In early August, Tourism Queensland are hosting Black Magazine in Brisbane for a weekend to attend the opening of the Valentino Retrospective Past/Present/Future exhibition at the city's classy GOMA gallery. The exhibition is a stunning display of many of the masterpieces created by the great Italian couturier Valentino Garavani and the House of Valentino. The exhibition runs from August 7 to November 14 and Brisbane is the only Australasian city to host the retrospective courtesy of the wonderful Les Arts Decoratifs, a private, non-profit museum of the decorative arts in Paris. Valentino is recognised for many things; from literally creating a colour to providing that most elegant of stateswoman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, with six black and white dresses to mourn the passing of her husband in 1964, and much in between.
Perhaps it is the recognition from the French government as the first official couture house outside of Paris, within the strict definition of haute couture, that says it all though. Curated by Pamela Gobin, curator-in-chief for the Fashion and Textiles collection of Les Arts Decoratifs, the weekend also features future directions of the house (since Valentino's retirement in 2007) with five recent creations by new creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli - who had already been working together designing accessories for the previous ten years. For lovers of great fashion the hop across the ditch for a weekend of Brisbane spring time has never looked more appealing, especially with some of the airfares on offer this morning. Thanks Tourism Queensland...
