INTRO EXHIBITION
A brief introduction before entering the gallery to discover our fourth exhibition titled “Exposure - The Power of Being Seen, from Harry Styles to Lady Gaga,” curated by fashion stylist Tom Eerebout.
But first, a quick word on stylists: when did this profession first appear?
The figure of the stylist became known with the rise of modern fashion imagery in the early 20th century yet its prototype can be traced to the end of the 18th century with Marie Jeanne Bertin, “ministre des modes” of Queen Marie Antoinette. The queen, annoyed by court etiquette, had established a kind of unspoken pact with Bertin, a fashion merchant. Together, they subtly began to revolutionise etiquette by changing clothing codes through a styling of accessories and carefully selected details.
But it still took ages before the actual profession was to be recognised by the general public. For a very long time, clothing was shown through dressmakers, illustrations or retail displays, with little sense of narrative. It was through magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar that it gained influence, since fashion editors began to construct visual stories, and the stylist gradually took shape as a distinct role.
In the post-war years, styling became more expressive. During the 1960s and 1970s, figures such as Diana Vreeland turned fashion imagery into a cultural language, using clothes to mirror social change, youth culture and fantasy. Styling shifted from correctness of the look, to attitude and storytelling.
The 1980s and 1990s marked the birth of stylists as we know them today, independent professional figures working for celebrities, magazines, and movies. Creatives like Ray Petri, Carine Roitfeld and Katie Grand challenged beauty norms and reshaped silhouettes, influencing designers and connecting fashion with music and subculture.
Today, with social media, their role has expanded to include cultural research, image strategy and personal branding. Stylists are now authors of visual language, shaping how fashion is seen, understood and remembered, working like alchemists at the intersection of bodies and clothes, transfiguring both.
Yet, many stylists still feel frustrated about explaining the relevance of their work, since most people do not have a clear idea about what they do. Even a renowned fashion journalist like Tamsin Blanchard once said ironically “what do they do all day?”
EXPOSURE
On the screen in front of you is one of the most influential stylists of our time, Tom Eerebout, who has contributed to shaping the public image of celebrities like Lady Gaga, Austin Butler and Rebecca Ferguson. Let’s watch his interview on the screen in front of you, as he discusses the curatorial journey of the installation. You can pause your audioguide and resume it after you have listened to the interview.
Exposure reveals the transformation of fashion and of our very image, subtly reshaped through the hidden art of styling. From private fittings to public appearances, this exhibition unpacks the very close working relationship between stylists, designers, and the personas they help shape. It’s a story of risk, revelation, and recognition, where emerging talent takes the spotlight, and a single look can leave a lasting mark. Through peeks behind the scenes and garments designed by ITS Contest designers, Exposure celebrates the art of being seen — and the people who make it possible.
Several designers who have taken part in ITS Contest are featured in this exhibition. Over the years, many of them have worked with celebrities, creating one-off pieces or lending looks from their ITS collections. Celebrity stylists are constantly searching for bold, original and previously unseen designs, and emerging designers often offer exactly that. At the same time, there are artists such as Lady Gaga and Harry Styles who consciously choose to champion new voices in fashion, supporting emerging talent rather than relying solely on established brands.
What you are about to see is a privileged look, from several different points of view - sometimes like a fly on a wall, sometimes as if literally thrown into these sort of “arenas” treaded by celebrities - of a figure that stands just outside the frame of fashion history, yet shapes many of its most unforgettable images. Moving through the gallery you will encounter the environments in which a stylist’s work unfolds: the glamour of the red carpet, the threshold of the hotel room where the quiet ritual of final adjustments takes place, the up close and personal sculpting of the body, the poetic realm of muses and inspiration. Each space reveals a different facet of the relationship between stylist and celebrity, showing how looks that seem to appear and disappear in a flash are in fact the result of negotiation, collaboration, intuition, care and sometimes even pure instinct.
This is not simply intended as a behind-the-scenes story, this is an anatomy of authorship experienced as much as possible as if you, yourself, were inside it. You will see how the stylist transforms the hotel suite into an atelier, turning racks of garments, trays of accessories, and kits of humble tools into the raw materials of image-making.
You will see how illusions are engineered — how tape, pins, structure, and light can shape a body that will later appear effortless to millions in front of the camera. You will witness how inspiration travels through memory, archive, cinema, childhood, and chance encounters, becoming the private mythology that guides a stylist’s hand.
Exposure invites you to look past the spectacle, it pushes you closer to the edge and between public identity and private preparation. You will discover that the stylist is an author who translates clothing into language, and language into culture. This is fashion that you don’t just observe, this is witnessing the artistry that truly makes it visible.
We can now step inside the gallery, heading towards the next QR code