許多歐洲國家諸如: 義大利、英國...等百年老廠面臨市場的變化下不得不關廠，在21世紀，工業化量產與快速成衣的概念，逐漸取代了傳統慢速與高級織物的機台，至今仍許多流在外的布書與典藏手稿，甚於許多新興國家收購，作新的設計開發使用，不少品牌仍舊研續這樣的設計模式，證明了經典的設計脈絡仍有其價值；然而流行文化循環裡，也總是不斷用沿伸"舊與經典"的靈感，昰另一種"藝術創作"也是工業量產下的ㄧ個值得驕傲的歷史，今天在Times magazine的ㄧ篇報導看到這來自於蘇黎世的老廠Abraham，於比利時 MOMU時尚博物館的典藏布書展，特別將文章翻譯了一下，雖未能親眼看到展出內容，但 "古書 "有種無可比擬的歷史氣質與 特殊風格調性，亦為喜愛當代織品設計的人們所推崇的ㄧ項結晶。
時裝色彩 Abraham 的絲織&印花典藏布書於 MOMU 比利時安特衛普時尚博物館
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
"Today’s explosion of digital printing techniques inspired us to make a link
between the old school prints of Abraham and designers that work with print today"
---curator Karen Van Godtsenhoven
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| Installation with 20 Abraham Scrapbooks 2010, Abraham Archive |
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Covers company brochure,
summer 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1954. Abraham Archive |
雖然巴黎毫無疑問地是的世界時尚之都，在戰後初期，更重要的是，少為人知的的郊區是蘇黎世，高級紡織起源的企業世家--- Abraham亞伯拉罕，為許多高級訂製服織品設計如: Christian Dior迪奧、Hubert de Givenchy紀梵希、Cristóbal Balenciaga巴黎世家等瓦爾提供的精緻印花、專屬奢華的的里昂絲綢。
Though Paris
was undisputedly the world capital of fashion in the immediate postwar period,
one of its more important, if lesser-known, suburbs was Zurich,
the home of the exclusive textile firm Abraham, which kept the couture houses
of Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Cristóbal Balenciaga et al supplied with
intricately printed, ultraluxurious Lyon silk.
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| Gustave Zemsteg1955 |
亞伯拉罕和它的創意總監Gustave
Zemsteg，號召藝術家朋友們如: 米羅Joan Miro、夏卡爾Marc Chagall，為安特衛普的時尚博物館的新展覽作一印花設計的主題。 Zemsteg最富有成果的夥伴關係是他的摯友: 聖羅蘭，是他在另一個客戶迪奧的葬禮上所認識的。 “我不會稱他們有書信往來，但他們的確有深厚感情，”展覽的策展人Karen Van Godtsenhoven。 “這是一個良好友誼，同時也是事業關係。
Abraham and its creative director, Gustave
Zemsteg, who called on artist friends like Joan Miro and Marc Chagall to design
prints, are the subjects of a new exhibition at Antwerp’s
Mode Museum. Zemsteg’s most fruitful
partnership was with his close friend Yves Saint Laurent, whom he met at the funeral
of another client, Christian Dior. “I wouldn’t call their correspondence love
letters, but they are certainly affectionate,” says the show’s curator, Karen
Van Godtsenhoven. “It was a friendship as well as a business relationship.
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Joan Miro、Marc Chagall Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU
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| Christian Dior 1955 summer collection |
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| Christian Dior 1960 summer collection |
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| Hubert de Givenchy winter 1971/72 collection |
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| Cristóbal Balenciaga, winter 1955/56 |
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| Cristóbal Balenciaga, summer1950 |
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| Drawing Cristóbal Balenciaga, A/W1967 |
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| Pierre Balmain, summer 1952 |
聖羅蘭以及新上任的迪奧接班人，在他的最後職業生涯中的女性高級訂製服系列使用了亞伯拉罕絲，然而，在2002年，該公司的停產。面對萎縮的超高檔面料市場，它關廠後並捐贈了其細緻的檔案予瑞士國家博物館。大膽的花卉印花圖案，金質面料 --- 他們所創造了令人難以置信的華麗。” Van Godtsenhoven說。
” Saint
Laurent, then the newly appointed Dior heir, went on
to use Abraham silk throughout his career; his last couture collection, in
2002, was the firm’s death knell. Faced with a dwindling market for its
ultra-upscale fabrics, it closed its doors and donated its meticulous archive
to the Swiss National Museum.
“The bold flower prints, the fabrics with gold — what they did was incredibly
opulent,” Van Godtsenhoven says.
