There is no time like the present to figure out your travel plans for the next year. Where to go, what to do, what to explore? Even though it is possible to tackle those questions in many ways, one way to go forward is by looking at exhibition calendars from around the world and plan your voyages accordingly. That way, at least part of your trip is already laid out clearly before you set foot in your new destination.
Exhibitions, just like destinations, come in all kinds of forms. Today, however, we’re looking at fashion displays. As fashion is a very circular subject, understanding its history can help you get a better grip on trends in the future or on your own style. Or as Coco Chanel once said: “Fashion fades, only style remains.” And as it turns out, 2024 has a lot to offer as far as fashion exhibitions go.
1. We need to talk about Fashion – Modemuseum, Hasselt, Belgium
Fashion is fun, beauty, nostalgia, but it is also status, overconsumption and exploitation. In every age, fashion raises new questions and elicits different feelings. In “We Need to Talk about Fashion”, Belgium’s fashion museum address issues that are urgent today, based on a hundred recently acquired collection items. Not only iconic objects by resounding names such as Madeleine Vionnet, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Comme des Garçons, but also anonymous gems, form the ideal conversation piece.
Open until Sunday, 18 February 2024.
2. Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto – V&A, London, United Kingdom
The first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of French couturière, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, charting the establishment of the House of Chanel and the evolution of her iconic design style which continues to influence the way women dress today. The exhibition features iconic designs from Chanel, historic pictures of people playing important roles in the history of the label, such as Gabrielle Chanel herself and Marilyn Monroe, and more.
Open until Sunday, 25 February 2024.
3. Fashion and Sports: From one Podium to Another – Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, France
Looking forward to the 2024 Olympics, the Musée des Arts décoratifs presents “Fashion and Sports: From one Podium to Another”, an exhibition on the fascinating interconnections between fashion and sports from the Ancient World to the present day. This major exhibition highlights the shared social concerns and focus on the body of the apparently unrelated worlds of fashion and sports. 450 items of clothing, accessories, photographs, sketches, magazines, posters, paintings, sculptures and videos illustrate the evolution of sportswear and its influence on contemporary fashion.
Jean Patou, Jeanne Lanvin, Gabrielle Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli were some of the interwar fashion design pioneers who found inspiration in the world of sports. The exhibition shows how they made sportswear fashionable in a wider range of contexts, including in everyday wardrobes. The importance of comfortable clothes is a recurrent theme, explaining why tracksuits and sneakers are now ubiquitous on the streets and on the catwalk, from Balenciaga to Off- White.
Open until Sunday, 7 April 2024.
4. Viktor & Rolf – Kunsthalle München, Munich, Germany
The Kunsthalle München presents Germany’s first major retrospective on Dutch fashion artists Viktor & Rolf. For over three decades, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have been exploring with breathtaking virtuosity the boundaries between the worlds of haute couture and art. Celebrated for their unconventional approach to design, their creations have been embraced by artists such as Madonna, Tilda Swinton, Lady Gaga, Doja Cat and Cardi B. They have been staged in numerous ballets, as well as in an opera directed by Robert Wilson.
Reflecting the duo’s passions, obsessions and singular vision, the spectacular scenography will showcase 100 of their most daring creations, many exhibited for the first time — along with numerous videos, sketches, dolls dressed in the designers’ iconic creations and works by renowned visual artists like Andreas Gursky, Ellen von Unwerth and Herb Ritts.
From 23 February 2024 until 6 October 2024.
5. Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion – MET Museum, New York, United States
The Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”, will reactivate the sensory capacities of masterworks in the Museum’s collection through first-hand research, conservation analysis and diverse technologies, from cutting-edge tools, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection and soundscapes.
Approximately 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on display, visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion and a vehicle to examine the cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal. The exhibition will breathe new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the smells, sounds, textures and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body.
From 10 May 2024 until 2 September 2024.
