reHouse and reThink

Wow. Second entry for the day but it really couldn't wait. I went to the Powerhouse Museum today and it was AMAZING! It used to be the power centre for Sydney from 1899 to 1963 and then got turned into a museum after it closed. Their exhibits are pretty much about how society has grown and evolved - I spent about 4 hours there and don't feel like I saw everything. BUT of what I did see, here are the coolest parts of the exhibits:

- Vivienne Westwood had made these huge platform heels, I mean we're talking about 8 inches Spice Girls style and what actually made them famous was when Naomi Campbell tripped in them on the catwalk during a show.
- All the famous architect's chairs were there: Gehry's Wiggle chair (1972), D'Urbino's Joe di Maggio (1970), Eero Aarnio's Globe (1965), Reitveld's (1918), Mies van der Rohe (1927), Mackintosh, Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto... it was amazing having read about all these masters and their furniture (once architecture got boring.. haha) and then actually seeing it.
- They were showing how advertising has changed over the years from the vegemite commercial in the 60s to a speedo commercial in the 80s - the different aims and all. The vegemite song:
We're happy little vegemites, we're happy as can be
We always have our vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea
Our mummy says we're growing stronger every single day
because we love our vegemite!
we all adore our vegemite! it puts a rose in every cheek!
- Felix the Cat came to live in 1919 by an Aussie illustrator, Pat Sullivan.

Here's the coolest part:
- The best fashion was represented - Balenciaga's black cocktail dress from 1954, Dior's golden strapless gown from 1957.. absolutely stunning. Plus there was this gorgeous Japanese fashion exhibit that displayed the masters (yes, more masters): Issey Miyake, Comme des Garcons, Shinichiro Arakawa, Hiroaki Ohya..
- The Comme des Garcons fashion of the 1980s really started off the whole drapery style which was heavily criticized by some, who said, "... The woman who wears Comme des Garcons is well off but not proud of it, unwilling to dress herself up so that other people have something pleasing to look at and over-burdened by the news she reads every day in the paper" (Holly Brubach 1984)

The collection was gutsy.. fashion forward and unique. There were definitely some clothes I would love to own but many that I wouldn't have the guts to wear. To me, looking at the whole exhibit, it was as though arms and bodies didn't exist. It seemed like they were trying to create new body parts - hunchbacks, rounded bellies around these litche and feminine figures. As though by obscuring femininity, somehow they would bring out true beauty - as one must be truly overwhelminly beautiful to make these clothes shine; or to shine in spite of them. Then at the end of the show there was a film in which collectors of Japanese haute couture spoke about what attracted them to these clothes. One lady said that perhaps the clothes were like a kimono, that they weren't there to show off the western ideals of clothing of figure showing forms but rather it was about a celebration of the fabric and the air between the cloth and the flesh - that it was a modern interpretation of what should be demure still. My favorite pieces:

- Shinichiro Arakawa 1999-2000 collection. There was a canvas on the wall with a piece of fabric covering it, and a shirt almost trying to detatch itself from the frame.. and then the caption of "Take the canvas out of the frame. Put your head through the opening and stick your arms through the armholes. Wrap the fabric around your body and do up the zip or buttons. The garment is now ready to wear."
- Hiroaki Ohya - 2000. The creator of Astro Boy and Ohya, his collection of The Wizard of Jeans. These are denim books from which you can fold out wearable clothing!
- A gorgeous evening dress by Kawakubo, half of Comme des Garcons.

I know it sounds like my whole entry is about fashion but my gosh... I walked out of there lightheaded it was so brilliant.

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