Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave is a painter by training, but textiles and costumes are her muses. Her central project has been to recreate exquisite, life-size historical costumes entirely from paper. De Borchgrave creates a world of splendor from simplest rag paper. Painting and manipulating the paper, she crafts elaborate dresses inspired by the rich depictions in early European painting or by the iconic costumes in museum collections around the world. She masterfully works the paper to a desired effect. With her trompe l'oeil gowns, she invites her viewers to explore her imaginary world and to create their own illusions.
The artist's exhibition Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle Borchgrave is on view February 5 to June 5, 2011, at the Legion of Honor museum San Francisco. The museum is the first to offer an overview of the artist's most important bodies of work: from Renaissance costumes of the Medici family and gowns worn by Marie-Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour of Papiers a la Mode to the creations of the eccentric early 20th-century artist Mariano Fortuny.

Papiers a la Mode

Madame de Pompadour, paper dress inspired by a painting from 1755

Detail

Marie-Antoinette, paper dress from 1776

Elisabeth 1, court dress, 1599

Robe Worth, 1881

Paper dress inspired by the French stylist Frederic Worth

Splendor of the Medici
Eleonore de Tolede, 1522-1562

Detail

Anne de Medicis, 1616-1676

Isabelle (1540-1557) and Catherine (1593-1629) de Medicis

Detail of Isabelle de Medicis paper dress

Maria de Medicis, 1555

Detail

The world of Mariano Fortuny
Robe Delphos Bleue, 1920-1930

Detail

Robe Delphos Rouge, 1920-1930

Newest creations
Neapolitan woman, 1635

Detail

Courtesy Isabelle de Borchgrave and the Legion of Honor museum, San Francisco