In the century since Venice, Italy, hosted the first international “biennale” of art, more than 200 more such events have been inaugurated around the world, in an irregular calendar of biennales and triennales. Only now is Bangkok getting one – or in fact three.

Next year’s Bangkok Biennial will take a decidedly guerrillastyle approach in contrast to the wellfunded Bangkok Art Biennale that will reach into February 2019. Photo courtesy of Bangkok Art Biennale

Yes, Thailand seems to be making up for lost time. Next year it will host three international festivals of contemporary art.

Two will be in the capital. An anonymous underground movement is organising the Bangkok Biennial (BB, using the English spelling) from July to September. Then, in November and stretching into February 2019, ThaiBev will be footing the hefty bill for the Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB).

As well as a wealthy backer, the latter has a well-connected artistic director in former Culture Ministry stalwart Apinan Poshayananda. Its exhibits will extend to Wat Arun, Wat Pho, Wat Prayoon, Lumpini Park, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and a slew of shopping malls.

The third event is the Thailand Biennale (TB) in Krabi, for which the Culture Ministry’s Office of Contemporary Art and Culture has hired Chinese Professor Jiehong Jiang from Birmingham City University in England as curator.

The initials – BB, BAB and TB – should make it easy enough to distinguish one from the other, but each of the three events is being billed as

Thailand’s first international festival of contemporary art, leading to consternation and debate in local art circles.

The benefit that artists, curators, organisers and students will derive from this flurry of activity is obvious, but some folks are thinking it’s all a bit much.

Organisers of the BAB held another press conference last week, their second after the original announcement was made at the Venice Biennale in May.

They repeated the impressive details – generous funding from ThaiBev and mall operators the Central Group and Siam Piwat, support from City Hall, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, four months of glowing promotion for Thai culture and tourism.

ThaiBev chief executive Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, a BAB co-founder, cited Bt150 million in seed funding for the inaugural event and pledged his firm’s support for the follow-ups in 2020 and 2022.

Apinan said the participating 70 artists would offer interpretations on the theme “Beyond Bliss”.

Wat Prayoon in Thonburi, whose main chedi earned a Cultural Heritage Conservation Award in 2013, will be one of the venues for the Bangkok Art Biennale. Photo courtesy of Bangkok Art Biennale

As does Venice, Bangkok will use the festival to promote its attractions, such as the Unesco World Heritage sites Wat Pho and Wat Prayoon.

But unlike most such festivals that utilise abandoned warehouses as unconventional gallery settings, the BAB taps shopping malls, thus garnering financial support. Central World, Central Embassy, Siam

Paragon and Siam Center will share hosting duties with ThaiBev’s soon-to-open shopping palace One Bangkok and Heritage building of East Asiatic.

The BAB won’t be as big as Venice, Apinan acknowledged, but more “medium sized”, like the one in Fukuoka, Japan.

As well as the malls, he added, the team hopes to arrange for 40 Bangkok galleries to host parallel exhibitions and will coordinate with the French Embassy’s annual Galleries Nights and the Hotel Art Fair.

Unesco has registered 1,431 stone inscriptions at Wat Pho as a “Memory of the World”. The temple will exhibit pieces for the Bangkok Art Biennale. Photo/JeyThailand

The BAB is nothing if not mainstream, but the Bangkok Biennial (BB) is purely guerrilla in approach. Its organisers – artists, curators and cultural activists both local and foreign – really do want to remain anonymous.

Compared to the BAB, they say, they’re “upside down”. There’s no selection committee, no budget and no limit to the number or type of participants. In this “V for Vendetta” Venice, anyone who’s got the cash to spare can set up a “pavilion”.

The BB organisers answered questions for The Nation by email, but asked that we disclose no clues about their identity.

“We’ve chosen to remain anonymous for two reasons,” they wrote. “Firstly, our model is concerned with decentralising influence and power in organisational structure. If we put our names forward as being at the centre of the festival, we would destroy that effort. Second, many things become defined by the reputations of the people involved. We want to avoid this in order to keep the biennial as open as possible.”

