Exhibitions at the Textile Museum in St.Gallen

Earlier this month I visited the excellent Textile Museum in St. Gallen again.

The reason for that was the exhibition about one of St. Gallens famous textile companies, Schläpfer. From the 1960s, they introduced many innovations and were responsible for some of the most amazing fabrics you've ever seen - anything to do with sequin or crystal embroideries and other such things - they did it. Many of their designs were inspired by artists, and their fabrics were bought by all the great designers in Paris. You can see some images and info in German and French here: http://www.textilmuseum.ch/lisbet-und-robert-j-schlapfer-textile-innovationen-1965-1995/ (you can click on the images to enlarge them). It was just one room on the lower exhibition floor, so not very big. There were endless sample swatches of the most amazing fabrics on show, plus images from fashion shows and magazines that were meticulously collected in big scrapbooks. Also there were garments made from the fabrics by their inhouse seamstress, to show their clients the fabrics to their best advantage. The clothes were beautiful, but of course the fabrics were the real "stars" here! One of the best designs was one of their earliest, which helped them establish their reputation. These fabrics used the ornaments on gold backgound that are typical of the painter Gustav Klimts best-known art works in small repeats. There were differnt designs and different colorways, but they all were with gold and brilliant colors embroidered on finest tulle. The italian designer Mila Schön made simple, straight shift dresses out of this in the mid-1960s which showed these fabrics to their very best advantage. There were images of them on show, but unfortunately, I can't find any online...

On the second exhibition floor, there was another amazing exibition to be discovered: http://www.textilmuseum.ch/sammlungswelten-die-welt-in-schachteln/
This was all about the collectors who have over the decades contributed to the museum by donating their personal collections. Displayed in several rooms in big "cardboard" boxes, grouped by collection, was anything you could imagine: fine embroideries from India, Pakistan and Central Asia, historial dresses (like an Alençon lace dress worn by empress Eugenie of France), countless books filled with fabric samples, centuries-old lace and fabric samples (some of them going back to medieval times - the mind boggles!), embroidery samples, 18th century men's suits and waistcoats with their brilliant embroideries - both full garments and uncut fabrics - old etchings of typical outfits of the many people inhabiting the Austro-Hungarian empire... and then, in the last room: costumes from St. Gallen's city theatre, and items from a vintage clothing collector! Whilst the first rooms had been dimly lit so as not to damage the delicate old fabrics, this room was all white and nicely lit, and since there was no one else about, I took some images with my phone (don't worry - no flash)!

Amazing ca. early 1960s accessories in midnight blue, embroidered in iridescent blue-green sequins - gloves, clutch bag, mask and shoes. The shoes are by Bally, with a "Bally Vogue" label. Someone must have had these all made to go together. Just imagine the party - and the outfit - this must have been worn to!

 More amazing shoes, the glittery ones are Bally too, the satin platforms are Charles Jourdan by Löw.

The vintage dresses. There was a lot of YSL amongst those on the mannequins, like the ensemble on the left.

I adore the white dress with the coat! Dress on the left is YSL as well.

 Dramatic black YSL evening coat.

 More amazing 50s/60s accessories!

 Isn't this just gorgeous? Maybe the silk is by Abraham...

Costumes from St. Gallen's theatre. The dress in the middle is an authentic 1860s dress and not a made-for-theatre costume like the others.

More Marimekko!

Whilst sending some information on vintage fashion on to a friend, the blog of VFG member Denisebrain popped into my eyes - the word "Marimekko" couldn't escape me. And of course she's absolutely right - Marimekko is great quality, no question if we're talking about clothes or just the fabrics, and it is mostly produced in the EU. Their fun stripy long-sleeved t-shirts can be washed at 60 degrees over and over - and they still look as good as new.

I already blogged about my love of Marimekko before, which inspired my Mom to get her Marimekko out! She's an incredible seamstress, and on every trip to Helsinki, she takes a lot of fabric home - I have even taken the part of "personal fabric shopper" once on one of my solo trips there.




The fabric border is always printed with the designer's name - so she cuts it out and sews is onto the dress!
Aren't they gorgeous? They have so many different print designs, and they keep producing them in different color schemes, so it just never gets boring. They have something for everybody!

Eye candy alarm: Marimekko's 60th & lace exhibition "St.Gall"

Ah, this is a year I like fashion-wise.

