Fashion and style are lightweight cultural expressions. The light entertainment of fashion is offered to visitors of Musee D’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris at a jewelry exhibition titled “MEDUSA: Bijoux et Tabous”.

There are 400 pieces of jewelry, made by artists, jewelry makers, and designers including Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim, Alexander Calder, Salvador Dali, Louise Bourgeois, René Lalique, Victoire de Castellane, Dany McDonald, Nervous System, Karl Fritsch on display,.

Uncanny, surrealistic decoration is always in a trend: from the grim 18th century silver “Memento Mori” ring to the image of spontaneous dream-like thought of recent years, such as the Karl Fritch ring from 2006.

Surrealism as a movement of freedom from logic and reason, and as a romantic attempt to break with things as they are and replace them with strange, elemental, savage, primitive objects is the focus of  “Medusa”  exhibition. This includes Meret Oppenheim’s fur bracelet (1935) and the star of this jewellery show – the Dali-designed “Smile” broche.

Diamonds and pearls contrast with items that are plastic and fashionable “emptiness”?  Can the “Bracelet de Naissance” made of paper and plastic from the Gaultier collection be elevated to jewellery status?

Yes, as the rules of  modern ergonomic and democratic design are not to overdesign, and to leave the piece as flexible as possible, as the elegance nowdays means the ability to adapt to a diversity of users and audiences.

Will the consumption of fashion be “deconstructed” in the future? Will we design fashion at home and print it on our personal 3d printers?

Written by:  Irina Vernichenko