Couture Graphique

Couture Graph­ique, organ­ised by the MOTI – Museum of the Image in Breda (NL), is the first exhib­i­tion to explore the rela­tion­ship between fash­ion and graphic design. It under­lines an inter­est­ing phenomenon that until now has attrac­ted relat­ively little interest: the use of fash­ion cloth­ing and accessor­ies as a means of commu­nic­a­tion in their own right.
The link between graphic design and fash­ion emerged in the 1920s, when Sonia Delaunay applied her designs to textiles. The connec­tion was further strengthened by the top couture houses, who began to treat their brand and their visual iden­tity as fash­ion products in them­selves. The curat­ors of this exhib­i­tion hope to show how the rela­tion­ship between graphic design and fash­ion has developed over the last century.

The exhib­i­tion was designed for the MOTI – Museum of the Image, in Breda (Neth­er­lands) by José van Teun­is­sen, a professor of fash­ion theory at Arnhem and the Univer­sity of the Arts in London. A specially adap­ted version of the exhib­i­tion opens at the mudac in spring 2014, with a new section, created by the mudac, present­ing a selec­tion of work by young styl­ists from the art and design insti­tutes of Basel and Geneva.
Couture Graph­ique is in three parts. The first exam­ines the phenomenon of the “total look”. Through histor­ical examples such as the garments of Coco Chanel and Burberry prints, it looks at how some brands have developed a style so personal that they no longer need logos to be recog­nised. Up-to-the-minute examples such as the hand­painted garments of Dries Van Noten, a wedding dress by Victor and Rolf, a Raf Simons ensemble and an install­a­tion by A.F. Vandevorst inspired by the hospital envir­on­ment continue the trend set by design­ers now considered to be among the greats.
The exhib­i­tion contin­ues with the work of several fash­ion design­ers who habitu­ally combine graphic design in the widest sense of the term – brand iden­tity, the visual arts, comic strips, etc. – with fash­ion: Walter Van Beiren­donck, Bernhard Will­helm, Henrik Vibskov and Bas Kosters. Visit­ors are intro­duced to a selec­tion of cloth­ing, as well as a wide range of commu­nic­a­tion tools – flyers, brochures, invit­a­tion cards, etc. – that docu­ment how the brands market them­selves. This section also features a collec­tion of t-shirts, prob­ably the most iconic asso­ci­ation of fash­ion with graphic design.
Finally, the third section attempts to identify what tomor­row’s fash­ions might look like. It shows how a number of contem­por­ary design­ers incor­por­ate state-of-the-art tech­no­logy, includ­ing laser cutting and intel­li­gent textiles, into their work. Visit­ors can also watch a series of promo­tional films created by prom­in­ent direct­ors.
The Tech[x]tiles zone contains a number of pieces designed espe­cially for this exhib­i­tion, illus­trat­ing their Flem­ish styl­ists’ vision of the cloth­ing of the future. From a leather armchair trans­formed into an even­ing gown, to a holo­gram dress, the exhib­its give an insight into these young design­ers’ thoughts about the garments of tomor­row.
The major­ity of the exhib­i­tion spaces have been decor­ated by Gijs Friel­ing and Job Wouters, who collab­or­ated with coutur­ier Dries Van Noten on the men’s collec­tion of his 2012–13 fash­ion show. The murals on Level 1 were painted by Paul Boudens, a Flem­ish graphic artist who often works for couture houses. The entire atmo­sphere, even down to the walls, is satur­ated with graphic art and print.

Design­ers, artists and fash­ion houses: About Creat­ive/Alan Aboud, Bape, Berber Soep­boer, Paul Boudens, Burberry, Chanel, COMME des GARÇONS, Marijke de Bie, Freudenthal/Verha­gen, Hendrik-Jan Griefink et Coralie Voge­laar, HEAD – Haute école d’art et de design, Genève, Insti­tut Mode-Design – Haute école d’art et de design Bâle, Kaws, Jacob Kok, Bas Kosters, Maison Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Iris Nijen­huis, Marius op ‘t Eynde, Piet Paris, Parra, Antoine Peters, Raf Simons, Paul Smith, Simon Thoro­good, Walter van Beiren­donck, A.F. Vandevorst, Pauline van Dongen, Dries Van Noten, Henrik Vibskov, Viktor and Rolf, Louis Vuit­ton, Vivi­enne West­wood, Bernhard Will­helm