STYLE Edit: Inside K11 Musea’s ‘The Love of Couture’ exhibition, which brings historic pieces from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum to Hong Kong for the first time

Dec 21 , 2022

Hong Kong’s paramount fashion, art and cultural exhibition of the year, “The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time”, was developed by K11 in collaboration with the world’s leading museum V&A and award-winning production designer William Chang Suk-ping. Photos: K11 Musea

The brightest and best of Hong Kong’s celebrities and socialites gathered for a very special party at K11 Musea on December 3. With the theme of Couture with Love, K11 Night was a celebration of the world of high fashion, and also marked the start of the hotly anticipated exhibition “The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time”.

Just as fashion is a combination of art and business, K11 infuses everything it does with the spirit of culture. Dedicated to the promotion of art in the community, it boasts a permanent collection of local and international artists’ work, complemented by exhibitions that showcase the best of global culture.

Adrian Cheng, chair of K11 Night, said the collaboration with the V&A Museum and designers would help create a deeper cultural exchange between East and West.

One such event is “The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time”, which, as its name suggests, aims to demonstrate the evolution of fashion over time, and how the ideas of the past still influence the designs of the present. It does so by presenting 12 museum-grade examples of women’s clothing from the 1830s to about 1960, taken from the collection of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and on display in Hong Kong for the first time.

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Serving as the production designer of this year’s exhibition is William Chang Suk-ping, an Oscar nominee who has enjoyed an illustrious career in visual and costume design, and film editing and production.

Overseeing the exhibition is William Chang Suk-ping, the virtuoso production designer, costume designer and film editor best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination. He produced the exhibition decor from scratch, including its magnificent centrepiece of a giant human head featuring an MRI scan of the brain of someone in love.

Hong Kong’s brightest A-listers were out for the K11 Night evening at K11 Musea.

K11’s museum partner, the V&A, is the leading global museum combining art, fashion, design and performance. Home to the world’s largest collections of both fashion and textiles, it houses more than 2.27 million objects in its 145 exhibition halls.

“The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time” explores the evolution of fashion across time and space, and celebrates artisanship and the next generation of designers.

The items from its collection on display at K11 Musea will also serve as inspiration for six up-and-coming fashion designers from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan and South Korea. They have been commissioned by K11 to design a whole new set of designs that reinterpret the 12 historical pieces and filter them through their own sensibilities. The new pieces will also be on display at the exhibition, alongside some of the designers’ existing works.

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Style Edit

On December 3, Hong Kong celebrities and A-listers gathered to attend the opening of K11’s ‘The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time’ exhibition
Production designer William Chang Suk-ping, who has worked with legendary director Wong Kar-wai, helmed the project that also features six up-and-coming Asian fashion designers