Subjectively speaking, we think the only thing better than witnessing Daphne Guinness' ensemble for May's Costume Institute Gala in honor of Alexander McQueen would be watching her put it all together.
And Barneys apparently agrees. Page Six reports that Guinness will get dressed for the event in the Madison Avenue store's windows. Gives a new meaning to window dressing. Yuk, yuk. Her sartorial stunt is part of a six-week-long exhibition entitled "Fashion as Art," comprised of performances, a documentary and installations of items from her wardrobe.
Guinness wrote about her upcoming public display of attire for Vogue:
I went for a meeting with Dennis Freedman, the new creative director of Barneys, and to my considerable astonishment found myself agreeing to his exciting but giddying proposition to hand over the windows of Barneys for a six-week run starting May 2 to showcase pieces from my own collection that have special resonance for me (Daphne Guinness: Nothing for Sale?!). What was I thinking? As the crowning moment of the installation, I will be getting dressed and readied for the Costume Institute Gala in the windows--me as performance art! I am hoping that my costume (McQueen, of course) will fit.
I will also show a vignette of Isabella's own extraordinary pieces, reflections of her oh-so-Romanesque life, with the priceless help of Philip Treacy and some of Isabella's dearest friends and collaborators. I feel this fits with the zeitgeist of what is happening in New York in early May. Isabella certainly would have wanted to celebrate Alexander at the Met. And similarly, Alexander would have been mortified by her absence from it. So it feels like the right thing to do. The rapid pace with which this has all happened has made me question my sanity, as I am currently knee-deep in life and other projects, but you might as well be hung for a sheep than a lamb! Why not add on another layer?
Read the rest at Vogue.com.