Does that imply that there’s something wrong with the BAB approach?

“No, the Bangkok Biennial is not ‘against’ the organisational structures of other biennial art events around the world. Instead, it is a challenge to the status quo, to the expected and accepted way of doing things.

“We believe it is important to consider other ways of organisation, representing and experiencing, and that there is no single ‘correct’ method or structure.”

Showing a sense of humour, they added that “Dr Apinan” would be welcome to create a pavilion for the BB as well.

They too are planning for various venues – and not all of them in  Bangkok or even Thailand. “Some will be virtual venues. Some will be non-art-related spaces. Aside from the established venues already involved, we have currently secured about 3500 square metres of unused space in central Bangkok venues.

“But all aspects of the Bangkok Biennial rest on the shoulders of everyone who becomes involved over the next year.”

Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts & Culture and AT Exchange in Ratchaburi are among sites chosen for the Bangkok Biennial starting next July. Photo courtesy of Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts & Culture

Confirmed Thai participants include Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, owner of the Angkrit Gallery and a curator of the 2013 Singapore Biennale, Mit Jai Inn of the Cartel Gallery, and curator Supamas Phahulo, a co-founder of Bangkok City City Gallery. Ratchaburi-based alternative art spaces At Exchange and Baan Noorg Collaborative Art & Cultutre are also involved.

Looking southward, the Culture Ministry and Krabi provincial administration will spend Bt100 million on the inaugural Thailand Biennale, alternately named the Krabi Art Olympics.

The ministry has commissioned Chinese Professor Jiehong to select 70 Thai and foreign artists to create site-specific works on beaches and in streams, waterfalls, caves, cliffs and forests, with the theme “The Edge of Wonderland”.

Jiehong will be scrutinising proposals submitted by emerging artists and collectives and an international jury will select 10 to present their pieces alongside the work of invited artists.

The Thailand Biennale hosted by the Culture Ministry is to take place in Krabi next November, Photo courtesy of Culture Ministry

Jiehong calls the TB “a cutting-edge exploration driven by visual practice, which takes a proactive attitude and a practical hold to approach, imitate, reinterpret and extend reality”.

After Krabi, Nakhon Rachasima and Chiang Rai are next in line to host a TB.

 CARVE OUT YOUR PLACE

– The Bangkok Biennial is set for July 7 to September 3, 2018. Pavilion proposals can be submitted at http://www.BangkokBiennial.com.

– The Bangkok Art Biennale takes place from November 2018 to February 2019. Submissions should go to http://www.BkkArtBiennale.com by this September 30.

– The Thailand Biennale is slated for November 2, 2018, to February 28, 2019. Submit projects to apply@thailandbiennale.org by this August 31.

“Patani Semasa” features works by 27 artists and those engaged with issues relevant to Patani region and is a kaleidoscope of different perspectives, methodologies, and responses developed over 13 years.

The dominant cultural identity of Patani region is historically informed by Malay ethnicity and Islam. The recurring narrative of Patani – especially in the last 13 years – resonates with images of violence. With this in mind, the preliminary question posed by this exhibition is: how are contemporary works of art and cultural representations of Patani presented: formally, narratively, verbally, and structurally?

By exploring the various reflections of visual artists, photographers, documentary filmmakers, architects, poets and writers on the events and contemporary way of life of Patani, this exhibition is a revitalisation and expansion of contemporary art and cultural space.

Among the artists are Ampannee Satoh, Amru Thaisnit, Anis Nagasevi, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, I-na Phuyuthanon, Jakkai Siributr, Jamilah Daud, Jamilah Haji, Jehabdulloh Jehsorhoh, and Kameelah I-lala. The show is co-curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong, Kasamaponn Saengsuratham, Kittima Chareeprasit and Ekkalak Napthuesuk.

The museum will organise public events, seminars, screenings, and conversations with experts and artists throughout the exhibition’s duration. The exhibition will continue through February 14.