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Abraham silk was used for
these Yves Saint Laurent designs
from summer 1967 (ZVG) |
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
TCOUURE IN COLOUR,
SILK & PRINTS FROM THE ABRAHAM ARCHIVE AT MOMU
Posted on March 16, 2013 by Dan Thawley
“ 這是一種早期印花設計探索 !” 策展人Karen Van
Godtsenhoven說。
這個展覽於周二開幕，發表 典藏的遺失瑞士Abraham的絲織印花品，回溯橫跨巴黎高級訂製服文化的全盛時期至今。
“It’s an exploration of the early days of
print design with a hint of the new” says curator Karen Van Godtsenhoven, on
the exhibition unveiled on Tuesday night at the MOMU Fashion Museum Antwerp,
celebrating the archives of the lost Swiss silk printers Abraham with a
retrospective spanning the heyday of Paris couturiers up until the modern day.
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
當代運用的數位印花技術，激發了我們去串連古老Abraham的印花方式與當今設計師創作之間，她接著說，“Dries Van Noten、Peter Pilotto and Diane Van Furstenberg等設計師接從Abraham古書中去找尋數位印花的靈感而印製，這是一個在它們白色的象徵性輪廓上，融合了經典Abraham印花至新的想像。
“Today’s
explosion of digital printing techniques inspired us to make a link between the
old school prints of Abraham and designers that work with print today” she
continues, “Dries Van Noten, Peter Pilotto and Diane Van Furstenberg each made
a digital animation with their favourite archive prints from Abraham. This is
projected on a white signature silhouette of them, blending their signature and
typical Abraham prints into a new image”.
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
“The show presents couture
from the 2nd half of the 20th century,
it’s quite extraordinary to see
how influential the Abraham company was through the statement prints
that defined the look of the times”
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| Installation view at “ Couture in colour”, MOMU |
在總監Gustav Zumsteg的帶領下，Abraham 成為了世界最領導性的絲織印花公司，於二次世界大戰後WWII開始了大膽的花卉布花設計，亦被迪奧的New Look所使用。在透過Zumsteg和Yves Saint Laurent的情誼之下，DIOR持續的使用在系列之中。“直到今日由Raf Simons執掌設計，MOMU仍感興趣於追溯印花的起源”，策展人 Van Godtsenhoven解釋: “ 此展覽展現了於從20世紀的影響，這相當具獨特非凡的意義，在於看Abraham公司如何透過印花定義了時代的印象所代表的影響力。”這展覽包含令人讚嘆的高級訂製服，從Cristobal Balenciaga、Christian Dior、Hubert de Givenchy，於側Abraham的典藏古書和布樣書，勾勒出當代藝術與流行設計本質中的對應之處。
Under the direction of Gustav Zumsteg,
Abraham became the world’s leading silk and textiles printing company,
starting with the bold statement flowers used for Dior’s New Look after WWII.
The collaboration with Dior continued through with the friendship of Zumsteg
and Yves Saint Laurent. “With Raf Simons at the helm of Dior today, it was
interesting for MOMU to go back to the roots of the couture house, with the
prints with which it all started” explains Van Godtsenhoven, “The show presents
couture from the 2nd half of the 20th century, it’s quite extraordinary to see
how influential the Abraham company was through the statement prints that
defined the look of the times”. The exhibition includes stunning examples of
couture dresses from Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Dior and Hubert de
Givenchy, alongside archive documents and swatch books from Abraham and draws
intrinsic parallels with contemporary art and fashion design.
Campaign Campaign image Silk & Prints from the Abraham archive – Couture in Colour (13/03 until 11/08/2013) at MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp. Cristobal Balenciaga, winter 1955/56. Photo: Tom Kublin. Graphics: Paul Boudens
時裝色彩, 亞伯拉罕的絲織&印花典藏布書
於 MOMU(比利時 安特衛普 時尚博物館)
展期自3月13至8月11日。
“Silk & Prints from the Abraham Archives: Couture in Colour” is on view at the Mode Museum, Nationalestraat 28, Antwerp, through Aug. 11.
Fashion Museum Province of Antwerp – MoMu
Tmagazine:
Silks from Gustav Zumsteg’s Abraham company
in Zurich were
loved by designers such as Yves Saint Laurent for being bold, beautiful and
glamorous.
As a new exhibition in the city tells,
these fabrics had their zenith during the second half of the 20th century. But
the company could not outlive the design and business visionary that was
Zumsteg.
The show, named “Soie Pirate” (pirate
silk), is based on the company archive which was given to the Swiss National
Museum in 2007.
“Zumsteg was a genius. He was an artist and an excellent businessman. But he
was not an easy man and was rather complicated,” Peter Beglinger, chairman of
the Hulda and Gustav Zumsteg Foundation, which donated the archive, told swissinfo.ch.
