Introducing Olivier Saillard as the Musée Galliera’s director sounds too stuffy. No doubt because he races around, appears eternally youthful and brings past fashion into the present...
Introducing Olivier Saillard as the Musée Galliera’s director sounds too stuffy. No doubt because he races around, appears eternally youthful and brings past fashion into the present. This hit me when interviewing him about Juste des Vêtements, Yohji Yamamoto’s retrospective at the Musée de la Mode in 2005. Since the Japanese designer’s devotees then spoke about him in hushed, reverent tones, I was expecting more of the same. However, I had misjudged Olivier whose curating style is exciting and accessible as opposed to being dull albeit dignified. A tall order requiring immense knowledge, yet he achieved it with Juste and again with last summer’s Madame Grès: Couture à L’Oeuvre. Set around the Musée Bourdelle, Olivier weaved an enticing treasure trail using la Grès’s Grecian gowns and seamless jersey wonders. Occasionally, he grouped the dresses together like dancing princesses, other times he left certain looks isolated and Garbo-like. Whatever his decision entailed, it was a flawlessly executed and fulfilling experience.
"Occasionally, he grouped the dresses together like dancing princesses, other times he left certain looks isolated and Garbo-like."
This week, Olivier unveils his Comme des Garçons White Drama exhibition at Les Docks on the Quai d’Austerlitz – a crocodile-like glass building that lies by the Seine. The exhibit that exposes Rei Kawabuko’s entire collection double bills with Olivier’s other show Cristobal Balenciaga: Collectionneur de Modes that illustrates the Spanish maestro’s admiration for the nineteenth century. “Both offer two sides of fashion and yet are reciprocal,” enthuses Olivier. There are similarities. Balenciaga never compromised his integrity or vision and nor has Kawabuko. In Olivier’s opinion, Madeleine Vionnet and Balenciaga were fashion’s innovators at the beginning of the twentieth century whereas it became Azzedine Alaia and Kawabuko at the end. I wonder if I agree. Still, Olivier is right that the latter two “remain creatively free,” “continue to risk” and “always question their own work".
Comme des Garçons White Drama & Christobal Balenciaga: Collectionneur de Modes run until 7 October at Les Docks.
Text by Natasha Fraser Cavassoni
Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is a Paris-based British writer who covers fashion and lifestyle as well as being the author of Sam Spiegel – The Biography of A Hollywood Legend, Understanding Chic, an essay from the Paris Was Ours anthology, the soon-to-be released Tino Zervudachi – A Portfolio – as well as the Chanel book, for Assouline's fashion series.
Robert Beck is former New Yorker currently based in Paris. Also known as C.J. Rabbitt, he is the author and illustrator of several children's books, including The Tale of Rabbitt in Paradis, Un Lapin à Paris and the soon-to-be-published A Bunny in the Ballet.
