Frock and roll

Top fashion house uses spectacular dance performance to showcase its latest collection

Fashion and dance came together in Beijing in early September in an extraordinary event designed to showcase the latest collection from a French luxury fashion house.

Hermes staged the exhibition and dance event, entitled The View from Her, to showcase its autumn/winter ready-to-wear collection, along with bags, jewelry and accessories.

The Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum, in Beijing's 798 Art Zone, where the event was held, was split into several spaces to display the items.

In the first room, 10 scarves were presented in a blur of neon, pulsating light and looped video. In another room, there were bags, watches and jewelry.

Yet another room had nine ready-to-wear gowns laid flat like sleeping beauties in backlit white drawers.

After walking through these spaces, guests entered a small "theater" to watch a 20-minute dance called Ensemble for Nine Dresses, created by renowned US dancer/choreographer Lucinda Childs.

Through dancing, the bias-cut gowns laid out in the drawers were brought to life using fluid and sensual choreography.

The movements were effortless yet precise, and displayed the combination of silk and wool in the clothing line.

There was a transparent screen between the stage and the audience. Images of the dancers were projected onto the screen and duplicated to give the illusion that there were more women on stage.

"What we are doing here in Beijing is introducing the ready-to-wear designed by Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski. We want to show it in a different way. When we create ready-to-wear, we not only think of beauty but also comfort and movement. Clothes are made for breathing and living. So dance is an option for us," says Bali Barret, Women's Universe creative director at Hermes before the show.

"The event invites guests into a world of movement, gestures and sensuality, which express the Hermes woman's values," she says.

She adds that the event was called View from Her because what it showcased was not the whole collection for this season, but "an edited selection from the point of view of a Hermes woman".

In Barret's eyes, the Hermes woman is "elegant, sophisticated in movement, minimal in taste, wearing clothes that are well manufactured using beautiful fabrics".

Barret, who saw a Childs dance two years ago in Paris, says: "I was obsessed with her, especially her approach of mixing film and live performance.

"It was very interesting - mixing reality and virtuality."

After the show, Barret called Childs and asked whether she would be interested in working with Hermes.

Childs accepted the offer immediately and Barret invited her to a Hermes' winter runway show in Paris, explaining its styles, fabrics, lines and patterns and how the clothes were manufactured.

They soon found that they had a lot in common - ideas, tastes and the fact that they valued women in the same way.

Barret, Childs and Vanhee-Cybulski then held a workshop in Paris to discuss the dance show.

Speaking about the dance, Barret says: "I like her creation very much. With the women and their illusion on stage, it looks very emotional and striking - a piece of art."

Childs, who also treasures the collaboration, says: "It's the first time that I have worked with these kinds of full-length dresses. It's for women. It's very feminine. The movements are designed to show the dresses, and in addition, to give (women) a sense of possibilities, which can symbolize some down-to-earth issues like changes in direction."

Raised in Paris, Barret studied design and tailoring at the famous fashion school ESMOD in the city. She then worked as an assistant at several fashion houses, spending time in New York, Italy and Spain before launching her own label in 1999.

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the Hermes boss, invited her to design a silk collection. She later became artistic director of Feminine Silk for Hermes in 2003.

In 2009, she was appointed Women's Universe creative director at Hermes.

"I joined Hermes because of the freedom of creation, which is really the best thing you can have," she says.

For now, Hermes offers 25 new designs for scarves every season, and 50 a year.

Barret, who spends most of her time seeking good designs and illustrations, says: "I go to galleries, read books, surf the internet and I receive many proposals every season.

"My criteria are very wide, but what I really expect is high-quality design.

"In terms of style, the range is wide too - from the very traditional and classical to very digital, very contemporary expressions."

Barret, who is visiting Beijing for the first time, has spent time walking around the 798 Art Zone.

"China is transforming. It's moving very fast and is very interesting to us who are from an old and slow continent," she says.

She discovered that young Chinese are quite Westernized, but also found that people stay connected to their roots and history through their clothing.

"Chinese history and tradition are very strong and sophisticated. But what is happening now is fast evolution - mixing the traditional and the contemporary. And that is also what Hermes' work is about."

chenjie@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/28/2016 page22)