Arken Museum of Modern Art

India : Fashion Now

18 Aug 2012 - 13 Jan 2013

© Doshi Levien
My Beautiful Backside, 2008
INDIA : FASHION NOW
18 August 2012 – 13 Januar 2013

"Now it’s all about India" - Karl Lagerfelt , the recognized German designer, proclaimed when he launched his 2012 Metier d’Art collection f or the fashion empire Chanel.

The same is the case at ARKEN this fall with the museum’s first fashion exhibition INDIA : ART NOW. The exhibition showcases creations by the seven most prominent young Indian designers: Morphe by Amit Aggarwal, Little Shilpa, Manish Arora, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Prashant Verma, Varun Sardana and 11.11 by Cell DSGN.

The seven designers represent a new departure in Indian fashion that started around the beginning of the new millennium. A radical renewal of the Indian tradition where designers, with their starting point in their local experience, draw inspiration from widely differing global cultural idioms.

The exhibition takes its point of departure in the sophisticated craftsmanship that has always been characteristic of Indian fashion. The ensembles exhibited are products of a unique knowledge of textiles and techniques. The designers have experimented intensively with the visual and the conceptual. The result is sculptural, colourful and breathlessly beautiful creations, so-called "show pieces" often made to be shown just once on the catwalk.

The exhibition also shows a documentary film about the star designer Manish Arora. ARKEN produced the film in corporation with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation during the fashion show TOTEM FASHION in Paris, June 2012.