One of the highlights of my trip to Southern California was
definitely our visit to the FIDM Museum & Galleries, a little gem tucked
away on the ground floor of the Institute’s LA campus.
Lets be honest here—I kind of get bored in museums. I
absolutely LOVE the idea of museums—a
collection of unique items to be preserved and remembered—but sometimes they
can be a little bit of a snooze-fest. Not so with FIDM. It’s expertly curated
and designed (shocker, right?), and every display is more fascinating from the
last. Even better? Our tour guide was the one and only Nick Verreos, one of my
faaaavorite Project Runway alums ever!
Nick is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting,
and his unshakable excitement and obvious love of design easily roped all of us
in.
One of my favorite exhibitions was the 8th Annual
Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design. Every year, FIDM collects the
best of the best from Emmy-nominated television, and each display is like a
jump into action. It was fascinating to see how designers tailored costumes to
their actors’ dimensions, and get a bit of insight on the art. The most
dazzling display was, of course, the gorgeous handmade collection from Downton
Abbey. Nick told us that costume designer Caroline McCall hand-sewed each and
every costume for the lead characters. It’s not a detail most viewers would
notice, but McCall’s attention to detail is what made the work so incredible—these
rich women would have had all the clothes sewn to order, so that’s what the
actors should wear.
Right beside the Emmy noms is a much smaller exhibit, “Bound
to Impress: Corsets from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection.” While
there are over 1,000 items in FIDM’s historical collection, these artfully
curated pieces are UN. REAL. Until Shirley, the Director of Public Relations
and Publicity, told me they were all original and authentic, I thought all of
the clothes were reproductions! Not so. Most of the pieces are well over 200
years old and in pristine condition. But I was happy to keep those corsets and
dresses on their mannequins—a girl’s gotta have room for ice cream, am I right?
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Bound to Impress: Corsets from The
Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection – Dates: July 22, 2014–November 1, 2014; 10am–5pm; Tuesday
through Saturday
|
Even though I’m not very
talented (read: 0% talented), I loved checking out the beautiful sketches from
the Christian Esquevin Collection that made up FIDM’s “Designing Hollywood”
exhibit. Here the walls are filled top-to-toe with illustrations of some of
Hollywood’s most iconic costumes from some of its most iconic movies. Robert
Redford sat alongside Marlene Deitrich and Ann Margaret outfitted in some of
the first visualizations of their characters’ looks. If you’re an artist, or
just a fan of pretty fashion illustrations, this one is a must-see.
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| Designing Hollywood: Sketches from the Christian Esquevin Collection – Dates: June 11, 2014- November 1, 2014; 10am–5pm, Tuesday through Saturday |
If you’ve ever been to the museum and galleries at
FIDM—or another fashion museum you love—let me know! And if you’re travelling to LA make sure you
hit it up. Its also free, so now you have no excuse! And a big, big thank you to FIDM for hosting us and
to Nick for being such a wonderful tour guide!
Xoxo, Molly
This experience was
sponsored by Microsoft and Visit California, but all opinions are my own.
