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UltraMegaLore 1. Concept 2. Exhibition 3. Catalog 4. Press
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1. Concept
A fascinating view of the 21st century’s first decade of fashion, through the eyes of Belgian top model Hannelore Knuts. Not so long ago, UltraMegaLore was merely an obscure nickname for Belgian top model Hannelore Knuts. Now, it has grown into a wonderful retrospective exhibition covering Hannelore’s life and fashion career so far. UltraMegaLore is certainly not your average fashion exhibition. It is extraordinary in the sense that it gives both an inside peek through Hannelore’s eyes and a bird’seye view of fashion across the first decade of the 21st century. Curated for the Belgian Fashion Museum Hasselt by Hannelore herself, the show is a personal statement and a lookback on her ten-plus years as a model and muse to a host of photographers, artists, and fashion designers. Belgian fashion has enjoyed enormous international appeal for years, but not only for its designers. Alongside the Antwerp Six, who put Belgium on the fashion map, a number of Belgian models have, thanks to a mix of strong character and a healthy dose of level-headedness, pushed their way to the top. One of them is the intriguing Hannelore Knuts, who was discovered in the mid1990s when the fashion world began looking beyond classic beauty to seek out faces with character. A photoshoot with Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, and a show for Yohji Yamamoto, gave Hannelore that one crucial push in the right direction. From there, her career took off and she became one of the standard bearers of the“heroin chic” wave. Different from the others, Hannelore defined her own femininity with a penetrating gaze, and became a permanent fixture on the catwalks and in the campaigns of major brands. The following decade was filled with countless inspiring experiences, encounters, and collaborations, which have shaped Hannelore’s rich cultural background today. This informed perspective certainly didn’t escape the notice of the Fashion Museum Hasselt. The director of the museum, Kenneth Raemakers, gave Hannelore carte blanche to collect all the striking memories of her ten-year career into an exhibition.
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Stretching across three parts, UltraMegaLore presents thousands of fashion images as well as memorabillia from Hannelore’s personal life. Featured in the first part is the work of designers including Azzedine Alaia, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Haider Ackermann, all of whom were central to Hannelore’s rise. And it must be said that Hannelore was pivotal to their careers as well. By offering them a new aesthetic, Hannelore sparked their creativity and helped to sublimate their ideas. Hannelore as a muse to designers: This is the central theme of the exhibition’s first chapter. The second part of UltraMegaLore presents Hannelore as seen through the lenses of top photographers including Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Juergen Teller, and Steven Klein. What strikes us immediately is the huge variety of appearances Hannelore can take on. An erotically erratic librarian in a fable photographed by Duane Michals, an opera mistress for Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Images featuring Hannelore appeared repeatedly in and on the covers of Vogue, Self Service, Purple, iD, Dazed & Confused, W, and in several fashion campaigns and art works. In a nutshell, this part of the exhibition revolves around Hannelore as a top-class chameleon, as a canvas and inspiration for the whimsical ideas of photographers and artists. A mix of objects and media from across Hannelore’s career feature in the third part of the exhibition. Here, we are given a privileged look into Hannelore’s extraordinary queendom, full to the brim with fashion relics, surprising artifacts, and crossover rarities. Rather than giving a dry, academic overview of fashion, Hannelore wanted to tell a fun, passionate, personal story and to provide the viewer with an inspiring, multifaceted experience. After all, Hannelore is the child of a crossover age; her eagerness to discover new territories and bend their boundaries has already triggered many collaborations at the crossroads of art, music, and fashion. Hannelore also demonstrates that models aren’t just empty mannequins. Throughout her career she has accummulated a cabinetful of visions and imagery, which feed the exhibition. Also, Hannelore sports no blinders in life and is earthy enough to continually question her own vision, all excellent traits for a curator. After concluding its run at the Fashion Museum Hasselt on June 6, UltraMegaLore will travel to other museums. While around 60% of the show will remain the same, 40% will adapt to the destination and the collaboration between its local artists and Hannelore. In this way, each UltraMegaLore exhibition will be unique.
With contributions from Juergen Teller, JB Mondino, Azzedine Alaia, Ali Mahdavi, Jean Paul Gaultier, Edward Lipski, Haider Ackermann, Tim Walker, Ugo Rondinone, Luc Tuymans, Filip Metten, Alex Salinas, Peter Rogiers, Ann Demeulemeester, AF Vandevorst, Tim Vanhamel, and many more.
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2. Exhibition UltraMegaLore Fashion Museum Hasselt 27.03 - 06.06
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© Kendell Geers The devil You Know
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© Alex Salinas
© Bary X Ball © Martin Margiela (Silhouette)
© Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin © Azzedine Alaïa
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© Haider Ackermann FW 2010 / Eyes
© Jean Paul Gaultier
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Google research © Loop – Modeshows 2000 – 2010 © Ellen Von Unwerth Vogue Italia / Dec. 2005
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© Jason Rhoades ‘Twisted Taco’ 2003 © Christian Lacroix Haute Couture – FW 2001
© Alex Salinas © Hermès Dress – SS 2006
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© Ali Mahdavi
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© Jean François Lepage © Edward Lipski – Bambi
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© Yves Saint-Laurent Vintage privecollectie © Duro Olowu SS 2010 & FW 2009 © Duro Olowu SS 10 © Christiaan Houtebos Haar © Dick Page Make-up © Juergen Teller Self-Service n°31 / FW 2009
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© Barry X Ball Privecollectie 2007 / 2009 – Styling Hannelore Knuts & Lori Messerschmitt
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© Portrait of Hannelore by Lori Messerschmitt
Privecollectie 2007 / 2009 Styling Hannelore Knuts & Lori Messerschmitt
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3. Catalog
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4. Press
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Of course no one creates an exhibition on his own. Hannelore Knuts had many helping hands, from: Kenneth Raemakers of the Fashion Museum Hasselt, Dimitri Jeurissen of Base, Tamara Maas, the ladies of PR’ins, Lori Messerschmitt, the Fashion Museum Hasselt team, the Friends of the Fashion Museum, the Province of Limburg and the City of Hasselt, and Ludion Publishers. For all infos: Dimitri Jeurissen BaseDesign 62 Chaussée de Forest 1060 Brussels +32 2 219 00 82 dimitri@basedesign.com