Just Lauren

Elisabeth, Sidney, and I hauled ourselves to the Denver Art Museum yesterday to visit the Dior Exhibit that’s been hanging around for a few months. For those who love fashion, especially Dior or haute couture, this is the place to be. The exhibit is full of original Dior dresses, sketches, photographs, and muslin mock ups. While the entrance to the exhibit was packed full of people, the crowd thinned out as you wove your way through the various stages of the Dior brand. Stages were broken down by lead designers of the fashion house. After Christian Dior, there have been six other lead designers and I’m happy to say that this last one is FINALLY a woman.

The exhibit evoked conflicting emotions in me. I’m not the most fashionable person nor do I keep up on fashion trends so some of the exhibit was lost on me or caused me to be skeptical of its importance. I scoffed at the audio tour when it spoke of how certain styles of clothing were revolutionary for women. Maybe there is some truth in it but the fact that a man was the one that made the changes really grated on my nerves. I’d also like to think that women can be revolutionary without clothing. And that changing the cut of a dress isn’t that profound.

It also upset me that it took 69 years before a female led the company. I feel it’s only right for a female to design clothing for females and it disappoints me that a fashion house who supposedly creates trends, took that long to put a woman in charge. And not only that but at least one of the previous lead designers was racist.

But other than the fact I find fashion to be kind of silly and other than my feminist feelings toward it and the Christian Dior brand, the exhibit itself was impressive. Top marks for how well it was designed and how many dresses, suits, and accessories the exhibit was able to procure. I liked how the exhibit was broken down by lead designers. There was information about the designer and the lines they created and if you are into audio tours there was information given that way in every section. The audio tour fell flat for me as it was trying to create a story versus just providing facts, which is what I would have preferred. But many others around me seemed to enjoy the audio aspect of the visit.

I really liked the accessories wall (first picture above), not only because I love color and this was all color, but also because some of the accessories were so ostentatious and over the top that I found such joy in looking at them. Giant necklaces and headpieces and shoes. Elephants and bees and ants made multiple appearances in items. I wanted to take home a gold headband with three giant gold feathers sprouting from it.

I also liked a variety of the dresses. While many of the dresses were totally unwearable (although Dior says they make clothes for the everyday woman) there were some that I quite enjoyed and would have easily taken home with me. The pictures throughout this post are my favorites.

There was also a small hallway of beautiful scarves that I quite adored. Full of color and lovely designs, I would have taken those home if I could to hang on my wall. I’m so glad Elisabeth encouraged us to go to the exhibit, it’s only here through March 17th. If you’re in Denver and like to look at crazy, beautiful, trend setting clothes this exhibit will be worth your time.