Official launch of the AIDA association during which tribute will be paid to the illustrator René Gruau (1909/2004) in the form of a face-to-face between this artist’s works and a photographic exhibition Pages de Mode by Calypso de Sigaldi. It will pay homage to the artist’s famous collaborations with fashion designers which left their mark on the haute-couture world in the second half of the 20th century. 

 

While it may seem surprising to put the spotlight on fashion for the AIDA inaugural evening, the theme is a perfect illustration of what the association aspires to achieve which is to change the vision everyone has of artistic creation. And thereby to have a better understanding of the society in which we live in order to contribute to building the world of tomorrow. 

 

ashion represents the full spectrum of social codes on which we all rely to define our position in society. This is as true in privileged societies as in disadvantaged areas. Clothes are one of the primary tools we use to assert ourselves.

 

Pop Art, which took root in England in the 1950s, was taken up and developed mainly by a wave of American artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Liechtenstein and others, gaining it recognition as a Major Art form for the artists whose work had up to then been considered an applied art form.

 

Although on the margins of this movement, as he was from another generation of artists and practising his metier in Paris, mainly in Haute Couture, René Gruau is nevertheless a major figure, portraying with an innate understanding of trends the universe he loved; that of elegance. 

 

His works have been instrumental in spreading the image worldwide of the “Parisian woman”, as glamorous as she is sophisticated, without really taking herself too seriously. Playful, relaxed and uninhibited, the Gruau woman is elegant but not frigid. She is upper class yet not afraid to have fun. She takes centre stage in flamboyant clothes, she goes out, she laughs, she smokes - she lives life to the full! 

 

René Gruau portrayed the elegance and mood of his time, 
which still guides our criteria for what defines chic today.