PARIS, Jun 30, 2004/ FW/ --- From September 18, 2004 to October 30, 2005, ”The Malign Muses, When Fashion Turns Back“ exposition will take place at the MoMu Fashion Museum in Antwerp, Belgium.

Judith Clark, the curator of this fine event, puts into form her vision of the search for references and as well as the search for the various motives that drive designers to create particular garments or images for their own collections.

“To me Malign Muses is the story of this search for references and also of the search for the various motives that drive designers to create particular garments or images for their collections”, says MoMu director, Linda Koppa.

Judith Clark, who is also an independent researcher at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, takes a personal look at the relationship between contemporary fashion and its history. This exhibition brings past and present together in a variety of settings: the collective fashion heritage is reflected by six installations in which the curator deals with fashion and its historical context from various angles.

According to Loppa, the installations in the collection promises, “to remind us of 19th – and early 20th- century fairgrounds and the optical illusions seen in the theatre of that period”.

Malign Muses results from Judith Clark’s work with Caroline Evans, costume historian and author of the book ‘Fashion at the Edge’. Sketches by the New York fashion illustrator and designer Ruben Toledo will also be integrated into the exhibition design. The Russian neo-constructivist architect Yuri Avvakumov and the British avant-garde jewellery designer Naomi Filmer have to collaborate with Judith Clark on the exhibition.

The exhibition contains a selection of items, which are as historical as they are contemporary, taken from the permanent collections of the Fashion Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum, as well as from the archives of several designers.

The Malign Muses exposition will also be at the Contemporary Space at the V&A from February 22nd till May 8th 2005.

The collection can be summed up as an effort by Clark to give form to her study of how the past has power over the present and her search for new ways of curating dress in the MoMu exhibition space.

In addition, several artists, makeup artists, jewellery designers, writers, art historians, set builders, restorers and bibliophiles will descend on the Malign Muses fairground.

Loppa went on to say, “We shall lose ourselves in history, play games like children, discover our genealogy, experience our childhood dreams, analyse our shadows, unravel our past and predict our future. The muses will continue to pursue us and fashion will always be haunted by the past as long as dress exists.”

With it references to the past, the collection is sure to give viewers an open window to the future of fashion.

For more information please contact:
Press: Valérie Gillis valerie.gillis@momu.be
International Press: Nicolas Delarue nd@atlarge.fr