Chanel 2.55 Handbag Art in Central Park
Chanel’s Mobile Art Exhibition Comes to New York
Oct 27, 2008
On a chilly evening on October 20th, 2008 in Central Park the Big Apple’s fashion elite gathered to pay homage to Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld at a fete for the New York leg of the Chanel Mobile Art exhibition, currently traveling around the globe.
Chanel Mobile Art Exhibition — Central Park
That most iconic of bags, the Chanel 2.55 is honored this October and November with a traveling art exhibition in New York’s central park called "Chanel Mobile Art," financed by the French luxury goods company. The show features the work of 20 international artists of the moment, with the original Chanel 2.55 bag as their inspiration, in sculptures, photographs and videos.
According to the official website the artists work is inspired by the elements that give the quilted 2.55 bag its identity. “Their unique visions, unexpected interpretations….. reveal the multiple facets or this emblematic bag in all the artistic expressions.”
However, according to AFPgoogle.com’s “Art in a Handbag at Central Park,” “the inspiration for the exhibition is only clearly obvious in one of the pieces -- a giant version of the open bag lying on its side.” Oneof the pieces in the exhibition is Yoko Ono's ``Wish Tree,' where visitors are invited to write a wish on a paper tag and hang it on the tree, hoping it to come true!
The Iconic Chanel 2.55 Bag
Along with the Hermes Birkin, the Chanel 2.55, with its distinctive chain strap and quilting, has to be on of the most recognizable bags in the world. The original bag was created in February 1955, by the legendary Coco Chanel (who died in 1971), hence the name. 2.55. Over 50 years later the purse is still sought after in its many colors and forms. It is loved and carried by many modern day celebrities such as Madonna, Mary Kate Olsen, Kate Moss and the new first lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkoski. According to designer Karl Lagerfeld, “The 2.55 is the lightest, easiest, most comfortable bag. Everyone who carries it looks modern.”
The Exhibition
Chanel’s Mobile Art t exhibition is on a 2 year world tour and has already been hosted in Hong Kong and Tokyo. It will be in New York’s Central Park - Rumsey Playfield until November 9th, 2008. It is being held in a temporary structure designed by British Iraqi deconstructivist (and Pritzker Prize-winning) architect Zaha Hadid, which looks something akin to a UFO or a giant white snail shell. Admission is free of charge if you reserve tickets in advance at the on-site ticket booth. Online reservations are not currently being accepted.
After November 9th, Chanel’s Mobile Art goes on to London and Moscow, and is projected to end in Paris in July 2010. Central Park is the 3rd stop in the tour, which began on February 27 in Hong Kong. For more details on exhibits and the tour, visit the official website.
Central Park marks the third stop of a two-year global tour for Chanel Mobile Art that began on February 27 in Hong Kong.
Economic Crises Hits Exhibition
An update on the exhibition on Women's Wear Daily of 19 December 2008, indicates that due to the emerging economic crisis in the U.S and around the globe, Chanel's Mobile Art exhibtion is now unlikley to travel to London, Moscow and Paris next year. The article, entitled, "Chanel Cancels Mobile Art Exhibition," says that plans for further venues after New York's Central Park have been scrapped.
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