Bal Harbour, FL – April 9, 2015 – Bal Harbour Shops and Matthew Whitman Lazenby hosted a private reception and preview of Fashion Project, an experimental space on the Shops’ third floor curated by groundbreaking London-based exhibition designer Judith Clark. The only cultural space of its kind in a major U.S. retail center, Fashion Project is devoted to thought-provoking projects and public programs that explore fashion and the culture surrounding its design, innovation, production, and consumption. Guests enjoyed a first look of the inaugural exhibit while enjoying wine and bites courtesy of Makoto. Another initiative celebrating Bal Harbour Shops’ 50th anniversary, Fashion Project will be open daily to the public beginning April 10. On view through May 21, “FP01: The Exhibition,” showcases experimentation in fashion over the past century, with items such as a 1913 Ballet Russes’ costume and a 1999 futuristic, remote-control dress by Hussein Chalayan, along with unusual display structures that comment on the exhibition of fashion.

World Red Eye got the opportunity to catch up with the lady of the hour Judith Clark, where she chatted about the latest Fashion Project, as well as some of the highlights of her incredible career.

WRE: Tell us about the latest exhibition, FP01: The Exhibition, here at Bal Harbour Shops?

JC: As per it’s title it is about the idea of a fashion exhibition itself, so how the idea has evolved over time in museums and become ever freer. The exhibition is made up of six evolving cabinets each holding a precious object and each displayed according to different museum criteria.

WRE: How do you go about choosing the garments to display, what’s the selection process like?

JC: I wanted to show garments that were precious but in ways that are different to the exquisite clothes for sale in Bal Harbour Shops – so they needed to be about projects over and above their wearability and style. A difficult task as so many of the pieces downstairs are infact museum-worthy!

WRE: Tell us about some of your favorite pieces from FP01: The Exhibition.

JC: All of the pieces are very dear to me and are from my personal collection. Perhaps the piece that stands out is the original Ballets Russes costume designed by Leon Bakst for Le Dieu Bleu. I studied the Ballets Russes and the impact those Diaighilev productions had on fashions in Paris at the time – the explosion of Orientalism.

WRE: What is the most challenging part about curating and putting together an exhibition?

JC: I suppose it is creating a narrative that will appeal to the broadest possible audience whilst remaining true to the exhibition’s conceptual  intentions. I always wonder what would appeal to both a child and a scholar at the same time.

WRE: Where do you see the field of fashion curation heading within the next 10 to 20 years? 

JC: I hope that it will broaden and that it will shed its fear of experimentation. Textile is very delicate and it has been used as a cover story for standing still, for a kind of fearful attitude to display. There are pieces that will never be shown as they are not allowed to be placed on a mannequin again as the strain on delicate fabrics would be too great – but what are we learning from keeping them away from the visitor’s gaze?

WRE: Who are some of your fashion muses and why? 

JC: I loved Anna Piaggi’s irreverent take on fashion’s histories as recounted through her Doppie Pagine section in Vogue Italia. The memory of her attitude to dress definitely hovers over a lot of my bravest decisions.

WRE: Has submerging yourself in the world of fashion made you consider creating or designing your own original work?

JC: This is a difficult question as I do and I don’t. I design installations which have ideas about and for dress embedded within them, but I would never call myself a designer or artist.

WRE: Biggest career highlight?

JC: Working with the team at Artangel on The Concise Dictionary of Dress, it totally changed the way that I work – I will always be in their debt.

Kinga Lampert, Cathy Leff, & Judith Clark

Cathy Leff, Judith Clark, & Kinga Lampert

I always wonder what would appeal to both a child and a scholar at the same time.

Judith Clark

Cathy Leff, Judith Clark, Kinga Lampert, & Cheryl Stephenson

Jason Rubell, Michelle Rubell, & Judith Clark

Kristin Arbuckle Lazenby & Matthew Whitman Lazenby

 

Susana Ibarguen, Sam Robin, Terry Schechter, & Suzy Minassian

Heather Kleisner & Barbara Becker

Lexing Zhang, Rodrigo Londono, Nina Johnson-Milewski, & John Lin

Kinga Lampert

Manuela Menaldo & Deborah Gallo

Silvia Cubina & Michelle Areces-Zandy

Michelle Areces-Zandy & Cathy Leff

Randy & Gigi Whitman

Louisa Jimenez, Jessica Martin, & Samantha Traeger

Joshua Veasey & Jessica Martin

Cathy Leff, Joshua Veasey, & Jessica Martin

Paul Holdengraber, Cathy Leff, Judith Clark, & Adam Phillips

Paul Holdengraber, Judith Clark, Adam Phillips, & Bernard Zyscovich

Jacob Goldsmith, Lindsay Wolfson, Iran Issa Khan, Joan Matheson, & Finlay Matheson

Collette Campbell-Powell & Judith Clark

Susannah Shubbin & Judith Clark

Matthew Abess, Taylor Abess, Randi Wolfson, & Chris Adamo

Celine Gee & Natalie Gee