Boris Kráľ. Bonsoir, Audrey!

The Moravian Gallery in Brno presents “Bonsoir, Audrey!”, a cross-disciplinary exhibition by Boris Kráľ, a Slovak fashion designer working in the Czech Republic. The young author has stood out on the Czech fashion scene as a singular presence with an distinctive, elegant style. His work is a celebration of women, fashion and craft. As a master tailor, he often completes his designs by hand, taking care that the dresses created under his hands look perfect not only on the front but also on the inside. He is understated, striking and precise.

His style, however, is not another attempt at pretentious luxury. The designer's personal handwriting, rooted in the classic “New Look” of Christian Dior, is recognizable, timeless, sophisticated and supremely elegant. It is also disciplined. It is not flashy and it builds on rules. Boris Kráľ is neither an iconoclast nor does he transplant the patterns of the past into the present. He openly admits his admiration for the beautiful era of fashion in the 1950s and 1960s, celebrated in films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Funny Face and Belle de Jour and embodied by muses such as Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Deneuve and Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Yet he gives these ideals a unique form, a contemporary spirit and silhouettes of his own.

The young designer creates original fashion most often for the red carpet. For this occasion he dresses a number of leading actresses, for example Daniela Kolářová, Hana Vagnerová and Magda Vášáryová, as well as singer Ewa Farna. Through his designs he inspires women to love their curves and to celebrate femininity and the grace of gentle silhouettes. His classicizing minimalism is thus, in fact, expressive, opulent and also remarkably “chic”. Boris Kráľ uses exceptional textures and materials and their combinations: silk, velvet and mohair. He works virtuosically with colour and can combine it vividly. His palette includes purple, pink, cinnamon, chestnut, but also bright orange paired with magenta, and rich yellow with deep violet. Jewellery is a great inspiration for the designer, which he often uses to complement his models, and he employs details that function as a kind of jewel. In the hands of Boris Kráľ, every woman is a queen.

“The opportunity to show my designs at the Moravian Gallery delighted and excited me for many reasons. I greatly value being given the chance to present my work alongside the best Czech designers, and not only in the field of fashion. The public will have the first opportunity to see my designs together, and for me personally it is a powerful experience to see several years of my work side by side. It gives me the chance to recapitulate my own work and perhaps close a certain chapter, or conversely to gain some confirmation of my personal style. I am excited by the idea of combining fashion with backstage photographs by Lena Knappová, with whom I am working on backstage photography for the second time and with whom I share very similar views on fashion. The contrast between highly elegant designs and clean silhouettes and the dynamic, chaotic environment “behind the curtain of fashion” reveals an uncensored and uncompromising collection of the moments that precede everything. However, in preparing the exhibition itself, the personal conversations and collaboration with the whole team of the Moravian Gallery are also very valuable to me, especially with curator Michaela Kádnerová and my dear friend Lena Knappová,” says the author of the exhibition, Boris Kráľ.

An important part of the exhibition is the backstage photography from Boris Kráľ’s fashion shows, the work of the respected photographer Lena Knappová. These are authentic images of the final preparations and the harmony between the designer, the team and the models, without which the dresses would be lifeless. “For me, backstage represents an authentic space of the creative process: a place of concentration, preparation, detail and intense work. The photographs presented in the exhibition are a visual document of the creative process and a testimony to our professional collaboration. They were made in direct contact with Boris’s work and capture the atmosphere that precedes the final presentation of the collection. A personal dimension is also part of them. Boris is my long-time friend, so I see this photographic collaboration not only as documentation of his work, but also as a natural support for an author whose work I value both professionally and as a human being…