Possibly doing Barrecore - but I did that too - of course.
Saturday evening I left rainy London for an hour and entered a dream world.
The Design Museum of London currently has a Christian Louboutin exhibit, that features highlights of the past 20 years of his genius - and by that I mean his shoes. His amazing, AH-MAZING, shoes!
I've seen many an awesome exhibit - but never one that more perfectly captured the essence of the artist than this did. It brought the Follies Berger, the glam of haute couture, and the je ne sais quoi of Paris together into a few, plush, velvet covered, rooms.
In the main room, 5" Stilettos lined a long, shiny, red stage like showgirls, elaborated dressed in plumage, swarokskis, silk bows and chiffon flowers.
In another room, drool-worthy pairs swung from individual tufted swings hanging off a old-fashioned carousel. In yet another they were perched high on stands under a perfectly manicured ivy hedge that seemed to have popped off a page of Alice and Wonderful.
Of all the jaw-dropping masterpieces in the room, the star of the show in my opinion was the prima ballerina of course...
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| 8" Ballet Shoes created for the English National Ballet |
Christian was born and raised in Paris - supporting my theory that all the best things in life come from France.
He started off at the Follies Berger drawing up designs for showgirls, moved on to freelancing for several top designers, and eventually got Princess Caroline of Monaco on his side and rest is history. He changed stilettos as we know them, and whether you care about fashion or not - it in undeniable that he is a visionary, that he is an artist, and that he is a genius.
Here are some highlights from the exhibit...
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The Design Museum quickly became of my favorite Museums in London. Not only did it win me over with this sole-shaking exhibit, but upstairs was a "Best Designs of 2012" exhibit, that featured everything from the Autolib to Kate Middelton's wedding dress.
It was awesome, and such an amazing look at what we are capable of in this day and age, showcasing the most innovative and progressive designs from around the world in Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Product and Transport.
The 2012 Olympic Torch was the official winner of the best design, and it was quite cool to see it on display. One of the perks of being in the city hosting the Olympics. Possibly the only perk...
The red-soled masterpieces and designs of the year will be at the Design Museum until the first week of July, so get your fashionable self out there if you're in the neighborhood!
Sunday I shifted gears, and went to learn about and admire a totally different kind of genius: Picasso.
The Tate Britain currently has an exhibit featuring good old Pablo and his impact on Modern British Art.
The exhibit includes some of Picasso's most important works, alongside canvases from his English admirer's: Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney.
If you caught the Hockney exhibit at the Royal Academy of Art earlier this year, "A Bigger Picture" as I did, you would get all the more pleasure out of seeing how Picasso influenced his early work, and the work of Britain's top modern artists.
My favorite thing I learned was that Picasso lived in London for year, buddying up to Diaghilev and designing costumes for the Ballet Russe. He also married a ballerina! He designed these for the ballet "The Three Cornered Hat," and in addition to his sketches, they featured two of the actual costumes.
Here's some other eye-candy for those of you who won't make it overseas to see it for yourselves!
I particularly love his the way Picasso painted his (many, many, many) women.
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| "The Three Dancers" 1925 |
Alas, this is not a woman, but a violin, fruit, and some vino. I imagine this was his broken heart kit for in between lovers. He could play himself a somber tune while he sipped himself into drunkeness.
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| "Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin" 1914 |
It was just simply - magnifique. Both exhibitions were.
So despite the complete crap weather, I had a really wonderful weekend. A much needed wonderful weekend here actually, filled with beauty, and culture, and learning. So although I have been recently feeling so uncomfortable with my life here, and wondering where my common sense was when I decided to leave everything and everyone who mattered to me and move to the land of rain - this weekend I felt very lucky to be in London.
So I'm ending this blog with two quotes, one from Loubi and another from Picasso. Turns out, these two might just have more in common than I thought...
"I hate the whole concept of comfort! It's like when people say, 'Well, we're not really in love, but we're in a comfortable relationship.' You're abandoning a lot of ideas when you are too into comfort. 'Comfy'—that's one of the worst words!" - Christian Louboutin
“The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.” - Pablo Picassco
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