Staged to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Canned Candies, first published in Paris in 1969 as Nues, this exhibition presents for the first time in London the stunningly original collaboration of photographer Jean Clemmer and enfant terrible of French fashion, Paco Rabanne. These 'Canned Candies' are presented alongside a wider range of Clemmer's sensual photographic studies of the female form.
Coinciding with the London Fashion in Film Festival, the exhibition captures beautifully the utopian dreams of an era, exploring the realms of science fiction and fantasy. Erotic images of models as muse for French couturier Paco Rabanne's famed futuristic rhodoid and aluminium chain-mail jewellery, the photographs were both styled and created by Clemmer, depicting nude female models 'dressed' in Rabanne's 'unwearable' fashions, epitomising the radical culture of sexual freedom of the 1960s at its apex in 1969.
An exploration of the rituals of interplay between the female body and adornment, Clemmer expressed the ornamented human form as vehicle for sensuality, spectacle and pleasure through both performance and static pose. Capturing the essence of a lost era, these rare original vintage and limited edition contemporary prints offer a unique opportunity to acquire some of the most innovative images of the 1960s.
Intrinsically involved with Salvador Dalí's later flamboyant realisation of Surrealism, Clemmer was the artist's personal photographer for 20 years and was close friends with the French poet, writer, artist, and man-about-town Jean Cocteau. His radical collaborator Paco Rabanne's designs were featured in iconic 1960s films such as Barbarella (1968) and his clothes worn and loved by stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Francoise Hardy.
Groundbreaking for its use of black and Asian models, the publication Canned Candies was originally launched with a flourish of cocktails and naked dancers at the legendary Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris, sparking an immediate sensation. Original copies of the book have now attained cult status.