The design museum İstanbul Modern opened the most comprehensive exhibition in Turkey of works by Hussein Chalayan. The touring exhibition was previously shown at the Design Museum, London and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. Curated by Donna Loveday, the show brings together fashion collections, installations and films produced by Hussein Chalayan between the years 1994 and 2010. Ever since his graduate show at St. Martin’s college (which was bought in its entirety by Browns) the prolific Cypriote has become a cult figure in the fashion world. Architecture, design, technology, science and philosophy have all played a part in his work, the finest examples of which are on show at the İstanbul Modern. Among the works on view are a dress that can be folded into an airmail letter and posted (Airmail Dress, 1999), a collection of furniture that changes into clothes (Afterwords, 2000, image above) and outfits that mechanically transform from one era to another (One Hundred and Eleven, 2007), which made for one of the most spectacular, talked about catwalk shows in the history of fashion.
