I think I have posted about this before, but there's more information available now.
The Swiss National Museum's exhibition "Soie pirate" ("Pirate silk") opened today - more information on it and the catalog etc. can be found here: http://www.soiepirate.ch/exhibition.html
Don't know if I can make it before I'm off on my holiday, or if I'll have to do it afterwards, but I'll definitely go and see it.
There was a big article about it in today's newspaper, and I have just learned a few things too. I always knew that the textile industry used to be big in Switzerland, and that Zurich was known for it's silk production just as St. Gallen was and still is known for their lace and embroideries (they still produce special fabrics for Haute Couture designers). Well, these are the amazing facts: in the 19th century, 60% of Switzerland's industry was taken up by textile firms, 40% of these produced silk, and were all in Zurich. Wow.
This exhibition was made possible because the last owner of the Abraham silk company had donated the complete company archive to this museum - the company closed in 2002. They sold their silk to such great names as Balenciaga, Balmain, Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent. It seems that Saint Laurent bought all the silk for his collections from them - he and the company owner apparently knew each other very well. In fact, Farah Diba's wedding gown by him was made from Abraham silk...
It seems there will be a lot of fabric samples and vintage fashion photographs on show. No idea if there will be any vintage garments to be seen, but I will go there anyway. They did an exhibition on the lace from St. Gallen a few years ago, and showed incredible (modern) Haute Couture garments (Chanel, Lacroix and the like...!) that used these fabrics.
Karin
Karin
The Swiss National Museum's exhibition "Soie pirate" ("Pirate silk") opened today - more information on it and the catalog etc. can be found here: http://www.soiepirate.ch/exhibition.html
Don't know if I can make it before I'm off on my holiday, or if I'll have to do it afterwards, but I'll definitely go and see it.
There was a big article about it in today's newspaper, and I have just learned a few things too. I always knew that the textile industry used to be big in Switzerland, and that Zurich was known for it's silk production just as St. Gallen was and still is known for their lace and embroideries (they still produce special fabrics for Haute Couture designers). Well, these are the amazing facts: in the 19th century, 60% of Switzerland's industry was taken up by textile firms, 40% of these produced silk, and were all in Zurich. Wow.
This exhibition was made possible because the last owner of the Abraham silk company had donated the complete company archive to this museum - the company closed in 2002. They sold their silk to such great names as Balenciaga, Balmain, Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent. It seems that Saint Laurent bought all the silk for his collections from them - he and the company owner apparently knew each other very well. In fact, Farah Diba's wedding gown by him was made from Abraham silk...
It seems there will be a lot of fabric samples and vintage fashion photographs on show. No idea if there will be any vintage garments to be seen, but I will go there anyway. They did an exhibition on the lace from St. Gallen a few years ago, and showed incredible (modern) Haute Couture garments (Chanel, Lacroix and the like...!) that used these fabrics.
Karin
Karin
