ATELIER E.B.
Atelier E.B.: Passer-by

A common interest in the history of motifs and retail display inspired designer Beca Lipscombe and artist Lucy McKenzie to form the Atelier E.B fashion label. The title of the exhibition, Passer-by, acknowledges consumers of fashion not just as individuals who buy garments, but everyone who glances at shop window displays and enjoys fashion through books, magazines, exhibitions, and other means.

The exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations follows the first staging at the Serpentine Galleries in London, in autumn 2018. Content has been reconfigured for the Paris context, with new works spread over two floors. Atelier E.B has also reimagined the gallery's central space using original elements from the (now defunct) Art Nouveau staircase of Galeries Lafayette department store.

For Atelier E.B, the overlap between art, design, commerce and display is centred upon the figure of the mannequin and the runway show – as modes of artistic expression and reflectors of cultural change. From the World Fairs and Expositions of the twentieth century to iconic department stores, ethnographic museums and fashion retail under Communism, Atelier E.B presents the fruit of two years of research into the practitioners behind this rich and at times undervalued visual history. The exhibition makes special reference to the contribution women have made to this history, as artists and craftswomen. [exhibition's press release]

Published by Koenig Books, 2020
Artists' Books / Fashion / Crafts