LEGACY DISPLAYS

Luxury brands are increasingly turning to fashion exhibitions to open up their archives to the public, while elevating the status of their products to art

- NIDA NAEEM

A blue and red Kelly bag mounted on a mini rocking horse elicited many 'oohs' and 'aahs' as viewers took turns sliding the digital cursor back and forth to rock the horse.

When we came upon Hurricane, a storm-resistant pipe from 1956 built to weather tempests during sea voyages, a fashion editor chuckled and simply remarked, "Important priorities".

These artifacts, although housed behind glass cases, were not a part of some museum. We were at the press preview for 'Hermès Heritage In Motion', a touring exhibition that 'showcases objects that carry within them the desire to take off, to go elsewhere and roam'. During its pitstop in Mumbai, viewers got to soak in the storied house's history, from its origin as a saddle maker to the present day, where Hermès has many iconic pieces to its name.

Luxury fashion exhibitions are slowly becoming a fixture in fashion and art capitals all over the world. The 'Gucci Garden' in Florence, conceived by Alessandro Michele all the way back in 2011, set the tone for canonising garments and accessories like literal pieces of art. Louis Vuitton's interactive 'See LV' (featured in our December 2022 issue), was inaugurated in Wuhan in 2020 before travelling to three other locations, and finally popping up at the First Fleet Park in Sydney in December 2022. Similarly, 'Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse' made its debut at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from April to October 2022 before taking up station at National Gallery of Victoria in December 2022. There's also Thierry Mugler: Couturissime', housed in the Brooklyn Museum, and is the first retrospective to explore the universe of the French designer. It was opened to the public in November 2022 after a star-studded premiere.

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