To celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s 7th cycle birthday this month, the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles unveils two stunning exhibitions that are open to the public: “Fit For A Queen: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s Creations by Balmain” and “Dressing Gods and Demons: Costume for Khon”. The anatomy, culture and history of the khon costumes are shimmery stunners displayed in a dark room in order to preserve gold in certain pieces, but the true stunner is the other exhibition, which features Her Majesty’s wardrobe from the six-month state visit across Europe, where Thailand’s royal couple were formally introduced the West. The legendary Parisian couturier Pierre Balmain was the chosen designer to create all of her clothes and different galleries within the exhibition displays their relationship, which would last until his death in 1982.
If fashion bugs can trek to The Met or Kensington Palace because they want to take in glorious gowns, what’s on show at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles is every bit as well curated and spectacular. Besides the bounty of ballgowns and glitzy dresses only queens could pull off, there are also Balmain’s original sketchbooks, rare photographs, video footage and never-before-shown Louis Vuitton luggage bags (complete with the royal sigil), which were used to ship all these clothes around the world, on display.
Before the Balmain house has been pushed into an onslaught of flamboyance that it is recognised today by the dimpled and fierce creative director Olivier Rousteing, the maison’s roots of haute couture are best found in Queen Sirikit’s collection of stylish daytime, cocktail and evening dresses. Museum consultant Melissa Leventon explained, “No Thai designer knew the etiquette of dressing up for each of the Western countries. Her Majesty needed a Western dressmaker to help her be properly dressed for Western audiences and expectations because there are rules for royalty in the West. She needed expert advice on what colours, gloves, hats and what, when, where.”
According to Leventon, Balmain proved to be an excellent choice, despite it being the second largest couture house in France, after Christian Dior. The Thai government had actually suggested Her Majesty commission Dior to design her wardrobe, but she decided she’d rather use Balmain — and would remain steadfastly loyal to him throughout the decades so that no other European designers received as much patronage. “At that time, Dior had already passed away and the design director who had taken over was 21-year-old Yves Saint Laurent,” said Leventon. “He was into street style from the UK and US and that was not what the Queen of Thailand needed. She was also in her teens in Europe right around the time when Balmain first started and like most teenage girls interested in fashion, she knew about him. She was getting fashion magazines in the 50s as gifts and of course, he was in most of them, so I think she had already formed her own opinion about him at that point.”
All dresses are inside light and temperaturecontrolled glass cases to withstand two years of display.
One may wonder why other big names like Chanel never made it to her closet, and the consultant speculates it was Coco Chanel’s involvement with the Nazis that have made her hugely unpopular in Paris, as well as her unobliging requirement to only work with tweed suits and not silk as the Queen had preferred. A large number of dresses on display may be of Western silhouettes and shapes, but look closely and one would see that Thai silks were the fabrics used, epitomising Her Majesty’s long-standing promotion of Thai village silks since she was a young woman. Later on, Balmain and François Lesage, who provided the intricate embroidery for Her Majesty’s clothes, would also make her Thai national dress, as well — these elegant clothes a core reflection of how her impeccable style developed and how she still dresses today: a mix of both Thai and Western.
The daytime dresses and suits, such as the one she wore when meeting Elvis Presley, have a simple silhouette but were usually made in bold colours that could be seen from a distance. Her Majesty had used the same tactic Queen Elizabeth II had also favoured: bright, solid colours, which could make her stand out despite her small physique. The marvellous clothes are in great condition, almost as if merely worn once and dismissed, but that is hardly the case. “Many gowns actually had hems trimmed to become shorter, for continued usage and to resonate changing fashion trends,” said Leventon.
This exhibition took years to compile and researchers had to make two trips to Paris in order to comb through French archives at Maison Balmain and Maison Lesage, where information was pieced together from the archive of press clippings, scrapbooks, log books and old photographs. An interview with François Lesage, was one of the invaluable sources of information, before he died in 2011. But what you don’t see is one of the highlights that elevate “Fit For A Queen” towards world-class standards. Conservation consultant Julia M. Brennan laughed, “We work with our hands, if we do our job well then you cannot see what we do.”
Besides the processes of preventing and reversing damage on the clothes, the very ballgowns themselves seem to be floating on air — a first in Thailand. “We’re pioneering and introducing a new style of mannequin, which is a technique used in the US and Europe. We want to push the boundaries and do that here. It’s a big contribution to the style and to understanding conservation and the mechanisms of displaying.”
It’s a sophisticated exhibition not to be missed — one that shows our country’s increasingly refined, museum display know-how and an even more fascinating subject who was the world’s best-dressed woman in the 60s.
“Fit For A Queen: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s Creations By Balmain” on display until June 2018, and “Dressing Gods And Demons: Costume For Khon” on display until May 2017 at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, Grand Palace. Open daily from 9am-4.30pm. Ticket prices for students and children 50 baht, seniors 80 baht and adults 150 baht.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.