vanillaCHYMES: Culture Chanel at the Shanghai MoCa

Before I headed to Shanghai to spend Chinese New Year, I was ecstatic over the Culture Chanel exhibit at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCa). I made my visit on February 7th, after a long visit at the newly-opened Gap on Nanjing Road. The MoCa is one my favorite places in Shanghai. Located smack in the middle of Shanghai's People's Park, I make a visit to the MoCa almost every time I'm in Shanghai. In the past, I've also been to a Salvatore Ferragamo exhibit and various other exhibits held there.

All pictures taken by me with my handy Canon IXUS 85IS(the guard there said I couldn't take pictures, but I saw someone using her iPhone to take pictures of everything, so I gave myself permission), so the photo quality might not be too good. Remember to give me credit if you decide to borrow them :)

The moment you're waiting for...Culture Chanel.

By Day and By Night

Outside the MoCa (left) and Inside the Park (right)

The Origin

Inspiration from Gabrielle Chanel's time in an orphanage in Aubazine and religious dress.

Sculpture from the 15th/16th Century, Collection Musee Labenche d'art et d'histoire, Brive-la-Gaillarde (France)

White collared and cuffs on black dresses from Chanel collections of 1965-1980, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel collections of1989, 2005

Chanel No 5

Perfume Bottle (left, 1921) and Fine Jewelry (right, worn by Nicole Kidman in the No 5 advertising film directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2004)

Harper's Bazaar US: Chanel photographed by Francois Kollar for Chanel No 5's advertising campaign for the November 1937 edition of the magazine

"Madame Gabrielle Chanel is above all an artist in living. Her dresses, her perfumes, and created with a faultless instinct for drama. Her Perfume No. 5 is like the soft music that underlies the playing of a love scene. It kindles the imaginary, indelibly fixes the scene in memories of the players."

Chanel Essentials

Ivory Tweed Jackets (left, Gabrielle Chanel 1963 Haute Couture collection and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel collections of 1986, 1988, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2006, 2009) and Chanel Camellias (right)

Give Me Liberty

Coats and Trousers by Gabrielle Chanel

(left, from the Haute Couture Collections of 1930s and 1960) and by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel (right, Haute Couture, Ready-to-wear, and Cruise collections of 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1003, 2004, and 2009)

Long Live the Queen

Chanel White Collars

(first picture below: left to right, Daphne Guinness in Chanel 2009 F/W Ready-to-wear collection for Vogue Italy October 2009, 'Reinas de la France' by Jean Cocteau and Christian Berard, Gabrielle Chanel photographed by George Hoyningen-Huene in 1939, second picture below: Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel F/W 1996 Haute Couture collection)

Imaginary encounters with Catherine de'Medici

(first picture below: Chanel 1971 F/W Haute Couture collection, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel Haute Couture collections of 1983, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2009, second picture below: Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel 1990 F/W Haute Couture collection)

For more information, either grab the February edition of Vogue China's supplement on Culture Chanel or check out the Website. Remember to stop by before March 14, you've still got a month!

Update: I forgot to add pictures of the spread in the supplement to Vogue China February 2011 dedicated to the Culture Chanel exhibition in Shanghai. Liu Wen in Chanel photographed by Victor Demarchelier for Vogue China February 2011 is absolutely stunning. Source: FashionGoneRogue

The Origin