Too many exhibitions, too little time. With just two days left of shows, most of the fashion circus will be packing up and heading out by mid-week. Yet the city’s museums and galleries abound with excellent art. The once-in-a-lifetime Rothko retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton is nearing the end of its blockbuster run (to be followed in May by Ellsworth Kelly and Matisse) while Madame Grès, Richard Avedon and Iris Van Herpen continue to captivate visitors at the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, Gagosian Paris and the Musee des Arts Décoratifs respectively.
But for those who have limited opportunities to squeeze in art (or for locals and people with visits on the horizon), these three exhibitions stand out as worthy detours: Sheer: The Diaphanous Creations of Yves Saint Laurent at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, and a double-bill at the MEP (Maison Européene de la Photographie), Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, Fashion Icon, and Exteriors—Annie Ernaux and Photography. Each provides a unique bridge between past and present, whether through heritage fashion, archival images or observations of society in the realest terms.
Here, the highlights.
Sheer: The Diaphanous Creations of Yves Saint Laurent at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent
The sheer statement couldn’t have been clearer in Anthony Vaccarello’s vision for Saint Laurent last week, and an exhibition at the Musée Saint Laurent Paris takes us back to where this radical fabric fascination began. Overseen by the museum’s director, Elsa Janssen, with curation by Anne Dressen as artistic advisor, the five sections establish how the couturier used transparency to suggest nudity while exploring light, movement and shape.
Defining designs include the sheer evening dress with strategically placed sequin zigzags and a sheer bow blouse worn with a tuxedo-style jacket and Bermuda shorts (both from the spring 1968 haute couture collection) along with later creations where cut-outs of openwork tulle and lace reveal parts of the body. Where one theme highlights the fluidity of sheer, another illustrates how it can be worked for structure. Throughout, the rooms are enchantingly staged and juxtaposed with artistic references; one features, dresses spanning soft and vivid hues are weightlessly suspended while the famous video of dancer Loïe Fuller by the Lumière brothers captures the unbridled possibilities of billowing fabric. Photographs by Man Ray and artwork by Francis Picabia enrich this timely—or timeless—premise that reveals how Saint Laurent found endless ways to rethink elegant and erotic, daring women to experience this as a kind of empowerment.