Los Altos Hills resident Lina Broydo was dressed in a lime green tweed suit when she arrived at Fashioning San Francisco: a century of style exhibition’s press preview event at the de Young Museum. Glimmering mirrors awaited her. As she approached them, her Chanel-styled suit transformed into Yves Saint Laurent’s little black dress from 1955, Kaisik Wong’s whimsically powerful ensemble from 1985, and Valentino Garavani’s regal ball gown from 1987. All three pieces hugged her figure perfectly, as if they were draped on her body and tailor-designed just for her. As she raised her head and gestured in various directions, the mirror images of her moved in the couture dresses with silky sashes flowing and velvety ball gowns turning. She was ready to walk into any glitzy gala and turn heads. Snap; the mirrors remind you. With a tap of a finger, the glamorous images of her in haute couture were saved, scanned and transferred digitally into her mobile phone, and soon that evening, all over the TV news across the entire Bay Area.
Fashioning San Francisco features an ambitious collection of turn-of-the-century haute couture and documents the most significant holdings of the 20th and 21st century. Much of the collection formed by gifts from generous local donors, the exquisite dresses, gowns, suits and shoes are documented in seven sections with more than one hundred items. The collection uniquely demonstrates the cultural appropriation and appreciation of the powerful women that emerged onto the social, political and cultural stages as activists, entrepreneurs, civic leaders and philanthropists in those periods of time following the 1906 fire in San Francisco. The narrative of the story attests to the chances of wealth, power and opportunities with the rise of San Francisco as a blossoming cosmopolitan city on the West Coast. Global aesthetic influences are ubiquitous not only with well-known European designers and couture houses but also with Chinese and Japanese designers, echoing the unique blend and multiplicity of San Francisco history.
What connects the art to the viewers? In this case, the haute couture to the everyday shapes and forms of human bodies. Augmented Reality (AR) takes the stage.
The Fine Arts Museum is partnering with Snap to leverage digital technology and bring wearable art to the visitors. Snap’s motion-tracking technology seamlessly brings art to life as soon as you stand in front of the magical mirrors. Express your creativity when you virtually try on the couture dresses and find the world around you enhanced. It is a beautiful day at the museum.
The exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It’s open for viewing at the the de Young Museum through Aug. 11.
