Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery – Review
July 15, 2024Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery – Review. A friend of mine recently complained to me that they went to an exhibition and the walls weren’t white. I didn’t know what to (politely) say. Jay Jopling’s White Cube Gallery was named that partly in an ironic acknowledgement while still fully embracing the trend of all white walls in galleries, hushed assistants, interns who would look right down their unpaid noses at you for approaching their pure hallowed walls with your filthy plebeian gaze. But that was the NINETIES! And the reason it was a trend was because before, such stark settings were not the norm.
The lovely Wallace Collection has kept its beautiful vibrant walls from the 18th century, the King’s Gallery (formerly the Queen’s Gallery) is deep red, the National Gallery has a different colour in each room, and I don’t think it’s ever not had. And I’m really glad to see things moving on. I recently saw an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery that had ombré walls, in palest blue shading to midnight, and blush pink to red. That seemed pretty fancy. Beyond Fashion revels in colour of all kinds, mostly bright and often clashing. A primrose yellow wall adjoins a claret red one, their tones and hues not matching at all. If it were a fashion designer, we’d be talking the work of Roksanda, not Ralph Lauren.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery – The Famous and Not-Yet Famous
Photo by Juergen Teller. In situ image by Alexandra Lazar.
Photo by Peter Lindbergh. In situ image by Alexandra Lazar.
Photo by Miles Aldridge. In situ image by Alexandra Lazar.
Larsen by Olivia Bee. In situ image by Alexandra Lazar.
The works in the exhibition include famous and not so famous names. Mario Testino, Paolo Reversi, Miles Aldridge and Nick Knight are represented. There are also some famous images, like Victoria Beckham in a shopping bag by Juergen Teller and a group of 90s supermodels frolicking in black and white by Peter Lindbergh. There are other names I don’t recognise, who have made images that are equally compelling. Although as the introduction points out, it is not just the photographer who made them but a whole team of models, assistants, stylists, hairdressers, make up artists, and other creatives. So all thanks and credit to them as well.
The exhibition is arranged into sections: Allure, Fantasy, Realism, and Surrealism. The introduction for Allure explains that, when the photos were taken, the “slim, young, strong, ethereal and luminous” female body was in fashion and these retouched and unrealistic images reflect that. It also points out that the way that the female body is deified is ever changing, and this is just one moment in time. However, the images here are playful, and not the obvious “sex sells” photos.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery – Fantasy
Photo by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
Image Alexandra Lazar
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
In Fantasy, free reign is given to creative storytelling. The camera is used as a tool to record elaborate set ups featuring outlandish makeup, costumes, wigs and props. A model swims underwater, Tilda Swinton is made up as a smudged clown, a woman is covered in snakes. It is vivid, eye-catching and often funny. I particularly love Miles Aldridge’s images of a woman leaning close to a gas ring to light her cigarette, and another of an immaculately made up model holding a cherry in her mouth which matches her lipstick in gloss and hue.
Realism features less artificiality: a woman on a swing is almost upside down in childlike glee. An elaborately made up model wipes a child’s mouth, like a mother glamorously dressed for the night on her way out to a party.
Surrealism is chiefly about the juxtaposition of unexpected objects. Crisp, crumpled white paper obscures a model’s head entirely, in a juxtaposition agains her soft, shining brown skin. A large red ball hides half of the face of another, and pierced card half conceals another. The tendency of the original Surrealist movement to depersonalise females with this technique, of removing faces and heads and abbreviating women to body parts, has always seemed reductive at best to me, and not something to be emulated. Moving on, entirely abstract compositions are more pleasing.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
Nick Knight’s Showstudio and Jean Paul Gaulthier
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery. Image by Alexandra Lazar.
There are two other sections. A video installation features Nick Knight’s Showstudio, and there is a scent installation as well, which suggests visual imagery to match Jean Paul Gaultier‘s perfumes. This is curated by students at École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne and entitled “Under Your Smell”. Visitors really enjoy lounging and posing on the large cushions under the banners featuring various iterations of his perfume bottles. So while it all looks like a paid ad to me, it’s a good chance to relax and get some content for the Gram.
Beyond Fashion at the Saatchi Gallery – The Perfect Summer Show
This is the perfect summer show. Airy, colourful, thoughtful yet undemanding, with enough big names and recognisable images to draw the crowds and enough lesser known ones to keep things fresh and interesting. It is absolutely wonderful to see them printed large, not constrained by magazine pages or pixels.
And I’m glad to tell you that in these painful financial times, you can get a ticket for as little as £6.00 concession, going up to £14.00. It’s huge so you certainly get your money’s worth. You can spend all the rest of the money you’ve saved on a coffee somewhere on Kings Rd, because this is Chelsea and London Prices x 2 apply. However, it will be worth it for the people watching. King’s Rd is good at any time. But take advantage especially in the summer, because you’re going to see some marvellous hats and floral dresses. Really natty gents are another feature of this world. The inhabitants of Sloane Square of any gender are absolutely unselfconscious in a hat. So please go see the exhibition and revel in the street fashion.
Curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer, Director of Photo Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. Produced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography. Beyond Fashion is on until 8 September 2024 at Saatchi Gallery.
