Latest news with #MartinGrant
ABC News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Martin Grant NGV exhibition traces the designer's moves from Melbourne to Paris Fashion Week
One of Australia's most successful fashion designers, Martin Grant, left Melbourne for Paris in 1992 in pursuit of an international fashion career. Since then, his namesake label has wooed everyone from Cate Blanchett to Emma Stone, Tilda Swinton and Lady Gaga. A major retrospective at Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, plots Martin Grant's extraordinary career — from the early 1980s to now, including supermodel Naomi Campbell walking his first ever runway show, to the elegant A-listers who became his inner circle. Polly Borland photographed Cate Blanchett wearing Grant in 1999, after she'd finished making the film Elizabeth. ( Supplied: NGV/Courtesy Polly Borland ) His sartorial superpowers put his brand in the timeless category, and he continues to honour his formative influences to this day. Making clothes as a teenager Grant is one of six siblings who grew up in the outer eastern Melbourne suburb of Blackburn. He adored his maternal grandmother Nancy who worked as a seamstress. "My grandmother wore a beautiful camel coat, taught me to sew, and took us into town at the top end of Collins St. "It all seemed very sophisticated and it's where I noticed all the well-dressed Italians and Greeks who had migrated to Melbourne and brought their sophisticated tailoring and café culture to town. Those silhouettes really stood out and inspired me to want to make coats," he says. Intricate details and nods to history are part of Grant's signature style. ( Supplied: NGV/Jessie Obialor ) Grant would also lose hours scoping his mother's fashion wardrobe, a well-dressed woman who wore a YSL Mondrian dress made from a Vogue pattern the moment it was released. And he was raised by five sisters who took him under their creative wings. He studied at Fashion Design Council (FDC), established in Melbourne in 1983 to support avant-garde and emerging designers. At 15, he was already making clothes. Those early slash-pieces, while tailored, were inspired by the punk movement. His designs were part of an FDC runway show in Melbourne at the time, where other emerging and soon-to-become big names in fashion also took part including Peter Morrissey, Leona Edmiston and Fiona Scanlan to name a few. It was while studying fashion that Grant made the switch to the Victorian College of the Arts where he studied sculpture; but he wouldn't go on to finish that degree either. He cut his studies short to relocate to Paris to try his luck abroad as many of his peers had done before him. From sculpturally tailored coats to trenches, and skirts that cinch at the waist in the nip of curvaceous time, Grant's pieces have always flirted between ready-to-wear accessibility and the hallmarks of couture. Grant's pieces are works of art designed to be worn. ( Supplied: NGV/Courtesy Martin Grant ) But he doesn't describe himself as a couturier. "What I do isn't couture, even though this dress has a couture feel. Couture is all hand-made, this is still ready to wear, with a couture feel and hand to it," he says. 'A great creative moment' It was Melbourne's clubbing scene where Grant made many creative partnerships and friendships that have stood the test of time. "Polly Borland and I became fast friends at Inflations in the 80s," he says. "Then I met Deanna Bond, who Nick Cave wrote his song Deanna about. We were the same age, 15, and clubbing together a lot," Grant says. "Then I met Polly's younger sister Emma. I was already making fashion but then I started making clothes for Polly and she started taking photos around 1984 for me. That's when she photographed model Sophie Knox who is wearing a slash-back coat shirt that was really influenced by the scene at the time," he says. Photo shows Woman in bright red dress sits on fluffy white couch smiling widely. A painting is above her head behind her. From repurposed quilt covers and op-shop treasures to hemp and cactus leather, sustainable fashion is proudly showing off at this year's Melbourne Fashion Festival. The photograph was taken in a park near their apartment in Albert Park where they all lived. Hat designer Tamasine Dale was also in the same building, as were Knox and the Borland sisters. "It was a great creative moment in Melbourne," Grant recalls. "Then a few of us got studios in Stalbridge Chambers House in the city. I was 18, working hard designing. It was being around other designers, musicians, artists and architects that made it all the more exciting and really inspired me to do what I did," he says. Last year, Grant donated 200 pieces to the NGV, and half of those garments