The huge collection of silks is Zumsteg’s legacy to the Swiss textile industry
and his “masterpiece”. “He was the most famous person of his time in textiles
in Switzerland,”
said Beglinger.
It is no coincidence that the show is taking place in Zurich, which in the 17th to 19th centuries
was an important centre for silk, becoming rich from its profits.
In 1940s, Zumsteg – who had worked his way up from the level of apprentice –
became the director of the traditional silk company Abraham, transforming it
into an international force. Parisian Haute Couture designers were among its
best customers.
“The three most important ones were Christobal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy
and Yves Saint Laurent,” said Barbara Keller, a member of the exhibition team.
Personal friendship
“Zumsteg had a deep personal friendship
with Yves Saint Laurent. They spoke on the phone every Sunday and you can
really feel in Yves Saint Laurent’s work that they worked closely together.”
Zumsteg described the first time he met
Saint
Laurent as a kind of “coup de foudre” – a love at
first sight – and they enjoyed discussing books and music.
However, they always tried to keep a certain distance, addressing each other
with French formal “vous” as over-familiarity – using “tu” – was considered bad
for business in the textile industry. Nevertheless, after a few drinks in the
evening they sometimes slipped into the informal “tu”.
Zumsteg was, luckily for the exhibition, a very fastidious man. The company not
only kept samples of its silks from 1955, but also press cuttings.
“Here you can see Catherine Deneuve wearing a Yves Saint Laurent dress of
Abraham silk or Audrey Hepburn, who wore a lot of Givenchy,” Keller told
swissinfo.ch.
Sophia Loren was also a regular patron of the Kronenhalle, the Zurich restaurant run by Zumsteg’s formidable
mother Hulda, added Keller. It had, under the son’s influence, become a meeting
point for the glitterati and also housed part of Zumsteg’s art collection.
Art as inspiration
Some of his favourite paintings can be seen
in a small reconstruction of the Kronenhalle in the exhibition.
The designer was often inspired by art. Swathes of bright silks on display
reveal abstract patterns, but also more classic motifs such as flowers,
butterflies and tartan.
There seemed no end to his quest for a perfect pattern: an employee was once
sent to Marrakesh, where Saint Laurent had a holiday home, to gain
inspiration from the flowers there.
The company did not, however, produce the silks itself. Instead the work was
quietly outsourced to other firms.
One of the firm’s best-kept secrets was the Ratti company in Como, Italy.
For more than 30 years, Zumsteg travelled there almost every week where he is
remembered as passionate about his work, but also as short-tempered with
exacting standards.
Dresses as witnesses
Visitors can see some of the designer
dresses made from the Abraham silks in the exhibition. They come in a dazzling
array of colours, often fashioned in a heavy silk called gazar, which was a
company hallmark.
Equally fascinating are the fashion photographs showing how the image of women
and couture has changed over the years.
Pictures from the 1950s of Balenciaga dresses are stiffly posed and sculptural,
with an emphasis on femininity. In the Yves Saint Laurent photos from the
1960s-1970s, the era of women’s liberation, the models and gowns move more
freely.
“Zumsteg was very up to date design-wise; with colours, he knew what he wanted.
He knew what the markets would accept and even knew what trends were to come,”
Thomas Isler, chairman of the Zurich Silk Society, which was involved in the
exhibition, told swissinfo.ch.
But even this titan of the Swiss textile industry could not keep apace of
society changes, and by the 1990s Abraham was losing money. Zumsteg poured some
of his personal fortune into the firm, but it was not enough: it went bankrupt
in 2002.
Changing tastes
Part of the problem was that from the
1970s, shop-bought clothes became more popular as they were easier to care for
than expensive silks and needed no tailoring. Prêt-à-Porter, designers’ ready
to wear lines, offered further competition to Haute Couture.
And, despite multiple attempts, no successor was found to replace the ageing
Zumsteg. It seemed that Abraham without the master was unthinkable.
The Swiss silk industry as a whole suffered during these changing times. Around
1900 it was one of the most important industries in the country. Now there are
only a few niche companies, says Isler.
“The market for Haute Couture goods has almost vanished. You still have a
little Prêt-à-Porter, which is beautiful but almost never bright,” he said.
“Designer companies operating now are excellent people but they are commercial
and don’t use as much of this brightness and joy of life that Gustav Zumsteg
used to present in his designs.”
Zumsteg died in 2005 aged 89. After his archive was donated to the National Museum, it took a further two years to
document the thousands of samples, pictures and scrapbooks. But the resulting
exhibition is a fitting tribute to the glamour of a bygone era and to one man’s
love affair with silk.
