Exhibition: Martin Grant Paris at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square

The Martin Grant Paris exhibition on at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square is beautifully paired back and stylishly curated .

It was not what I expected and it took my breath away.

Grant is one of Australia’s most successful fashion designers. Born in Melbourne, he moved to Paris in 1992 and has lived there ever since.

His timeless creations are renowned for their sophisticated reinterpretations of wardrobe classics, sculptural quality and modern elegance.  Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, Tilda Swinton and Lady Gaga are just a few of his A-list clients.

This major retrospective exhibition was curated in close collaboration with Grant, with around 40 items coming from his personal archive. Another 100 pieces came from the NGV’s collection.

The exhibition follows Grant’s more than four-decade career starting with his time in Melbourne in the 1980’s. It highlights the timeless quality of his designs from sculpturally tailored coats to trenches, and skirts cinched at the waist, to slinky jumpsuits, daywear, cocktail and evening wear. Each room is curated in a sophisticated and stylish way – a perfect match to Grant’s designs.

On entering the exhibition, you are met with a line of six exquisitely tailored black woollen coats; elegantly simple and stunning. The garments are not purely show pieces. I could see myself wearing any one of these beautiful coats in wintry Melbourne.

The exhibition’s first room gives a nod to his early days at Melbourne’s fashion studio workshop –  Stalbridge Chambers.

The second part of the exhibition, a long white room, is designed to show what it might be like to be a Grant client. Black garments line the walls with a backdrop homage to his Paris studio. Fuchsia toned evening wear looks striking on the central catwalk.

The final room is large and dark with each glamorous gown back lit. A number of gowns are dramatically hung from ceiling wire, displaying its pure sculptural form. As I entered this room it was a breathtaking “WOW” moment.

Music creates a wonderful ambience throughout, including a banging 80’s night clubbing soundtrack in the first rooms (very familiar to this exhibition goer) and slower classical to accompany the evening gown masterpieces.

I have been to quite a few fashion exhibitions including the recent Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga. There is no doubt these haute couture exhibitions offer a thrilling up close and personal look at absolute show stopping garments, fabrics and finishes. These designs, I imagine, find their way into the wardrobes of catwalk super models, red carpet walkers and guests at the Met Gala.

This exhibition is a little different. His work has couture feel and detail, however it is made to wear.

The exhibition also provides a fascinating insight into Grant’s life. Growing up in the outer Melbourne suburb of Blackburn he was influenced by his stylish mother and maternal grandmother and five older sisters.

He adored his grandmother Nancy, who worked as a seamstress and who taught him how to sew. A wall of his kindergarten paintings of female figures in voluminous ballgowns included in the exhibition’s first room show his interest in fashion from a young age.

Grant launched his first ready-to-wear fashion label in the early 1980’s at just 16 years of age. He worked alongside a throng of milliners, art directors, painters, fashion magazines, model agencies and rock bands in Stalbridge Chambers. Along with his Stalbridge cool crowd, Grant regularly presented his designs in the Fashion Design Council (FDC) runway shows, a non-profit organisation established in 1983 by the Victorian Government to support emerging young designers. While studying fashion, he switched to sculpture at the Victorian College of the Arts. He didn’t finish that degree but headed to Paris instead.

As the `to die for’ woollen coats, jackets and suits, silk dresses and skirts featured in the exhibition show, it was a great decision.

Martin Grant Paris is on at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square until January 26.  Visit the Arts Centre website for more information and to purchase tickets.