Givenchy's dummies

A few weeks back, an InstaMeet brought us to The Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais to discover the outstanding exhibit of Huber de Givenchy retrospective.

This French couturier is amongst the 20th century greatests of his kind. The exhibit features a self-curated collection of 80 outfits and accessories that carries away visitors from Givenchy early works until a beautiful wedding gowns finale.

I'm not a connoisseur in haute couture or fashion industry but being able to closely see the details and the textures was a total blast!

Featuring Audrey Hepburn's friendship and collaborations.

Photography-wise, it's a pleasure to play with exposure, high contrasts and find the best compositions.

Some of his work was all black or displayed on black dummies, which made the photography practice more tricky because of the high contrasts caused by the spotlights.

Here's one the Duchess of Windsor's dress, designed by Givenchy.

What is fun about shooting dummies is that they don't move at all so if the photo is blur, it's on you! It's just a shame that I could not move around to try different angles.

The aesthetic of the Audrey Hepburn in Chantilly lace mask and dress is incredible.

An evening black and white dress made of sequins.

The following ballgown is a masterpiece, I think this is the most beautiful piece of clothing I've ever seen. It's made of satin, Chantilly lace and the matching bolero that goes with.

You'll definitely find better pictures of this gown on the Internet because the conditions were not the best here to take product shots.

The finale of the exhibition was a set of wedding gowns. I was sort of speechless when seeing the details of the fabric...

That was a very interesting exhibit, the setting was great and it was a lot of fun practicing framing composition and stability in low light conditions. No wonder I was the last of the group because I was taking my time doing the photos.

I started to enjoy dummy photography back in '12 when I was doing window shopping on the 5th Avenue in New York City. Ever since, I'm trying to find headed-dummies and shop windows that are not vandalized but the combination of two seems rather unlikely in France.
I will eventually publish the few photos I've taken back in '12.