Cut and Construction: The Foundations of Fashion

Cut and Construction, an exhibition featuring Yeohlee, Madeleine Vionnet, Alix Gres, Cristobal Balenciaga, Geoffrey Beene, Isabel Toledo, Ralph Rucci, Narciso Rodriguez and Tess Giberson at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York through Mar. 26.

Over 40 creations by architects of style Yeohlee, Isobel Toledo, Ralph Rucci, Geoffrey Beene, Tess Giberson, Narciso Rodriguez, Junya Watanabe and Yohji Yamamoto, in addition to vintage designs by couturiers Cristobal Balenciaga and Alix Gres are on view in the exhibition Cut & Construction at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York.

Reproductions of couturier Madeleine Vionnet evening dress muslins circa 1918-1919 and 1938 illustrate Vionnets signature use of draping and her impact on Madame Alix Gres and Cristobal Balenciaga. A flat pattern by Vionnet is transformed into a three-dimensional finished garment as it would appear on a model, is featured in a computer animation by Liz Van Verth on a large screen.

"All of the designers represented in the exhibition are master craftspeople who use dressmaking as an integral part of their aesthetic," says guest organzing curator Patricia E. Mears, a fashion historian and former assistant curator of costumes and textiles at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. "Though many fashion-related exhibitions have been mounted in the U.S. and overseas, too few examine in detail the remarkable discipline of dressmaking as the fundamental building block of fashion."

Tracing the evolution of dressmaking since the early 1900s from the assemblage of animal skins to the birth of sewing via innovative ways of manipulating woven fabric, Cut and Construction outlines the history of clothing construction and foundations of fashion.

Elements employed by these designers include Madame Alix Gres' soft draping of silk crepe for evening gowns, Isobel Toledo's molding of rigid fabrics like silk taffeta into three-dimensional forms, Junya Watanabe's manipulation of cotton denim fabric to create ornamentation, and Yeohlee's use of geometric forms.

"These designers are among the greatest of the 20th century and this show allows viewers a rare look at how the evolution of dressmaking contributed to their individual styles," says Pratt President Thomas Schutte.

For more information about exhibtion tours with the designers, call (212) 647-7778 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Pratt Manhattan Gallery is a public art gallery affiliated with Pratt Institute. The gallery presents work in the fields of art, architecture, fashion, and design from around the world and provides a range of educational initiatives to help viewers relate contemporary art to their lives.

Founded in 1887, Pratt Institute (www.pratt.edu) is the largest independent college of art and design in the United States, offering degree programs in the schools of art and design, architecture, information and library science, and liberal arts and sciences. Located on 25 landscaped acres in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, Pratt has a Manhattan campus in a large, newly renovated building on W. 14th St.

Pratt
Manhattan
Gallery
144 W. 14th St.
btwn 6th & 7th Ave
New York

Gallery hours:
Tues. Fri.:
10:30am-5:30pm
Sat.:
noon to 5pm
Through Mar. 26

All photos of this exhibition were taken with the Olympus EVOLT E-300, the new digital SLR and the Zuiko digital 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 lens.