Bourgeois and Fashion: Elise By Olsen in Conversation with Charlie Porter

Want to know more about Louise Bourgeois’ view on fashion and style, and how her art has inspired fashion houses and designers? Join this talk between fashion expert and managing director of the International Library of Fashion Research, Elise By Olsen and journalist Charlie Porter, for some answers.

In his recent book What Artists Wear (2021), Porter has examined how artists use clothes creatively and to conjure their own identity. Bourgeois wore designer clothes throughout her entire life, and clothes and textiles played an important role in her art. Not only did she use textiles to make sculptures, she also experimented with sculptural costumes, such as her iconic latex suit Avenza (1968–69). Avenza was used in the performance Confrontation (1978) and has also inspired a collection by Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons.

This talk lets you in on encounters between Bourgeois, fashion, style and art and takes place in the salon, constructed as a part of the exhibition “Louise Bourgeois. Imaginary Conversations”.

Author Morten Langeland will read Bourgeois’s own words about clothing and style, culled from her poems and diary entries. This afternoon, the salon will also be turned into a reading room where you can explore material from the International Library of Fashion Research.  

International Library of Fashion Research
In 2020 Elise By Olsen launched the International Library of Fashion Research (ILFR) – an independent fashion library based on a major donation from the late American cultural theorist Steven Mark Klein. The library contains books, magazines, catalogues, lookbooks, invitations, illustrations, and other printed materials. Many of these materials are available on ILFR’s website. The fashion library is located in the Station Master’s House in front of the National Museum. 

Entry is free, but you must have a valid ticket to the museum.