First, this year it's Marimekko's 60th anniversary. And it just happens that I will be going to Helsinki again (something like the nth time...) later this year *g*. I admit, on my first visit, which was comparatively short, I didn't pay a lot of attention to them - somehow. It's not an easy thing, as their shops, and products, are pretty much everywhere in Helsinki. The second time around though, it was a different story. I went there together with my mom, and of course the hobby seamstress in here was quick to spot one of their shops on the Esplanadi, and we came home with quite a lot of fabric. The beautiful thing about Marimekko is, they don't just sell their own clothes line and all sorts of home products with their textile designs - they sell just the cotton fabrics too! There's many a beautiful summer frock made from Marimekko fabric in my mom's closet - and a few things have made it to my closet too. They fabrics on offer are a mix of new and of classic fabrics, and often they will do a classic fabric in new color variations too. Six years ago, the Design Museum in Helsinki held an exhibtion on Maija Isola who was responsible for such iconic designs as the Unikko poppies. They published a wonderful book on her for the occasion - bound in Marimekko fabric of course. Now they are holding a Marimekko exhibition - sadly, it ends before I'm going, but if anyone will be in Helsininki fore it ends, I can only recommend it, as it will certainly be very interesting - and have lots of eye candy on display! However, I will certainly pop in and by the book they just published to tie in with the exhibition.
Looking around at my apartment, the typical Marimekko things are everywhere...

In the kitchen...

In the bathroom...
Ties in perfectly with the yellow and orange color scheme that makes my dowdy brown and beige bathroom look sunny and bright!

In my closet...
I'd known the Unikko pattern before, just from seeing it somewhere, but without know what it was or where it came from. But as I knew more about it and had seen it on every possible article in Finland, I knew I wanted a simple 60s style short shift dress made from the classic big red Unikko print! Mom made this for me, and it kept me cool and looking chic through many a job interview in the unforgettable heat of summer '03.
The big Ananas pattern print looks great on a circle skirt. It shows the print to it's full advantage.
Of the remaining fabric from the skirt (which my mom made), I made a pair of shorts. The backside is plain pink, cut from the wide border that was left out when the pieces from the skirt were cut, where of course I had wanted the pattern to show. For the shorts, the pattern may seem a bit big, but I like it in "macro" too! It just happened that the only way to cut the pieces for these was this way, and I think it looks great. I call these my "Hawaiian shorts" as they remind me of Hawaiian print fabrics.

In short, one can have Marimekko everywhere, and their designs look great on all sorts of things... tableware, bed sheets, bags, table cloths, baby bibs (those are really great, by the way, as more than one friend with kids has told me!) - you name it, they got it. It makes everyday life a bit more colorful and bright - now, isn't that a good thing?

On another note, there's another serious case of eye candy one shouldn't miss: a new exhibition at the Textile Museum in St. Gallen, simply titled "St.Gall". The exhibition focuses on the history of lace from St. Gallen, and the photos on their website already look very enticing! The theme of the exhibition reminds me a bit of the Landesmuseum's "Bling Bling" exhibition from a few years ago, though in this one, the focus is probably a bit more on history and on lace. I think there will be a lot to see there for the vintage fashion nerd within me *g*. But of course, lace is always fascinating. I visited the lace museum in Brussels a few years ago - it's not a "showy" place, but they have loads of lace from centuries ago on display, and I found myself so engrossed in looking at these works of art... So I can't wait to see this exhibition. The last one I saw at the textile museum, on lingerie, was beautifully done - and big. I expect this one to be just as good. I will certainly report!

Christmas presents, a scarf a month, pirate silk & the laugh of the day

So, time focus on those Christmas presents for a bit. This year, there were two beautiful pins and a retro-style dress clip in for me... and a very interesting and informative book about advertising posters in Vienna in the 1950s ("50er - Plakate aus der Sammlung der Wienbibliothek"). Sound boring? It ain't! There are many well-designed posters, but there is also quite a bit of text to ready about life & society in post-WWII-Vienna, and a thought-provoking look at how some poster designers clearly borrowed from or picked up pre-war or even war-time design ideas...



One other very special pressie reached me from Vienna - the all-year-long-present! It's a pile of twelve differently-wrapped pressies, each marked with a month, and held together with a ribbon.
The idea? Of course, there's one to be opened each month! Well, curiosity killed the cat or whatever they say - I allowed myself to open the first one already now, and I promise I shall open the other ones when I should - and I will blog them, so stay tuned! The first one is a pretty combination of reds and pinks - very becoming.

