The International Fashion Research Library opens and is free for all – WWD

Four years after Elise By Olsen and her late mentor Steven Mark Klein “wrote this short elevator pitch” to propose the International Fashion Research Library, the doors of the Oslo institution have been thrown open.

Having made its digital debut in the fall of 2020, the institution’s physical outpost is now officially up and running at one of Oslo’s main addresses. Located near the National Museum and on the same campus, the library avoided demolition of the historic site and is also close to another important landmark, the Nobel Peace Center. Designed to be “the world’s most comprehensive repository of specialist fashion research and contemporary fashion publications”, the ILFR is aimed at researchers, industry professionals and everyday enthusiasts.

During an interview last week, OIsen recalled making the pitch to the National Museum of Norway, which had already approached her about curating an exhibition. Although she was interested in that endeavor, she also entertained the idea of ​​starting a library, “’To whom it may concern at the National Museum, I want to found a library for fashion research.’ He was extremely naive. I went through that letter the other day and it was very valuable.”

He has found the let’s spin this approach very helpful. “So it has been with everything I have set out to do. I didn’t know anything about print magazines when I started my first magazine. [Recens at the age of 13]. I am a firm believer in learning as we go along and trial and error. Of course quality is important, but learning by doing has been very important to me,” said Olsen. “…I just turned 23 years old. I was talking to my mom about how I’m having my 10th anniversary in business, in the industry.”

Housed in a former train station, the intimate space is a departure from many of the museums, galleries and “of course, fashion retailers” that take a “more is more” approach, the founder said. “Your view of the scale is also similar to that of Wallet magazine. [which Olsen started years ago for a decade-long run].” That publication was formatted to be slightly larger than the size of an iPhone even though coffee-table-sized magazines and books were then the dominant format. Anticipating that the library would quickly outgrow space, he mused that perhaps the Norwegian state should build us a big library.” State financing, private financing and a good part of Olsen’s savings account are financing the project.

ILFR’s studio space occupies approximately 1,600 square feet on the upper level, and 8,100 square feet of exhibition space is below. The opening exhibition, “For Immediate Release: The Art of the Press Release,” features materials from Maison Martin Margela, Alessandro Michele, Walter Van Beirendonck, Prada, Mowalola, Sunnei, Virgil Abloh, Angelo Figus, Comme des Garçons, and others. A 26-minute satirical film on loan from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum features WilliWear designer Willy Smith, an apparent press release hoax as a way to communicate fashion.

An expert at seeing through things, Olsen said: “What we’ve seen over time is that fashion press releases have become very oriented towards contemporary art press releases with very abstract and grandiose language. It is not experimental. They are rigorous ways of talking about fashion. It has moved in that direction of overexplaining, overconceptualizing.”

The new library has a prime location in the heart of Oslo, close to the National Museum and the Nobel Peace Center.

Photo courtesy of ILFR

Following the library’s motive of preserving the fashion past while capturing the present and promoting its future, Olsen noted that as press releases have become more digital, not as many physical ones are being distributed. “It’s also a very disposable format. People write their collection reviews and then get rid of the material,” she said.

Visitors can access thousands of examples of print material in person or online.

Carts full of materials that others have requested to review will be placed in the hallways so visitors can get another sense of discovery. “It’s kind of an interesting, physical algorithm for tracking what kind of material people have been there before dealing with it,” Olsen said.

Planning to have exhibits roughly every three months, the library wants visitors and readers to understand how an institution works and the financial apparatus that goes into making it work. “Maybe the exposures don’t overlap [from one to the next] or maybe one month we are running out of funds or without a sponsor. Then the exhibition can be empty or we can have local people come to fill the space.”

Mutual friends of his and Klein will be at Tuesday’s opening, as will fashion thinkers, pundits, museum directors, industry professionals, IFRL contributors and wish-listers with whom the organization would like to work in the next year. “Our main mission is to create a space for international fashion thinking and critical fashion thinking,” he said. Far from finished, she sees the free public library constantly developing and growing.

Interestingly, the designers will not be the absolute zenith of the library. Recalling how the proposal to Oslo officials grew out of last fall’s IFRL-organized symposium, Olsen said he explored: “’What happens when you create a fashion ecosystem where the designer isn’t necessarily at the center?’ Of course, we have many designers in the center. Most of our collection is designer printed promotional material. But what happens when you invite architects or fiction writers, contemporary artists or anyone who is not fashionable to a space like ours? There is a lot of magic that can happen by mixing the fashion discourse with other cultural fields, without leaving fashion aside, of course.”

The grand opening will be incomplete for Olsen due to the absence and continued influence of Klein, who took his own life last year and is always on her mind. After he sent her a cold email in 2015, a friendship blossomed and daily calls followed.

“It’s a shame he’s not with us and it will really affect the opening as well. This was a project we started together. It was this intergenerational idea. Looking back after his passing, I understood that he felt that his work and investigation was complete and that he was passing the baton. At least I can think about it proactively, which I am forced to do after something so tragic happens. It’s beautiful to have his legacy here, develop it and really honor it,” Olsen said. “I did not inherit the collection after his death. That is important. He was in very good health and in good spirits when he gave it to me. We were working on it together.”

ILFR

The two-story space has a study area and an exhibition space.

courtesy photo

That being said, Klein’s loss was so profound that Olsen was unable to go to the library for three months and relied on her assistant to do so. “I didn’t want to go in. It’s such a personal collection and her energy is really present in that collection. It’s taken time, but I’m coming to terms with it a lot more. And I’m trying to use that energy in the best possible way,” she said, emphasizing that while she was forced to make it happen, she didn’t do it alone.

In retrospect, he hadn’t realized how important it would be to make it happen, especially in Oslo, where philanthropy is limited and there are very few private institutions. “There is the idea that culture is a kind of state financing. To a certain extent, I agree, but it was also very difficult to enter that landscape. Seeing things took some perseverance.”

The space lined up during the pandemic in May 2020, and that delayed initial opening plans. A knee injury left the founder on sick leave for 14 months. On top of that, when the Norwegian-born Olsen first returned home, she did so because her father was unwell. Having previously been living out of a suitcase traveling for different projects, she was unfamiliar with the Norwegian fashion scene and cultural landscape at the time.

Somehow it all came together, partly because the National Museum provided the site. Seeing containers filled with 4,410 pounds of Klein’s collection hitting the Oslo docks also made the effort more concrete. Last fall’s symposium proved to him that there is an audience for the ILFR, due to the number of students who paid to fly to Oslo for the event, as well as the number of local students and industry professionals who attended.

He recently realized that the overall pace is not going to calm down with the opening after so much hard work. “This is not the case. This is when all the fun work starts with programming, curating and publishing projects in relation to the library. This is just the beginning,” Olsen said.

Source: news.google.com