes the exhibition and project the visitor in a final form, dazzling colors and patterns: Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix bind creativity and wink at history for dramatic silhouettes that are “open eyes”.