Since it will be open only until the 13th of February anymore, mom and I visited the "Soie Pirate" exhibition at the Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum) today. Turns out - today was get-in-for-free-day too! Well, lucky us! The exhibition was built around the Abraham fabric trading company's archive, which was given to the museum some two years ago. First, there's a quick re-telling of the company history, but then it's first and foremost about the fabrics. It seems that also the archive is most about fabrics - books and books of fabric samples, old 19th century sample books from Lyon that served as inspiration-givers, and so-called scrap books. From 1955 onwards, books upon books were meticulously filled with magazine cuttings from every possible fashion magazines showing clothes made from Abraham fabrics. While the archive seem to be thin on actual company papers and actual history, they seem to contain everything there is when it comes to the fabrics. Furthermore, the company each year kept a roll of 4 meters of their "best" fabrics - so there were plenty of fabrics that could be displayed in all their glory. Among their main or most faithful clients were Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Balenciaga, so there were also a couple dresses on display from these three designers (and not behind glass - whoopeee!). One of the best parts also was seeing the actual fabric, and the pictures of the Haute Couture outfits made from them. On the exhibition's German website, there is a short video too, which shows a bit of the exhibition.

The Landesmuseum has also published two books to go with the exhibition. One is strictly on the company's history, the other one features just a short introduction and then focuses solely on 100 of their best designs - pure eye-candy! Although the books don't come cheap at CHF 69 each, I think it's a good idea and they certainly were beautifully made. Someone like me who is most interested in pictures can opt to buy only the second book. It goes by a simple principle - it's done chronologically, and the right page always shows the fabric (mentioning also name, year and material), while the left shows either a big photo of one Haute Couture design made from it, or pages and details from the scrap books which feature a dress (or sometimes even two different ones) made from that fabric.

Of course I realised that a lot of the clothes that I saw in the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition in Montreal in September 2008 must have been made from Abraham fabrics. In fact, I even recognised a fabric or two - or pictures of actual outfits (if you click on the exhibtion's link - for example, the black-and-white dotted dress with the big hat). At home I picked up the exhibition catalog, and lo and behold, it actually mentions who by the fabrics were for each design shown! And yes, Abraham does feature a lot (btw - of course Schlaepfer is there too - they were featured amongst others at the Landesmuseum's Bling Bling exhibition a few years ago). Ok, so there's a dress that I saw in the exhibition, in the book, YSL's sketch of it is shown, where a small swatch of the fabric is tacked to the sketch. In the exhibition today, I saw the 4-meter "leftover" of the self same fabric displayed - and the Landesmuseum's book, the dress is shown in an original color photo.
How cool is that? On some of the sketches shown in the book, he actually wrote "Abraham no. ....." on it, as an instruction which fabric was to be used.

Being who I am, slightly OCD on finding the "connection" between things, I grabbed my October 1958 edition of "Elegante Welt" - I guess this must have been Germany's first and foremost fashion magazine at the time, showing all the latest Haute Couture goodies. I had noticed that the scrap books shown in the exhibition often showed cuttings from this magazine, and I remembered that my edition showed the latest from the Paris winter collections, mostly the latest from Christian Dior - one of the first collections by the young Yves Saint Laurent actually. The photo of this outfit actually mentions the fabrics being by Abraham:
And the dress on top here actually turns up in a tiny shot on the scrap book page above too - no doubt this is all from the same collection:The magazine also shows a Balenciaga dress, that is obviously being modeled by the same model as in the Dior dress on the bottom left of the scrap book page - and with the same props that turn up in the smaller shots just above...
I admit, I like seeing things "come together" like this. I'm also still trying to find the painting that's on the prop stand. The scrap book shot shows it relatively clearly, though small - it looks like the 15th century portrait of a woman wearing a hennin, and somehow it feels familiar. I wouldn't be surprised if I found it in one of my many art books!

After all the "heavy research", I took a detour to a blog that sounded fun - Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Those who know me well know that I'm an unapologetic reader of (historical only) romance novels ever since my teens. I will read almost anything from Dickens to Clancy, but every now and then, my brain needs some sugar too, just like my taste buds. My taste buds get chocolate, my brain gets romance novels. Nothing better to read on a long flight, when I'm sick, when life generally sucks (sorry!), or when I've read something rather "heavy" like the latest by Steven Booth or the biography of Sir Richard Burton (not the actor - the other one!), just to air out my brain. Let's be honest, we all need a good, soppy happy ending every now and then! Anyway, the blog is about all kinds of romance novels, and the ladies there love straight talkin' which I like. And they provided my biggest laugh today - this post on a romance whose title already sounds completely ridiculous (honestly, I would have thought that in today's world, a title as bad as "The Playboy Sheikh's Virgin Stable Girl" could only exist in cliché!) had me in stitches. Click on "more more more..." at the bottom and read all about the "complete tool". Geee, I'm starting to laugh again even while writing this!

