No, that's not Kate Moss' wedding dress, it's the Madame Grés exhibition at the Musée Bourdelle in Paris which is now on my list of best fashion exhibitions, ever. Along with Madeleine Vionnet and The Golden Age of Couture.
That's Not My Age loves a spot of elegant drapery - the ancient Greeks and Romans certainly knew how to dress - and the sculpture museum makes the perfect setting for Grés (real name, Germaine Krebs), who wanted to be a sculptor but settled for a life in haute couture. Manipulating fabric directly onto mannequins, the couturier created beautiful goddess gowns for the likes of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich back in the 1930s - though her work is unbelievably timeless. Apparently Moss has opted to stand by her old friend Galliano but the stunning eau de nil number (above) wouldn't look out of place today.
Grés carried on designing right up until the 1980s, I'm familiar with her drapes and folds so was interested to see some of the more geometric shapes from the sixties and seventies:
That's Not My Age loves this fabulous faux fur coat from autumn/winter 1970-71.
Switch off your Frump Alarms please, there now follows a most unlikely coincidence. On my return from Paris an attention-grabbing email entitled The Marais Collection dropped into my inbox. From purveyors of middle-aged-merch Planet it announced a 'new direction' for autumn. And whilst this may not be in the same league as Madame Grés, which is a bit like comparing Jamie Hince to Johnny Depp, it ain't bad.
The Madame Grés exhibition is on until 24 July 2011 at the Musée Bourdelle, Paris.
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