Jordan Askill, SS 2011
Iris van Herpen, Capriole Haute Couture 2011
Josefin Arnell, Mirror, Mirror On The Wall 2009, Photo Kristian Loveborg, Courtesy of Galila's Collection Belgium
Charlie Le Mindu, SS 2010
Noritaka Tatehana, Crystal Rose, Chimera collection FW 2010
Pam Hogg, SS 2013
Serena Gili, 2012
Alexander McQueen, Annabel Lee Gold Embroidered Poem Coat, Photo Sarah Carmody
Writtenafterwards, Collection #07 SEVEN GODS – Clothes From Chaos SS 2013
Keta Gutmane, Room Story 2010, Photo Ilze Vanaga
Hideki Seo, Photo Patricia Munster
Hussein Chalayan, SS 2007, Photo Marcio Madeira/style.com, Courtesy of Swarovski
Alexander McQueen, FW 2011, Photo Sarah Carmody
Gucci, SS 2011
“This is an absolutely new take on fashion and fashion exhibitions.”
— Sofia Hedman, Curator, A Queen Within
In the game of chess, the queen is considered the most powerful, and often, the most unpredictable piece. A queen, both in chess and as an archetype, embodies tradition, yet possesses the creative freedom to redefine the rules established by a patriarchal system. In the fall of 2013, the World Chess Hall of Fame will present A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, Fashion and Chess, an exhibition exploring the archetypes of a queen. Works from radical and experimental designers will be used to highlight the queen archetypes in fashion and identify relationships with the cultural collective unconscious and traditions of storytelling.
Evolving from the weakest to the strongest piece, the queen wields exceptional power in chess. It is thought that this privileging of the queen on the board is an indication of her increasingly powerful status in medieval and early modern European society. In A Queen Within, Jungian archetypes and archetypal patterns in literature, film, fashion photography and folktales will be used to examine the relationships between power, risk-taking, as well as feminine roles in queen archetypes and the representations of those roles in the designers’ works.
Produced by an international team of thought-leaders, curators, fashion insiders, and chess players, the exhibition focuses on the how storytelling as well as the various archetypes of the queen have captured the imagination of innovative fashion designers.
Objects From the Following Designers Will be Exhibited:
Alexander McQueen, Anrealage, Chan Luu, Charlie Le Mindu, Gianfranco Ferre, Gucci, Hideki Seo, Henrik Vibskov, Hussein Chalayan, Iris Schieferstein, Iris Van Herpen, Jordan Askill, Josefin Arnell, Keta Gutmane, Koji Arai, Maiko Takeda, Maison Martin Margiela, Minju Kim, Noritaka Tatehana, Octavia Xiaozi Yang, Pam Hogg, Rein Vollenga, Rejina Pyo, Ryohei Kawanishi, Sandra Backlund, Serena Gili, Tabitha Osler, Viktor & Rolf, and Writtenafterwards.
The master of coiffure Charlie Le Mindu will create bespoke head pieces for the exhibition.
About the Curator
Sofia Hedman, Fashion Curator and Exhibition Designer
Sofia Hedman has curated and designed numerous exhibitions in London, Tokyo and Stockholm. Her central area of interest and expertise is conceptual fashion and art, and the history of fashion combined with a keen commitment to experimental fashion curation. She has investigated what can be deemed characteristics and codes for avant-garde fashion curation and their implications for contemporary exhibitions.
Sofia has published, taught extensively, lectured and supervised in Stockholm at Beckmans College of Design, Architectural Museum, IUAV University in Italy as well as the university of Borås and The Swedish School of Textiles.
Tours
For information about group tours of the exhibition, please contact Program Manager Claire Grothe at claire.grothe@worldchesshof.org or (314) 367-9243 x 105.
PRESS
A Queen Within Exhibition Media Kit
Downloads
Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis