Rijksmuseum presents iconic work by fashion designer Paco Rabanne


The Rijksmuseum has added to its collection a Paco Rabanne dress made of aluminium plates. This modern take on chainmail marked a radical departure from traditional couture when Rabanne designed it in the mid-1960s. His use of repeating elements and reflective or transparent materials was perfectly in tune with the space age aesthetic associated with the Zero and Op Art movements, for example. This dress will be displayed in the Rijksmuseum’s 20th Century galleries.

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1 Dress, Paco Rabanne (1934) aluminum, 1967. Acquired with help of the Fonds Haute Couture/Rijksmuseum Fonds, 2018Spanish-born fashion designer Paco Rabanne presented his futuristic metal and plastic designs for the first time in August 1966, at Galerie Iris Clert in Paris. These garments made of variously shapes lamellas linked by metal ringlets resembled medieval chainmail and the cuirasses worn by Roman soldiers. At the same time, they pointed to a future of space travel and new forms of clothing.

Sensation

These all-but unwearable dresses caused a sensation around the world – including in the Netherlands. There was extensive coverage in Dutch newspapers about this artistically talented newcomer, whose work went on sale in 1967 at the luxury Amsterdam department store Metz & Co. Anyone who could afford to do so bought an original, but it wasn’t long before imitations appeared on sale in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Zadkine

3 'The Destroyed City' Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967) plaster, 1947 loan from De Bijenkorf, 2018Besides the Rabanne dress, there are other new additions to the 20th century galleries. Of particular note is Zadkine’s original plaster model for his famous sculpture The Destroyed City, which is on loan from De Bijenkorf department store. This will be its first time on show in the Rijksmuseum, as part a display devoted entirely to the post-war reconstruction of Rotterdam that will also include Jaap Bakema’s design maquette for the city’s Euromast Tower, which is on loan from Het Nieuwe Instituut.

Bauhaus

There will be plenty of attention for Bauhaus in its centenary year, with work by Kandinsky, Mies van der Rohe, Rietveld and others. One new addition to the collection is Marcel Breuer’s Fauteuil B35, which is being exhibited for the first time.

Heyboer

Several early etchings by Anton Heyboer are also being shown, as are a number of works by Vilmos Huszar – all of them are abstract geometric De Stijl compositions from the early 1920s.