are part of this retrospective. A further 40 pieces came with him from Paris, unearthed from his archives there. The last time he showed at NGV was in 2004. More than 20 years of new collection works are on display here for the first time. The teenage tear-away stuck to his proverbial guns; he went from suburbia to Paris Fashion Week and lives to tell. Dressing supermodel Naomi Campbell When Naomi Campbell walked for Grant in 1999, it launched him in Paris. "I had opened a shop in the Marais, and American journalist André Leon Talley got me Naomi. The store was the size of a matchbox. I lived above it, and the next morning, I found a business card at the door by Head Buyer at Barney's New York saying, 'Call me,'" he explains. "I called her and she was told to come and see my collection. All the key editors were at my show including Vogue, Harper's and WWD (Women's Wear Daily)." From there, US department store Barneys picked up his collection and Grant's profile started to grow. "A lot of articles were written that said Naomi Campbell modelled for free, and who on earth was this designer that got her to walk on a strip of lawn in his shop! Andre [Leon Talley] was the one who encouraged me to do the show with Naomi. I didn't feel ready and he said just do it. I am glad I did," Martin says. Grant launched his first ready-to-wear collection at 16. ( Supplied: NGV/Sean Fennessy ) "I met Andre through an ex-boyfriend, a British journalist. He is the one who introduced me to socialite Lee Radziwill. Sadly, they both died in the same year in 2019," Grant says. "Lee and I became close friends after she bought a coat from Barney's. Mario Testino photographed her for Vogue in the first jacket she owned that I made. She told Andre she wanted to meet me. I designed the silver jacket for her that's on show at NGV. I called it the Radziwill. I made her entire wardrobe." An artistic segue Perhaps like his friend Polly Borland, the time has come for Grant to segue. "What I do isn't couture," Grant says. ( Supplied: NGV/Josh Robenstone ) Borland moved into making sculptures only a few years ago. A similar move for Grant is not off the cards. "The sculptural side made me look at fashion from a different perspective and it definitely informed it," he says. "I would like to make sculptures, now that I have more time, so yes, I am planning to do more things outside of fashion going forward. "Watch this space." 'Martin Grant' is at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square until January 26, 2026
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
EXCLUSIVE: Martin Grant Talks First Major Career Retrospective in Australia
PARIS — One of the most discreet designers in fashion, Martin Grant is about to step into the spotlight with his first major career retrospective set to open in his native Melbourne. Though he's dressed style icons such as Cate Blanchett, Lee Radziwill, Meghan Markle and Queen Rania of Jordan, Grant has always kept a low profile. More from WWD Chanel to Host Craftsmanship Exhibitions and Events in Tokyo Australian Fashion Brands to Showcase With Joor at NYFW Dior, Vatican Library Unveil 'En Route' Exhibition, Merging Fashion and Travels as 2025 Jubilee Kicks Off 'I didn't go into this to become any kind of star,' he told WWD in an interview. 'The idea of performance terrifies me. So whereas other people have that naturally in their makeup, for me, it was always [about staying] backstage, working.' Nonetheless, he's something of a national hero in Australia as one of the country's most famous fashion exports, not to mention the designer of the uniforms worn by Qantas pilots and flight attendants. The 'Martin Grant' exhibition, set to run at the National Gallery of Victoria from March 28 until Jan. 26, 2026, will feature around 100 works from the museum's collection, in addition to more than 40 loans from the designer's personal archive and private collections. It promises to provide the first comprehensive overview of his career from the mid-1980s to the present day. 'It's true that I'm probably one of the only Australian designers established internationally and for such a long period of time. I was definitely the first Australian that showed in Paris,' he said. 'I've been here for 35 years, so for a whole younger generation, they wouldn't necessarily know me, but I think after this, they will.' Last year, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) announced that the designer had gifted the institution more than 200 items from his archive, in addition to material including press clippings, runway footage, sketches and photographs. As a result, the museum, which has been collecting his creations for three decades, now owns the world's most significant body of his work, noted Tony Ellwood, director of the NGV. 