A retrospective look at the iconic fashion magazine’s 25th anniversary exhibition, where past curators revisit the moments that shaped their worlds.
By Cynthia Gruver
Blake Abbie didn’t ask to make history, yet the 25th anniversary celebration of A Magazine Curated By, commemorated by an exhibition at the Union de la Jeunesse Internationale, was an unforgettable ode to fashion’s best. The editor-in-chief gave past curators carte blanche for this special event, inviting them to find “objects or silhouettes that express their creative and personal worlds: from everyday items, to artworks made especially for their issues, as well as garments that best represent process: then, when their issue was created, and now in their current frame of mind.” Yohji Yamamoto brought a pack of his favorite Hi-Lite cigarettes.
Yamamoto also contributed a scarlet off-the-shoulder braided-back statement piece from his Spring/Summer 2005 collection — the same time he curated his issue.
“A2” is an in-depth look at the influences behind Yamamoto’s work. The poppy petals that flood Pina Bausch’s “The Window Cleaner” share the same pages as the uniform white lines of Ferdinando Scianna’s “A Black Velvet Hat.” Yamamoto’s corresponding Spring/Summer collection, amidst the calm of crisp button-ups and layers of cool earth tones, saw splashes of bright red. And yet, at his core, the designer remains a minimalist. “Because I put all my life in my work, I’m lazy about my private life,” Yamamoto said in his interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist. “For me space is all about something very small, one room, this is my space. I have one bed, one table, two chairs. If I want, I can move in one day.”
A curious, bright-eyed baby deer, “Untitled” by Martine Sitbon, symbolized a force to be reckoned with. As the first female creative director of Chloé, Sitbon changed the course of the brand forever**,** her nine collections and collaborations with supermodels like Linda Evangelista and Tatjana Patitz responsible for the maison’s current position in the vanguard of timeless feminine luxury. As the first female guest curator at A Magazine Curated By, Sitbon’s A5 features the works of other female virtuosos like Sofia Coppola, Anna Sui and Tilda Swinton. **“**I don’t do scientific research,” said Sitbon in conversation with Malcolm McLaren, “but artistic, technological or spiritual innovations are the only ones capable of big ruptures and therefore cultural revolutions. These ruptures are often started by one person and then taken over by a community.”
There was also a ceramic egg cup holder by Simone Rocha. In A18, an issue of simple nostalgias, photosets by Petra Collins and Leslie Zhang exude the comforts of community and the memories of shared girlhood. Rocha speaks about her home in Ireland and her family in Hong Kong in between grainy landscape photos of Qing Ming (a traditional tomb-sweeping holiday) shot by her husband, Eoin McLoughlin. The egg cup was accompanied by a crimson puff-sleeve midi dress with streams of white lace.
Giambattista Valli’s old iPhone, unlocked to access archives of photos, was also included in the celebration. Inspired by bygone eras of decadence and glamor, Valli asked his A10 contributors, “what is beauty?” In response he received a Slim Aarons photo of Jackie Onassis at an “April In Paris” ball**,** a black and white portrait of Sophia Loren by Richard Avedon, and a vintage Mediterranean beach collage titled “Whispers of Memory and Beauty” by Chiara Clemente and Nathaniel Kilcer. “Take my hand,” Valli writes invitingly, “and I will walk you through the fragments of my encounters with beauty, which time and time again have brought me to new doors, to unknown rooms and landscapes.”
Maison Martin Margiela’s A1 was a reunion that converses with the new issue of A Magazine Curated By: “2000/2004–2025.” In A1, anyone who had ever had ties to the house, from permanent staff members to casual collaborators, trainees, assistants, models et al, was given the opportunity to showcase a current project or favorite piece. Among contributions like “white” by Anders Edstrom and “No 22 Perpetual home motion machines” by Bless Berlin, Margiela featured a “One To Make At Home” guide for hand making a medium-sized sweater out of (white) tube socks. The two-part crafting tutorial is simple and easy, made from materials everybody has access to.
At the magazine’s essence is the idea that fashion can be simple, easy, and relatable. It can be found within the shared experiences of the everyday: a favorite pack of cigarettes, an old photo of home, a meeting among old friends. As Simone Rocha once said backstage to the magazine, “I just wanted to do something I liked.”
We want to know Who we wear – A Magazine Curated By gracefully extends this conversation from designers to the people they made their designs for. The result is something intimate, existing in between the lines of old show notes and the story of a baby deer left untitled. Each issue is an anthology of fashion, both a tribute to history and an embrace of the future. This 25th anniversary season may just be a crowning jewel.
