Originally a painter, Isabelle de Borchgrave’s fashion time-traveling dates to 1994 when she visited the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, an exhibition of 18th-century garments was on display. “It gave me a shock–particularly a yellow dress, which would become my first paper creation,” the artist said. Since that time, de Borchgrave has created astonishing fashion with a surprising medium–trompe l’oeil paper artworks.
From replicas of Renaissance Italian gowns to recreations of the fantastical modernist costumes of the Ballet Russes, de Borchgrave’s work is meticulously crafted and astonishingly beautiful.
This exhibition explores 300 years of fashion history, featuring dresses from Queen Elizabeth I to Coco Chanel. De Borchgrave’s paper costumes have been featured in major exhibitions around the world from Venice to San Francisco—and soon in Wichita.
The extensive exhibition with more than 90 artworks celebrates the breadth of de Borchgrave’s work with costume and fashion history and is designed to introduce her work to a wider audience. De Borchgrave’s paper sculptures are masterpieces of trompe l’oeil—even upon close inspection it is often difficult to discern that the costumes are made of paper.