'Martin Grant is a self-taught, Melbourne-born designer who has truly captured the attention of the international fashion world. With a background in sculpture, he approaches fashion with a sculptor's eye, creating garments that have a direct formal relationship to the body,' he said in a statement. A master technician with a flair for exceptional fabrics, Grant is known for chic, timeless looks with a dash of flamboyance. The exhibit will showcase eveningwear and ballgowns in monochromatic hues on specially designed invisible mannequins that create the illusion of the garments floating in mid-air. His signature outerwear — think crisp tailored jackets, peacoats and trenchcoats — will also be in focus. Highlights include his brown leather 'Napoleon II' coat from fall 2000, worn by Naomi Campbell, and a red wool 'Joan of Arc' dress from fall 1999, seen on Blanchett. Grant took stock of his archives during the coronavirus pandemic, subsequently closing his showroom in the Marais district of Paris and moving full-time to a country home near the southern French city of Arles, a magnet for creatives thanks to institutions like the Luma art complex designed by Frank Gehry. Propped against a wall of the temporary showroom where he presented his fall 2025 collection were two framed children's drawings, ready to be shipped to Melbourne. 'These are my paintings that I did when I was in kindergarten — so I would have been 4 — and they're all ballgowns,' Grant explained, adding that 10 in total will be included in the exhibition. A section of the show, to be held at the museum's Ian Potter Center, will highlight pieces he designed for Radziwill, the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who was a close friend until her death in 2019. 'She was like the chicest, naughty aunt you could wish for,' he said at the time. 'We spent many summers together, swimming, painting, smoking.' The exhibition will also feature pieces worn by celebrities including Blanchett, Michelle Pfeiffer and Diane Kruger, as well as photographs of the likes of Kristin Scott Thomas, Kate Moss and Lady Gaga in his designs. In recent years, the NGV has hosted blockbuster exhibitions like Dior's 70th anniversary retrospective, in addition to becoming a force to be reckoned with on the international auction stage, mainly thanks to Krystyna Campbell-Pretty, a philanthropist who has purchased and gifted more than 250 garments to the museum since 2015. The institution is also padding out its fashion photography collection and has purchased a large-scale image by Sarah Moon featuring a red taffeta dress designed by Grant, which will be featured in the show. He continues to design two collections a year for his mainstay retailers and private clients like Sofia Coppola, using deadstock fabrics to minimize the environmental impact of his creations. Grant's navy, fuchsia pink and red uniforms for Qantas are set to be phased out in 2027 after 13 years, but he continues to work with the airline on new projects, most recently on pajamas for first-class passengers. A book accompanying the exhibition details how Grant, who got his start in the Melbourne club scene of the '80s, landed in Paris with a series of guerrilla-style happenings. 'I look at my collections as they are now, where I've kind of synthesized everything down to these classic styles, and that's how I see myself. But actually going back into it, and when I was doing the fashion shows, there's a lot of much more exploratory work there,' he remarked. His first show in 1994 was held in a café on Rue du Trésor in the Marais, with models walking in the street. For the second one, the late Vogue editor André Leon Talley invited top editors to Grant's tiny shop on Rue des Rosiers and corralled Campbell to walk on a runway made of real turf. For aristocrat Valentine de Ganay's wedding, he dressed the statues at the family's Château de Courance in giant crinoline skirts — one of fashion's current obsessions. The next season, he held his show under one of the tent-like skirts at his store. 'There were maybe 15 people there, it was a tiny thing,' he chuckled. Grant's charismatic persona and easy humor may well be the secret of his longevity. 'A journalist recently referred to me as the Red Dwarf,' he said with a delighted cackle. 'I didn't know this, but in a constellation, the Red Dwarf is the star that's out there that you can barely see, but it's the one that's creating beautiful galaxies.' Best of WWD LaQuan Smith: Bold New Elegance For Nightlife Fashion Who Owns Skims? How the Kim Kardashian-cofounded Shapewear and Apparel Brand Became a $4 Billion Juggernaut Christopher John Rogers: A Kaleidoscope of Color in Fashion [PHOTOS]
