Breaking the Mode : Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

A kaleidoscopic and provocative survey of the work of forty stylists who redefined fashion during the final twenty years of last century. All of the tradition-based canons that governed the world of haute couture since the fifties were subverted by the creative genius of stylists who forged the history of todays fashion. Designers such as Franco Moschino, Christian Lacroix, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and Thierry Mugler went beyond the preciousness of fabrics, the studied geometry, and immobility of finish that typified couture up until the middle of the twentieth century. They exploited advances in its latter half in both technique and material to create a womens fashion that is both innovative and elegant. Using the adaptability of synthetic fibres and new working methods, they changed the very concept of silhouette. Presented here alphabetically are 40 of the most innovative of these designers in a combination of visual material with concise, descriptive texts by the books curators.

Sharon S. Takeda and Kaye D. Spilker are collaborators at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and experts of Haute couture and Contemporary Fashion.