These days, if you want to see a beautiful fashion show, please head to a museum. Museums around the world have done a fantastic job of modernizing themselves by lending a hand of gravitas to fashion, which is often considered frivolous by the outside world. In doing so, sacred buildings have become interesting to followers of popular culture. Antiques and serious art warehouses have also allowed for fundraising, with big-ticket celebrities flocking to its dark halls dressed in couture and trailed by shutterbugs. Like the Met Ball, the annual fundraiser hosted by American Vogue each summer to raise money for the New York museum’s costume department. It is attended by so many bright movie stars that it is now called the Oscars of the East Coast. Eyeball queen Kim Kardashian appears every year to the world’s delight—sometimes in Marilyn Monroe’s original ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ dress, or other times in a head-to-toe Balenciaga sheath that’s instantly recognizable, even though it’s intended to be invisible on the most visible holiday in the world.
Last weekend, the best of the fashion crowd turned out at Delhi’s iconic Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), a stunning private museum of contemporary South Asian art, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of another fashion hero ‘invisible’. Rimzim Dadu, the young fashion designer, is lonely. She finds it ironic that she is fashionable despite her “social anxiety”, but thank God she is. I think it’s almost unfair to call her a clothes designer. Her clothes are actually works of art in the way she twists, turns and twists cords as surface textures. This kind of fabric manipulation has been her leitmotif, and it’s so hard to do; it is quite difficult to copy as well. Its re-engineered fabric bridges premium and fashion, though I found myself wanting to wear every piece I saw on practically every outing. I mean, if you can’t turn heads, why bother showing up?
Fashion is less about clothing and more about art for Dadu. At KNMA, guests are ushered into a room where her finished products are displayed on mannequins up close, even as a wall displays rejected samples, almost as if to show how difficult it was to achieve the finished product. On one side, three craftsmen sat at their machines exhibiting how the work was done and happy to field questions from curious guests.
That said, her ‘museum-worthy’ pieces are totally fashion-forward. A silver dress with a square bodice made for the perfect night out at the disco. A black and white lehenga set with graphic cord work; you can wear it to a wedding or a cocktail party with equal ease. Some jackets were matched with stylish bikini sets. Men’s clothing was elegant proportions. And yes, she had plenty of Bollywood glitz with Tara Sutaria and au courant actor Vijay Varma walking for her, along with the likes of Manisha Gera, Vibha Galhotra and GR Iranna. Dudu showed leather patolas, her experiments with origami, silicone, steel, chiffon and zari made with hair-thin cords.
Museums and art galleries have become the style bases of the world. The National Museum is exhibiting an extensive collection of Indian weavings and embroidery, with each piece a collaboration with a designer. Last year, Mumbai’s charming Chatterjee & Lal gallery put together a retrospective of fiber artist Nelly Sethna (a weaver, textile designer and craft champion), curated by the formidable Nancy Adajania and owned by erudite philanthropist Dr Pheroza Godrej.
Dadu says that fashion and art are two sides of the same coin and he is happy to sit at the point of their convergence. Both worlds have discovered that they are connected by the same threads – the search for beauty and a tribute to memory. Their collaboration is a win-win for both.
