Many Shades of Grès
Fashion Becomes Art

For the Kunstgewerbemuseum (KGM, Museum of Applied Arts), gewerkdesign designed the exhibition »Many Shades of Grès – Fashion Becomes Art«. For the first time in Germany, the fascinating work of French fashion designer Madame Grès (1903–1993), one of the most significant figures in 20th-century haute couture, is being honoured in a comprehensive exhibition. Her creations are complemented in the exhibition by related fashion design by students from the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (University of Applied Sciences Berlin).

Exhibition architecture like a built garment
Drawing inspiration from Madame Grès’ fascination with the drapery of ancient sculptures, we developed a spatial choreography that interweaves couture, architecture and movement. The result is a presentation in which the space and the layout of the pathways themselves become an interweaving of lines, folds and sightlines – a walk-through structure that allows the motif of drapery to be experienced spatially. In the centre of the room, we placed an octagonal podium, at the centre of which stands an ancient statue of the goddess Isis. To highlight the dialogue between couture and antiquity, the sightlines are arranged so that the statue is visible from every section of the exhibition, alongside the respective designs by Madame Grès. Madame Grès’s couture models are placed on the central podium, whilst the students’ designs are situated on separate podiums along the edges of the room. The layout guides visitors from the centre of the room – that is, from the ancient inspiration – through Madame Grès’s works to the students’ contemporary references. This creates a symbolic journey from origin to interpretation. The architecture directs both the flow of movement and the line of sight – it becomes a spatial translation of the drapery, a built dress.

Building materials and graphic design enhance the fashion within the space
To avoid competing with the luxurious fabrics of haute couture, we have deliberately chosen not to use textile materials, opting instead for rough, textured surfaces. These materials provide a tactile contrast to the soft, draping dresses and emphasise their lightness and elegance. In terms of colour, we take up the specified grey tones and vary them in different shades and hues with subtle colour accents. To complement this, we use subtle accent colours to precisely highlight texts and key content. The graphic concept is determined by the colour palette, which is based on the exhibits and creates aesthetic contrasts with them. Taking up the pleated basic form of the exhibition architecture, we designed a printed item in the form of a zigzag-shaped leporello. In this way, the theme and aesthetics of the exhibition – haute couture, embodied in fabric and space through pleating, gathering and draping – are already visible from the outside.