Jan 16 - Feb 24 2019

The ATOPOS cvc Paper Dress Collection

The Hellenic Centre

16–18 Paddington Street, Marylebone,
London W1U 5AS, London

Exhibition Days & Hours
Tue,Thu,Fri: 12:00pm – 7:00pm
Wed: 12:00pm – 9:00pm
Sat & Sun: 12:00 pm – 5:00pm

 ’#TextMe_PaperFashion’ is a pop-up exhibition of the ATOPOS cvc Paper Dress Collection.
The exhibition celebrates the written word in an innovative and ‘atopic’ way. It has been especially created by ATOPOS cvc in the context of Athens 2018 World Book Capital – City of Athens, nominated by UNESCO and to marks the Hellenic Centre’s 25th Anniversary.

Is there such a thing as wearable paper clothing adorned with the written word?
However strange this may sound there are garments from different cultures and historical
periods that are made of paper covered with texts. When these ‘written’ garments are worn they can send out messages and much more. The exhibition investigates the relationship between paper and text in fashion. It narrates the little-known story of paper garments and attempts to highlight the many ways in which typographic elements, such as words, logos, poems, slogans and even headlines have been integrated into paper fashion. It begins with an introduction of the different methods wearable paper is made and ends with a riotous celebration of the disposable Paper Dress fad that took the United States by storm at the end of the 60s.

Disposable Paper dresses printed with words and texts, are displayed alongside garments made of recycled pages from account books such as the rare Japanese shifu underclothes from the Edo period. Exhibits include the 1968 Poster Dress of Allen Ginsberg’s poem ‘Uptown NY’, Richard Nixon’s 1968 electoral campaign dress, the after Andy Warhol ‘Souper Dress’, as well as paper dresses printed with press cuttings from American and English newspapers. The exhibition also includes a number of paper garments created by distinguished designers such as Hussein Chalayan, Demna Gvasalia, Issey Miyake, John Galliano, Kosuke Tsumura, etc.

The ATOPOS cvc Paper Dress collection has been internationally acclaimed through the exhibition ‘RRRIPP!! Paper Fashion’, which was first presented at the Benaki Museum, Athens in 2007 and has since been shown at, amongst others, MUDAM, Luxembourg, the MoMu, Antwerp, the Bellerive Design Museum, Zurich and the Gallerie Stihl, Waiblingen. This is the first time the Collection will be exhibited in London.

The Hellenic Centre, 16–18 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London W1U 5AS, tel: +44 (0) 20 7487 5060 (Baker Street station)

Days & Hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 12:00pm – 7:00pm, Wednesday 12:00pm – 9:00pm, Saturday & Sunday 12:00 pm – 5:00pm.
(guided tours between 7:00pm – 9:00pm)

Admission Free

Download
Press release en
Press release gr
Exhibition texts
List of exhibits

Talks
- 29/01, 7:00 pm – José Teunissen, Professor, Dean, School of Design & Technology, London College of Fashion, ‘’Paper Dress: Future of History?’’
- 19/02, 7:00 pm – Myrsini Pichou, Researcher, “Walking Billboards or Wearable History? Paper Dresses from the ATOPOS cvc Collection”

Sponsors
The Hellenic Centre
Kontorousis Graphic Arts
SLA Logistics Ltd
Anonymous

With the support of
Athens Culture Net
Founding donor Stavros Niarchos Foundation

As part of the
Athens 2018 World Book Capital – City of Athens

 

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The Hellenic Centre