Fashion Design & Management Department

The first retrospective exhibition of contemporary fashion photographer Helmut Newton is being held in France at Paris’ Grand Palais Museum from 24 March to 17 June 2012. The exhibit contains approximately 250 pictures that span Helmut Newton’s career for several decades, especially Vogue Paris.

Visitors can experience the intense themes such as sexuality, S&M and feminism, the subjects for which Newton’s work was dubbed “Porno Chic”. Some of the works from the exhibit are just like picked from a vintage porn film with a story telling. The contrasts between a real model and a dummy with the same hair-style bush wrestling or making out together, or perfect figured models wounded with wrapping over some parts of their  bodies, are quite interesting and fun to watch.

Helmut Newton’s “Big Nudes” series (from 1980 to 1993) is also on display here, features large-scale photographs of models with and without dresses but for their high heels at the same poses, “inspired by identity photos of German terrorists.”

Also you can appreciate several portraits of Yves Saint Laurent or photos inspired by his masterwork, like women in the male tuxedo smoking on the street in Paris or accompanied with another totally naked female model. Newton is here paying a tribute to the legendary designer whose empowering masculine vision of women so influenced the photographer.

The exhibition also presents an 11-minute short film made by his wife June (who also organized the show), depicting how Newton worked with those super models and other different dimensions of his personality.”Ah yes, he was so funny, that’s what I miss most,” says June Newton in the short film, “We were in a bar and Helmut was taking pictures, then he paid the barman to turn his back while he cheekily took a picture of a model when she pulled off her top , people ask me if I am jealous, but no, for me it is just to make a living.”

Written by Jing Deng (Charles) and Anne Davasse

Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs Exhibition opened one week ago and can be seen at Les Arts Décoratifs. The famous luxury brand and the creative designer portray fashion at it’s best which is why we didn’t hesitate to enter into their world.

As we entered the dark grey walls (inspired by the 1800’s decor) of the first floor, we saw a great deal of written text on the walls telling the history of Louis Vuitton. Calm dirgy music was playing and a variation of different products had been displayed on the windows. What first grabbed our attention were some tiny charming doll clothes representing a wardrobe of a contemporary woman. Then, some of LV’s original products which were presented in large glass displays – each of them had a very specific purpose: bed trunks, trunks for 24 shirts, for 2 hats… We could also understand the evolution of the striped canvas, to the “Damier” and then to the famous Monogram.

As we walked upstairs and entered the section devoted to Marc Jacobs, everything was dark. We were confronted with a large video and graphic installation devoted to famous, beautiful and strong Hollywood women over the years. Young Elizabeth Taylor flashing her diamond necklace and earrings, Barbra Streisand clowning and looking fabulous at a party, Marilyn Monroe wriggling along the platform in “Some Like it Hot”; but also recent video clips of Mariah Carey, extracts of The Wizard of Oz, The Simpsons and even Sponge Bob Square-pants playing with a loud “South Park” background soundtrack. The reason for this unexpected visual art was that Marc Jacobs loves them all and this section was presented as “Marc’s World”.

The walls were covered with solitary black as well as a dark brown and black wooden harlequin pattern.  Every display had a neat and small brass name tag.  Like “Bluey Vuitton” – showing dresses and shoes from Spring/Summer 2012.  Shoes with “all kind of chaos hanging off them”.

There were about a dozen showcases displaying Jacobs’ work from all his Louis Vuitton collections.  We could definitely feel his infatuation with bondage and his love of studs for his bags, shoes and clothes. The fact that he finds Vuitton inspirational is obvious as he’s made clothes and linings with the LV trademark.

But the greatest impact he made seems to have been with his collection of Louis Vuitton bags. He made them glitzier, younger and much more appealing to the youth market.

The exhibition ended with a peepshow.  Visitors were asked to look through small holes in the wall to see the Marc Jacobs runway collections. On the way out 5 white mannequins had been lined up wearing outfits of the famous “nurse” spring/summer 2008 collection, and the last mannequin had a moving hand that waved goodbye. As a last goodbye, a small Marc Jacobs was standing  in a small display with a brass plaque saying “Bye guys”.

We really appreciated this exhibition although we felt that both worlds were displayed in a rather disconnected way. Nevertheless, it was a great exhibition explaining the success of both personalities, the one who created one of the most famous fashion houses in the world and the other who turned it into a desirable modern brand. 

Written by Pascale Hsiao, Maria Adela Kuhfeldt and Celine Coralie