KOKET’s Top 12 Must-See Fashion Exhibitions in 2017

Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Richmond, VA USA
Through August 27, 2017

An intimate and comprehensive look at the lifetime achievement of the radical and influential fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent. Featuring 100 examples of haute couture and ready-to-wear garments—some never shown publicly before—this fashion exhibition reveals Saint Laurent’s artistic genius, as well as his working process, and the sources of his design inspiration.

Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion

Victoria and Albert Museum
London, England
Through February 18, 2018

This exhibition examines the work and legacy of influential Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, with over 100 pieces crafted by ‘the master’ of couture, his protégées and contemporary fashion designers working in the same innovative tradition.

The House of Dior: 70 years of Haute Couture

The National Gallery of Victoria
Melbourne, Australia
Through November 7, 2017

In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the House of Dior, this exhibition includes a sumptuous display of more than 140 garments designed by Christian Dior Couture between 1947 and 2017. It narrates the rich history of the fashion house, including Christian Dior’s early influences, the design codes synonymous with the House of Dior, insights into the Dior atelier workrooms, the role that accessories have played in expressing the complete Dior look and the milestones of its six successive designers following Christian Dior’s sudden death in 1957.

Diana: Her Fashion Story

Kensington Palace
London, England
Through February 28, 2018

Trace the evolution of Princess Diana’s style, from the demure, romantic outfits of her first public appearances, to the glamour, elegance and confidence of her later life. Don’t miss an extraordinary collection of garments, including the pale pink Emanuel blouse worn for Diana’s engagement portrait by Lord Snowdon in 1981 and Victor Edelstein’s iconic ink blue velvet gown, famously worn at the White House when the Princess danced with John Travolta.
 

The World of Anna Sui

Fashion and Textile Museum
London, England
Through October 1, 2017

Anna Sui is the classic American fashion designer. From Detroit to New York, her signature rock-n-roll romanticism reinvents pop culture for every new generation. Since her first catwalk show in 1991, Sui has shaped not only the garments, textiles, accessories, beauty and interiors which comprise her design universe, but also the course of fashion history. The World of Anna Sui features over 100 looks from the designer’s archive, presenting a roll call of archetypes from Surfers and School Girls to Hippies, Mods and Punks. This is the first time an American designer has been the focus of a retrospective exhibition in the UK.

Native Fashion Now

National Museum of the American Indian
New York, NY USA
Through September 4, 2017

From vibrant street clothing to exquisite haute couture, Native Fashion Now celebrates the visual range, creative expression, and political nuance of Native American fashion. Nearly 70 works spanning the last 50 years explore the vitality of Native fashion designers and artists from pioneering Native style-makers to maverick designers making their mark in today’s world of fashion.

Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between

The Met Fifth Avenue
New York, NY USA
Through September 4, 2017

This exhibition examines the work of fashion designer Rei Kawakubo, known for her avant-garde designs and ability to challenge conventional notions of beauty, good taste, and fashionability. The thematic show features approximately 140 examples of Kawakubo’s womenswear for Comme des Garçons dating from the early 1980s to her most recent collection, many with heads and wigs created and styled by Julien d’Ys.

House Style

Chatsworth House
Bakewell, England
Through October 22, 2017

Curated by, Hamish Bowles, International Editor-at-Large at American Vogue, this landmark show explores five centuries of fashion at Chatsworth House. The exhibition demonstrates the power of fashion and brings to life the captivating individuals from the Cavendish family.

Mary Quant: Fashion Icon

Manchester Art Gallery at The Gallery of Costume
Manchester, England
Through November 5, 2017

Celebrated as the most famous female fashion designer working in London in the 1960s, Mary Quant dressed an international clientele of the young and hip, creating her famous Chelsea look. Quant’s designs exemplified a shift in fashion’s focus and inspiration to a younger consumer and was typified by simply-styled tunics, short pleated skirts and bold mini dresses. The exhibition includes twenty two outfits dating from the late 1950s to the early 1970s.

Items: Is Fashion Modern?

MoMA
New York, NY USA
October 1, 2017 – January 28, 2018

Items: Is Fashion Modern? explores the present, past, and future of 111 items—garments, accessories, and accoutrements—that have had a strong impact on history and society in the 20th and 21st centuries, and continue to hold currency today. Among the 111 will be designs as well-known and transformative as the Levi’s 501s, the Casio watch, and the Little Black Dress, and as ancient and culturally charged as the kippah and the keffiyeh.

Expedition: Fashion from the Extreme

The Museum at FIT – Special Exhibitions Gallery
New York, NY USA
September 15, 2017 – January 6, 2018

Expedition: Fashion from the Extreme is the first large-scale exhibition of high fashion influenced by clothing made for survival in the most inhospitable environments on the planet — and off of it. Seventy ensembles and accessories are presented within dramatically designed “environments” in the museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery. Collectively, the objects and the exhibition design evoke both the beauty of extreme wildernesses — on land and sea, as well as in outer space — and the dangers these locales present to human explorers.

The Body: Fashion and Physique

The Museum at FIT – Fashion & Textile History Gallery
New York, NY USA
December 5, 2017 – May 2018

Fashion is inextricably linked to the physical form of the wearer. The cut of a garment draws the eye to zones of the body, simultaneously accentuating and concealing in order to achieve a desired silhouette. Elaborate undergarments, diet regimens, exercise routines, and even plastic surgery have all been promoted as necessary tools for attaining the ideal fashion shape. However, the idealized fashionable body is a cultural construct. Over the last 250 years, full hips, narrow hips, feminine waists, and boyish frames have each, at different times, been hailed as the pinnacle of beauty. According to a Vogue article from 1950, “A ‘figure’…is considered good or bad only as related to clothing generally, and current fashions specifically.” The Body: Fashion and Physique will explore the complex history of the “perfect” body in fashion.