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Haute Couture at Versailles



32. Maison Christian Dior © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

32. Maison Christian Dior © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

LE XVIIIel AU GÔUT DU JOUR – THE 18 th CENTURY BACK IN FASHION

Couturiers and fashion designers in the Grand Trianon.

Vivienne Westwood © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

Vivienne Westwood © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

VERSAILLES: This summer  at Grand TrianonThe Palace of Versailles and the Musée Galliera present an exhibition in the apartments of the Grand Trianon dedicated to the influence of the 18th century on modern fashion. Between haute couture and ready-to-wear, fifty models by great designers of the 20th century dialogue with costumes and accessories from the 18th century and show how this century is quoted with constant interest.

These pieces come from the archives of maisons de couture and from the Galliera’s collections.

Moreover the exhibition mentions the artistic sources of inspiration coming from the history of art and culture which has nourished the couture designers creativity.

Influencing all the European courts, French culture of the 18th century was embodied by Madame de Pompadour, Madame Du Barry and even more so Marie-Antoinette – paragons of frivolity that has always fascinated the cinema, literature and the fashion world. With its huge powdered hairstyles, whalebone stays and hoop petticoats, flounces, frills and furbelows, garden swings and whispered confidences, the 18th  century brought artifice to its paroxysm…

Christian Lacroix © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Christian Lacroix © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Pierre Balmain © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet.

Pierre Balmain © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet.

A fantasized style which gives free rein to interpretation: the Boué Sisters in the twenties, panniers and lace in their robes de style.

Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain offer evening gowns embroidered with typically 18th century decorative patterns, Vivienne Westwood brings back brazen courtesans, fashionable Belles are corsetted by Azzedine Alaïa, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel invites Watteau with his robes à la française, the Maison Christian Dior adorns duchesses with delicate attires, Christian Lacroix drapes his queens with brocades lavishly gleaming with gemstones and Olivier Theyskens for Rochas summons up the ghost of Marie-Antoinette in a Hollywood film.

While the elegant simplicity in black and white is played by Yves Saint Laurent, Martin Margiela transforms men’s garments into women’s,

Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga  enhances women in little marquis dressed with lace and Alexander McQueen for Givenchy clothes his marquises in vests embroidered with gold thread. With Yohji Yamamoto, court dresses are destructured and so does Rei Kawakubo with riding coats. While Thierry Mugler hides oversized hoops under the dresses, Jean Paul Gaultier puts them upside down.

Jean Paul Gaultier © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

Jean Paul Gaultier © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

Maison Christian Dior © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Maison Christian Dior © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Couturiers and fashion designers invite you to discover this 18th  century back in fashion, in the Grand Trianon.

8 July to 9 October 2011 – Grand Trianon – Versailles.’

The Grand Trianon (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃ tʁijanɔ̃]) was built in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles at the request ofLouis XIV, as a retreat for the King and his maîtresse en titre of the time, the marquise de Montespan, and as a place where the King and invited guests could take light meals (collations) away from the strict étiquette of the Court.

The Grand Trianon is set within its own park, which includes the Petit Trianon (the much smaller château built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of Louis XV).

History

In 1668, Louis XIV purchased Trianon, a hamlet on the outskirts of Versailles, and commissioned the architect Louis Le Vau to design a porcelain pavilion (Trianon de porcelaine) to be built there.

Christian Dior © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet

Christian Dior © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet

Jean Paul Gaultier © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.

Jean Paul Gaultier © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin.


The façade was made of white and blue Delft-style “porcelain” (ceramic) tiles from the French manufactures of RouenLisieuxNeversand Saint-Cloud. Construction began in 1670 and was finished in 1672.

By 1687, the fragile ceramic tiles had deteriorated to such a point that Louis XIV ordered the demolition of the pavilion and its replacement with one made of stronger material. Commission of the work was entrusted to the architect Jules Hardouin Mansart
. Hardouin-Mansart’s new structure was twice the size of the porcelain pavilion, and the material used was red marble of Languedoc.[1]

Begun in June 1687, the new construction (as we see it today) was finished in January 1688 and inaugurated by Louis XIV and his secret wife, the marquise de Maintenon, during the summer of 1688.

