Through the 2oth century, the female silhouette changed radically many times in fashion over the influence of legendary createurs and designers. MoMu celebrates these innovators with its new exhibition, “Game Changers. Reinventing the 20th Century Silhouette”!

Focusing on the figure of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the master couturier, the MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp’s exhibition offers the occasion to reflect about fashion as a medium to design the body, exploring its architecture and volumes through the work of the many ground-breaking designers who, like Balenciaga, revolutionized the female silhouette over the 20th century.

The exhibition "Game Changers – Reinventing the 20th century silhouette" at MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp. Photo: © MoMu Antwerp/ Stany Dederen

The female silhouette has always been shaped by fashion in many astounding and sometimes bizarre ways. It was only in the 20th century, however, that again a certain freedom was given to women by the couturiers like Poiret, Vionnet and Chanel who abandoned the corsets, introducing soft and less constrictive lines. During that last century, designers experimented with increasing freedom and their results changed the rules of the game of fashion.

Issey Miyake, 1990-2015, Photo: Francis Giacobetti.

The exhibition therefore brings together one hundred years of fashion history, showing – alongside the breath-taking creations and the patterns of Balenciaga – pieces designed by Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet and Coco Chanel, but also the iconic work of more contemporary designers, like the lumpy outfits of Comme des Garçons “Body meets Dress, Dress meets Body” S/S 1997 collection, Issey Miyake pleated designs and Maison Martin Margiela’s highly conceptual garments, including pieces by Ann Demeulemeester and Yohji Yamamoto.

The exhibition will be on show through the 14th August 2016. For more information, please visit MoMu – Modemuseum Provincie Antwerpen. Browse also MoMu’s amazing digitalized collection on Europeana Fashion portal!