Karin

Remembering Jordan - or what the pillow revealed

There's other things I've been wanting to blog about, but yesterday two things almost simultaneously bumped me back to a week pretty much exactly 10 years ago. It almost seems these things had to happen so I would be thinking back to it just now.

10 years ago, I went on my first "big" trip, completely alone. And to Jordan, no less. Petra had been sort of a dream for a few years, and that autumn I had decided to make it real. It was during that trip that I got the news that I would get my own apartment within a few months of coming home. It was also the week the second Intifada started and in which former Canadian prime minister Pierre-Elliott Trudeau died. It's funny the things one remembers, but all of this has a reason.

But first things first. It started with a pillow. After the last few weeks, which somehow had left me with just the time to take of care things happening right then, but left both my doll collection and my apartment in, simply speaking, a total state of disarray, I managed to get it all tidied up and sorted out this weekend. After rearranging a few things in my living room, I decided that four pillows on one sofa were a bit much - and decided to reduce that to three. I had bought all of these pillow covers on said trip to Jordan - after being told on the phone by my parent that I'd get that apartment. The pillows left on my sofa are the ones I bought at the hotel in Amman. Sadly, the colors are a bit faded from the sunlight, but I still love them, and they're authentically Jordanian, even hand-embroidered.

The other cover I bought together with another one at a big souvenir shop on the way from Amman to Aqaba. They're made in India, but they didn't cost much and I liked them. But now I decided this green one was one too many...

So I took the cover off... and there appeared...



A vintage 1994 piece of "art" by yours truly! I think I must have made this during the silk painting workshop at school. I admit, it makes me cringe. But at that time, I decorated pretty much everything with my "cartoon" characters. And underneath the silk? Yet another cover! I believe it comes from the sofa we then had at home (look at those creases!).
I probably just grabbed any pillow I had then, or that my mom gave me, and never bothered to remember what was inside them. I guess I grew up a bit in-between and what I had made a few years before had become uninteresting.

Then I wanted to change the pillow within one of the other covers, and look what turned up there... an even older piece of work from school! From my "draw a peace sign everywhere-hippie-phase".

And as if that hadn't been enough, there was another reminder of this trip in the shape of an article on wellness hotels in Jordan in the Sunday newspaper. And all I thought was - okay, so they wax poetically about all the great hotels that have been built on the shore of the Dead Sea and in Aqaba, but they haven't seen a dot of the country. I had loved it - dodgy hotels, crazy traffic and all, and I could never imagine going there just to spend a week at an expensive hotel and to never see anything from the country!
Yes, not far away, just across the border, the second Intifada broke out, but we never felt anything but safe. The food was great, the people were friendly, and it was a fun, varied group that I traveled with (two of them being Canadian - thus the reference to Trudeau - of course they heard of it on some hotel TV). I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Eating by candle light at a "beduin tent" restaurant because of a power outage, drinking hot tea in the greatest heat in Wadi Rum, the most reliable wake-up service in the shape of the 5 a.m. call to prayer (and in Wadi Musa even in stereo!), a unique beach panorama in Aqaba with mountains on one and freight ships on the other side, plus Turkish pop music from the beach bar and another prayer call as the soundtrack, a hotel in Wadi Musa (Petra) that would put Fawlty Towers to shame service-wise (they didn't even get the change to daylight-saving time correct and woke us up at 4 a.m. instead of 6 a.m.), a 12 kilometer walk through Petra and to a place called "World's End" in more heat, visiting a traditional (meaning non-tourist) hammam and being kneaded through like never before in my life, three women riding a taxi alone through Amman with an enthusiastic Palestinian taxi driver who barely spoke English - just to visit a mosque - and to top it all off, riding through the empty streets of Amman late at night with 6 other people in a sedan (no, strictly speaking, that's not legal either in Jordan...). Now that's real life! All those fab hotels this newspaper talks about didn't exist at the time. I think there was just one hotel in Aqaba with a private beach that allowed women to wear just a swimsuit. Not that I minded! I could easily have spent another week or so there.

A reminder of Wadi Rum. This scenery has nothing to hide from the Monument Valley. It was also nicely un-touristic. Bumpy 4WD trucks and beduin guides wearing their traditional long white garb - and who climbed these rocks in their sandals like they were just walking up a hill. One really has to see it to believe it...

Karin