‘Inside Arc’, a new fashion exhibition, will showcase the rarely-seen works by legendary designers such as Alexander McQueen, Versace, Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano from The Arc archive.
The brainchild of designer Jennefer Osterhoudt and stylist Nick Royal, the exhibition will premiere at the London College of Fashion’s Fashion Space Gallery from Friday, 11th May onwards.
The Arc is an archival treasure trove of exclusive garments, accessories and other fashion pieces collected by Jennefer throughout her career, dating back to the early 90’s when she worked with Alexander McQueen and John Galliano from the beginning of their careers. She continued to work with them throughout their time at Givenchy, as an accessories designer in Paris.
Co-created by Nick Royal, the continually expanding archive is a valuable industry resource that is regularly visited by noteworthy designers and stylists to garner creative inspirations for their upcoming photoshoots and campaigns. Its employed processes have been applied by legendary designers such as Versace and Vivienne Westwood.
The exhibition focusses on the eccentricities and rarities from the archive, highlighting the use of luxurious fabrics, by giving insight into the complex and labour-intensive techniques used by couturiers to create rare pieces. The ‘Evita’ jacket worn by Madonna in her 1994 ‘Take a Bow’ video, serves as a perfect example in this regard.
Each piece has carefully been amassed by Jennefer throughout her life in fashion and covers a broad range of products from personal pieces from charity shops to rare handmade invitations.
So in addition to the designer pieces, up for display at the exhibit are rare handmade invitations, 100 backstage passes from 100 shows, crafted prototypes and toiles that made it into production and a dedicated wall showcasing photographs of Jennefer’s own vast shoe collection.
“I feel very proud that the collection is being put on display – I’m really happy that it’s no longer sitting in storage. This collection is my work and my identity – I have always been a hoarder of fashion items and get a thrill out of coming across an Alaïa or Chanel piece in a charity shop,” Jennefer Osterhoudt said in a release.
The effort stresses on the fact that an archival collection can serve as preserving objects for posterity as well as a resource to inform future creatives as they reinterpret ideas from the not-so-distant past.
Curated by Polona Dolzan from The Arc archive, and commissioned by Ligaya Salazar, Director of Fashion Space Gallery, Inside Arc will go on until 28 July 2018.
You can find out more about the exhibition at www.fashionspacegallery.com.
