Featuring fashions inspired by the sea, the latest exhibit from Phoenix Art Museum highlights the sea’s influence on fashion design from the 1800′s up until 2012. The capsule collection includes over 80 pieces and focuses on 3 themes: sea life, working at sea and playing by the sea.
Here are some of our favorites…
Seaside bathing costumes, from the late 1800′s.
Rowe Gosport, Boy’s sailor suit, 1920′s.
Rudy Geinrich, wool topless swimsuit, 1964.
Left: Emmanuel Ungaro evening gown, 1988. Right: Norman Norell’s “Mermaid” dress from the 1960′s has over 30,000 sequins.
Stephen Sprouse swimsuits, 1980′s.
Judith Leiber, Fantasy Fish minuadiere, 1978.
In the 70′s, Judith Leiber created a line of shell purses, for which she formed a cast metal closure. They were produced for a limited time only, because they were so expensive to manufacture.
Christian LaCroix for Patou, “Chaldee” dress and overskirt features bead and sequin embroidery on hand-painted silk gazar, 1986.
Prada coat, printed silk faille with paillettes and bead embroidery, 2005.
Here’s the story behind this Chanel jacket, as told by Dennita Sewell. One of Karl Lagerfeld’s clients wanted to wear her Chanel jacket while vacationing seaside, so he created this one out of terrycloth for her and then introduced them as part of his cruise/resort collection for 2011/12.
( I don’t know who she is, but if it was you, please step forward so we can give you a round of applause !)
And the piece de resistance from this exhibit ?
This beautiful dress from Karl Lagerfeld’s Spring 2012 collection, Under the Sea, which was graciously donated to Phoenix Art Museum by Neiman Marcus, after their exclusive runway presentation last month. Hats off to Neiman’s for that !
The exhibit was curated by the very talented Dennita Sewell, who introduced the collection on opening night, March 3, 2012.
How much do you love her sailor outfit ?!!
The Sea runs until July 15 in the Ellman Fashion Gallery. Have you been to see it yet ?
Read more. Check out these related Posts:
