May 2009 - Calendar of Fashion Events

1. NY Costume Institute Gala, May 4

Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Explores Role of Fashion Models as Muses of Recent Eras

• Gala Benefit May 4, 2009, with Honorary Chair Marc Jacobs and Co-Chairs Kate Moss, Justin Timberlake, and Anna Wintour
• Exhibition dates: May 6–August 9, 2009
• Exhibition location: The Tisch Galleries, second floor

The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, the spring 2009 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will explore the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, focusing on iconic fashion models in the latter half of the 20th century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition will be on view at the Metropolitan from May 6 through August 9, 2009.

The exhibition is made possible by Marc Jacobs.

Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.

"The exhibition will examine a timeline of fashion from 1947 to 1997 through the idealized aesthetic of the fashion model," said Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. "We will look at the power of clothing, fashion photography, and the model to project the look of an era. With a mere gesture, a truly stellar model can sum up the attitude of her time – becoming not only a muse to designers or photographers, but a muse to a generation."

To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, the Museum's Costume Institute Gala Benefit will take place on Monday, May 4, 2009. Marc Jacobs will serve as Honorary Chair of the Gala. Co-Chairs are Kate Moss; Justin Timberlake; and Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue. This fundraising event is The Costume Institute's main source of annual funding for exhibitions, acquisitions, and capital improvements.

The Costume Institute: Highlights from the permanent collection

2. Cannes Film Festival, May 13-24

For 12 days in May the city of Cannes is transformed from a quiet seaside resort into the entire focus of the international film industry. Over 200,000 people - filmmakers, film fans, and star-gazers alike - descend on the Croisette to take part in the Cannes Film Festival (or more correctly, the Festival de Cannes). During these two weeks thousands of films are screened, careers are made (and ruined), and stars from all over the world gather to bask in the limelight. Ever since the early 1950s, when a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot frolicked on the beach for the cameras, Cannes has grown to embody two of the world's favourite pastimes: sex and cinema. Now easily the most famous film festival of them all, the mere mention of Cannes conjures up images of red carpets, palm trees, scantily-clad starlets, the blinding flashes of a million paparazzi cameras, and of course, celebrity parties.

COMPÉTITION :

The competition is the festival's main event and this is where you'll find all the glamour and glory. Films screening in this section are referred to as being "in competition" and vie for an assortment of awards. The Holy Grail is of course the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for best picture, one of the most prestigious film awards on the planet. Winning the Palme d'Or generally gives the film a massive lift: for art-house films, it can bring in millions of extra dollars at the international box-office, for foreign films it means worldwide distribution. Historically, the competition has only been open to narrative films, although occasionally a documentary is slipped in (such as Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" which won the top prize in 2004). The competition welcomes both features and shorts, and there are different awards in each category.

2009 Competition:

Opening Film : Peter DOCTER - UP - Out of Comp.- 1h35

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Pedro ALMODÓVAR - LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Broken Embraces) - 2h09

Andrea ARNOLD - FISH TANK - 2h02

Jacques AUDIARD - UN PROPHÈTE - 2h35

Marco BELLOCCHIO - VINCERE - 2h08

Jane CAMPION - BRIGHT STAR - 2h00

Isabel COIXET - MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO -1h44

Xavier GIANNOLI - A L’ORIGINE - 2h30

Michael HANEKE - DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon) - 2h24

Ang LEE - TAKING WOODSTOCK -1h50

Ken LOACH - LOOKING FOR ERIC - 1h59

LOU Ye - CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN (Spring Fever) - 1h55

Brillante MENDOZA - KINATAY - 1h45

Gaspar NOE - ENTER THE VOID - 2h30

PARK Chan-Wook - BAK-JWI - (Thirst) - 2h13

Alain RESNAIS - LES HERBES FOLLES - 1h36

Elia SULEIMAN - THE TIME THAT REMAINS - 1h45

Quentin TARANTINO - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS - 2h40

Johnnie TO - VENGEANCE - 1h48

TSAI Ming-liang - VISAGE (face)- 2h18

Lars VON TRIER - ANTICHRIST - 1h44

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Closing Film : Jan KOUNEN - COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY - Out of Comp. - 2h00

3. Fashion in Film Festival London


Fashion in Film Festival (FFF) is an arts and film organisation with a biennial exhibition of film in London, New York and other cities Since its foundation in 2005, the Fashion in Film Festival (FFF) has become a leading showcase for the common ground shared by fashion and film. More than just a celebration of fashion in film, the festival encourages critical response to its content, and addresses current practices in the context of film’s long history.

Dedicated to promoting new ideas and experimentation, FFF also commissions new work in contemporary “fashion moving image”, bringing together artists, designers, photographers, filmmakers, performers and musicians. Drawing on a rich film history and a wide variety of genres, from feature and documentary film to artist video, animation shorts and newsreels, FFF presents a mix of popular culture, art and the underground which shows how the moving image has represented and interpreted fashion as a concept, an industry and a cultural form.