The Grand Trianon would often play host to the King and his wife. The first set of Grands appartments lasted from 1688 to 1691. The next was from 1691 till 1701; then 1701 till his death at Versailles in 1715.

From 1703 to 1711, the building was the residence of le Grand Dauphin.

Vivienne Westwood © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Vivienne Westwood © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Christian Dior © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet

Christian Dior © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet


The domain was a favourite of the Duchess of Burgundy, the wife of his grandson Louis de France, the parents of Louis XV.

In the later years of Louis XIV’s reign, the Trianon was the residence of the King’s sister-in-law Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Dowager Duchess of Orléans and known at court as Madame. Her son, Philippe d’Orléans, future son-in-law of Louis XIV and Regent of France, lived there with his mother. Louis XIV even ordered the construction of a larger wing to the Grand Trianon which was begun in 1708 by Mansart; this wing, called Trianon-sous-Bois, housed the Orléans family, including Louis XIV’s legitimised daughter Françoise-Marie de Bourbon.

The King’s youngest grandson Charles de France and his wife Marie Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans also resided there. The Orléans family, who had apartments at the Palace of Versailles, were later replaced by Françoise-Marie’s sister; the Duchess of Bourbon, Madame la Duchesse lived at the Trianon and later built the Palais Bourbon in Paris, the design of the palace being copied on that of the Trianon.

In 1717, Peter the Great of Russia, who was studying the palace and gardens of Versailles, resided at the Grand Trianon; the Grand Palace at Peterhof is copied on Versailles.

Thierry Mugler © Patrice STABLE

Thierry Mugler © Patrice STABLE

Thierry Mugler © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Thierry Mugler © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin


Louis XV did not bring any changes to the Grand Trianon. In 1740 and 1743, his father-in-law, Stanislas Leszczynski, former king of Poland stayed there during his visits to Versailles. Later, it was during a stay at Trianon that Louis XV fell ill before being transported to the Palace of Versailles, where he died on 10 May 1774.

No more than his predecessor had, Louis XVI brought no structural modifications to the Grand Trianon. His wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, who preferred the Petit Trianon, gave a few theatrical representations in the galerie des Cotelle, a gallery with paintings by Jean l’Aîné Cotelle representing the bosquets of Versailles and Trianon.[2]

During the French Revolution of 1789, the Grand Trianon was left to neglect

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. At the time of the First French EmpireNapoleon made it one of his residences, and furnished it in theEmpire Style.

Napoleon lived at Trianon with his second wife Marie Louise of Austria.

The next royals to live at Trianon were the King and Queen of the French, Louis Philippe I and his Italian wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies; he was a descendant of the Regent Philippe d’Orléans and she was a niece of Marie Antoinette.

Balenciaga © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Balenciaga © Marcio MADEIRA - Zeppelin

Rochas par Olivier Theyskens © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet

Rochas par Olivier Theyskens © EPV, J-M Manaï, C Milet


In October 1837 Marie d’Orléans (daughter of Louis Philippe I) married Alexander of Württemberg at Trianon

In 1920, the Grand Trianon hosted the negotiations and signing of the Treaty of Trianon, which left Hungary with less than one-third of its pre-World War I land size. To the Hungarians, the word “Trianon” remains to this day the symbol of one of their worst national disasters.

1963 saw Charles de Gaulle order a renovation of the building.

A popular site for tourists visiting Versailles, it is also one of the French Republic presidential residences used to host foreign officials, for exemple has HM Queen Elisabeth II of Great Britain been staying here in the guest part during her official visit.

Please enjoy our presentation of the new Balenciaga Museum in Getaria, North- Spain, which was opened June 7th 2011 by HM the Queen of Spain

at: http://www.kulturkompasset.com/2011/08/cristobal-balenciaga-museum-getaria/.

See also: http://cristobalbalenciagamuseoa.com



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