{"id":64971,"date":"2015-11-17T02:23:08","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T08:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=64971"},"modified":"2015-11-17T20:40:30","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T02:40:30","slug":"met-fashion-exhibit-fetes-classic-style-of-jacqueline-de-ribes-her-look-and-her-designs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/17\/met-fashion-exhibit-fetes-classic-style-of-jacqueline-de-ribes-her-look-and-her-designs\/","title":{"rendered":"Met fashion exhibit fetes classic style of Jacqueline de Ribes her look and her designs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jacqueline<\/a>
Jacqueline de Ribes in her own design, 1983. (Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art\/Victor Skrebneski \u00a9 1983)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2013 When the latest exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s Costume Institute opens this week, celebrating the style of French fashion figure Jacqueline de Ribes, an important guest will be missing: The 86-year-old de Ribes herself.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the horrific Paris terror attacks, \u201cshe felt it would be unseemly to celebrate,\u201d said the exhibit\u2019s curator, Harold Koda. Despite cancelling her trip, however, de Ribes noted in a statement that she hopes the show \u201cwill represent the joy associated with the freedom of creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Ribes, born to aristocratic parents in 1929, was a unique figure in fashion for much of the 20th century, beginning in her \u201820s when she was already landing on best-dressed lists. She was famously photographed by Richard Avedon and termed a \u201cswan\u201d by Truman Capote. Not content to simply wear the designs of others, she often had dressmakers make her own designs for her, and in the 1980s she came to New York and launched her own design business, despite the perception that aristocrats like her (she\u2019s a countess) didn\u2019t get involved in commerce.<\/p>\n

In a walk through the exhibit earlier this week, Koda explained that it was hard to find early dresses that de Ribes wore, because she gave clothes to charity through the 1960s. Luckily for the museum, she kept many of her clothes from 1975 onward \u2013 both her haute couture gowns, and her own designs. Still, Koda said, \u201cIt was hard to convince her to do the show, because there\u2019s a side of her that wanted to keep things private.\u201d Koda convinced her, though, by proposing that the show focus on her creative arc, from a little girl who made costumes, to the haute couture client who always had changes made to garments she bought, to the eventual designer she became.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always making things,\u201d Koda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacqueline De Ribes: The Art of Style\u201d is composed of items from her personal collection, half designed by others \u2013 like Yves Saint Laurent, Emanuel Ungaro and Valentino \u2013 and half of her own design. After passing by a giant black-and-white Avedon portrait of de Ribes, in profile with a long black braid, visitors will spot a photo of de Ribes and her sister, as little girls, dressed in fringed hula skirts that Jacqueline made from shredded potato sacks.<\/p>\n

A daywear section shows de Ribes was an early devotee of the current concept of \u201cmixing high and low,\u201d combining elegant pieces with sporty streetwear, and also mixing designers \u2013 some 20 years before it became the norm. She was an aficionado of down winter coats, and there\u2019s a Norma Kamali \u201csleeping bag coat\u201d on display, in a pinkish red, worn over de Ribes\u2019 self-designed light pink sweater dress and brown sable hat.<\/p>\n

Nearby, in the cocktail section, there\u2019s a sparkly summer evening dress by Saint Laurent from 1969 \u2013 short, with fringes, beads, pearls and sequins. It\u2019s one of the few items that de Ribes did not change at all \u2013 however, she pairs it here with a dramatic \u201cmotoring veil,\u201d meant to keep dust out of one\u2019s face. \u201cShe remembered that she had it somewhere,\u201d Koda said. \u201cShe remembers everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

A set of ruffled, Grecian-style gowns in three different colours \u2013 orange and two shades of blue \u2013 shows she was nothing if not practical. \u201cSaint Laurent was closing the couture atelier, and so she got a call asking if she wanted anything. She finds her favourite dress from 1983 and has it done in two other colours,\u201d Koda said.<\/p>\n

De Ribes\u2019 own designs \u2013 except for her elaborate costumes for balls, and the like \u2013 are simple. \u201cShe likes ornament,\u201d Koda said, \u201cbut the best description was in Women\u2019s Wear Daily: \u2018Spare ribs.\u2019 A kind of simplicity. She loves drama, but in the end she\u2019s very disciplined.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show also features a set of casual photos, several showing de Ribes engaging in sports. A photo of her waterskiing on one ski caught the curator\u2019s eye. \u201cJacqueline,\u201d Koda recalls telling her. \u201cI\u2019m surprised that you\u2019re wearing a turban in that photo!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHarold,\u201d she told him. \u201cI had no intention of falling in!\u201d<\/p>\n

Koda also said de Ribes feared the show might not have universal appeal. \u201cWill young girls be interested?\u201d he said she asked him. \u201cDoes anyone want to be elegant, rather than sexy?\u201d<\/p>\n

She might as well have looked back at one of her own quotes, one that\u2019s written on a wall at the exhibit: \u201cI totally disagree with Christian Dior, who once said that one could never look sexy and be elegant at the same time,\u201d the quote reads. \u201cIt is just more difficult, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013 When the latest exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s Costume Institute opens this week, celebrating the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":64972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-64971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fashion-and-beauty","tag-original","mauthors-jocelyn-noveck","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}