In a dimly lit exhibition hall at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, under the beams of spotlights were sets of exquisitely crafted vintage clothing and accessories, and clips from classic old movies were silently playing in a loop on the screen, making people feel like they have entered a time tunnel.
Nearly 400 stunning pieces of French costumes, jewelry, and accessories from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries were on display, like a century-old fashion scroll, telling the story of fashion and attire.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. The Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris jointly organized a special exhibition “Adorned Body: French Fashion and Jewellery 1770-1910 from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris” which chronicled the evolution of French fashion trends.
According to Ingrid Yeung, Associate Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, French fashion has profoundly influenced the world, and its evolution has been shaped by the integration of multiple cultures.
“A lot of French fashion design was also inspired by Chinese culture,” Yeung said, adding that there were costumes, porcelain and scarves on display that have drawn inspiration from Chinese elements.
“The initial goal of the establishment of the Hong Kong Palace Museum was to promote the outstanding Chinese culture and facilitate cultural exchange,” Museum Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum Louis Ng said.
Ng hoped that visitors to the museum could explore the century-old French fashion, and also discover the ancient Chinese court clothing and jewelry in other exhibition halls.
Through cross-cultural dialogue across time and space, visitors can appreciate the beauty of the convergence of Chinese and foreign cultures, Ng added.
In addition to this exhibition, Ng said that at the end of this year, the Hong Kong Palace Museum will also hold a special exhibition in cooperation with the Palace of Versailles in France to launch another special exhibition to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris selected the most historically valuable French fashion collections from its 1.4 million collections, and exhibited them in Asia for the first time, many of which had never been seen outside of France.
“We hope that the audience in China’s Hong Kong and Mainland will have the opportunity to appreciate these precious exhibits,” Denis Bruna, a curator of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, said.
Mathieu Rousset-Perrier, also a curator of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, said the storage, transportation and display of these cultural relics have strict requirements for temperature, humidity, lighting and other environmental conditions.
Before the exhibition, French cultural heritage security personnel made a special trip to Hong Kong to inspect the facilities and equipment. The inspection report they wrote afterward spoke highly of the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
“These costumes are all antiques, very fragile. We are particularly careful when we handle them,” Yeung said, adding that the time for arranging the exhibition greatly exceeded previous practices.
The lighting of the exhibition hall was carefully designed, not only to ensure the viewing effect, but also to avoid excessive exposure of the clothing.
To properly protect these precious cultural relics, in mid-October this year, after the end of the three-and-a-half month exhibition in Hong Kong, all the exhibits will be returned to France for safekeeping.
At the invitation of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Hong Kong singer Karen Mok has recorded voice narrations for the exhibition in Cantonese, Mandarin and English for the audience to listen on-site or online.
“It’s fun and creative, and I can learn a lot from it,” Mok said she was deeply honored to take the job.
Mok, who always enjoyed visiting museums, felt proud to have the Hong Kong Palace Museum in her hometown.
“Hong Kong is such a unique place where Chinese and Western cultures collided and blended, bringing forth creativity and inspiration,” Mok said, “I hope people from all over the world can better understand our culture.”
Over the past two years, the Hong Kong Palace Museum has received more than 2.5 million visitors. Ng said that the exhibitions at the museum included both traditional artifacts and contemporary art, and the audiences are getting used to this new expression.
Ng hoped to further deepen cultural exchanges between China and other countries in the future, by bringing the collections of the Hong Kong Palace Museum to overseas exhibitions and cooperating with foreign museums to jointly exhibit collections of both sides.
“It will be wonderful!” Ng said with excitement when talking about Chinese and foreign cultural relics and art engaging in dialogue.