A panel discussion “No art in kitab kuning? a dialogue between Patani history, art and Islam” will be held on the opening day at 2 oed by Thanet Aphornsuvan, Wattana Sugunnasil, Davisakd Puaksom, and Nualnoi Thamsathien. The artist and curator talk will follow at 4 followed by the opening reception at 6.30pm.

Find out more at http://www.MaiIam.com.

Like Daraka Wongsiri, Silpathorn artist and playwright Nikorn Sae Tang has seen several of his works published. After much acclaim for his title role in Nophand Boonyai’s “Happy New Year, Mr Smith” and a mask performance collaboration with Indonesian and Japanese artists in “Ocean’s Blue Heart”, he’s now ready to premiere his new play “Boy o’ Mine” (in Thai “Dek noi khong chan”).

The tagline immediately grabs the attention: “Two women are in love; one is expecting!”

“I’m interested in a women’s relationship because it directly deals with birth,” explains the artistic director of 8X8 Theatre Group.

“After fertilisation the man can pass away but the woman cannot. She needs to stay alive so that our race continues. And so I thought that a play about two women who’re in love with each other and one of whom gets pregnant without a man would be interesting. From this incident, the play can then develop further,” he says.

“And in writing this play I’m not campaigning for LGBT rights. Any relationship, heterosexual or otherwise is an ordinary relationship that doesn’t need special attention.”

             TV hostess Pimlada “Pear” Chaipreechawit, left,  and award-winning stage actress Varattha “Anne” Tongyoo as endearing couple Suchitra and Chansuda. Photo courtesy of 8×8 Theatre Studio

In the play, when Chansuda becomes pregnant, she swears to her lover Suchitra that no man has been involved and the latter has no doubt she’s telling the truth. Here, Nikorn questions whether the baby is a saviour who’ll lead the human race to ultimate peace, or, more simply, the result of Chansuda’s infidelity. But this extraordinary pregnancy case goes viral on the social media and that affects the couple’s romantic relationship.

“We have to admit that the social media is consuming, if not devouring, our world. It’s inescapable. The play is filled with my social, economic and religious comments,” Nikorn adds,

Former “Strawberry Cheesecake” hostess Pimlada “Pear” Chaipreechawit and IATC-Thailand award-winning actress Varattha “Anne” Tongyoo portray Suchitra and Chansuda, respectively.

“This is a more mature role [than I usually get, given my height] and also in a much cooler tone [than my previous roles]. Chansuda is a historian who’s both firm and passionate in her thoughts,” Anne says.

“I’ve taken some scholars’ observations and adapted them. I don’t want to stereotype them as straightforward and boring people. After all, this middle-aged lady’s hormones are up and down all the time.

“In comparison to an all-male couple, two women might not be as exciting. We see girlfriends holding hands and we think it’s friendly and cute. Perhaps that’s why we don’t get to see them on stage or screen that much. In this play, though, we’re proving that a pure relationship between two women, with a major conflict, is also stageworthy.”

Nikorn explains his casting choice, “I’ve worked with Anne before and I think she’s perfect for Chansuda. I met Pear when she played a small role in ‘Mr Smith’ and I admired her potential, sensitivity and determination. With her TV background, we’ve been working on how she can express her emotions more clearly, how to adjust herself to the space and how to interact with her stage partners. As for the actor’s inner realism and interpretation, she’s done a lot of homework.”

TV hostess Pimlada “Pear” Chaipreechawit, left,  and award-winning stage actress Varattha “Anne” Tongyoo as endearing couple Suchitra and Chansuda. Photo courtesy of 8×8 Theatre Studio

Anne adds, “She’s a very straightforward person who always speaks her mind, and after some adjustment, we’re now on the same wavelength”.

Wisarut “Blaboom” Homhuan portrays other supporting roles, and Nikorn adds, “All nine male characters actually, and a guest actress – Sumontha Suanpholrat in the first week; Prachayanan Suwanmanee in the second – will be his wife.”

Nikorn is back at Creative Industries, where his “Phop Rak” opened the space and where he also staged “Ocean’s Blue Heart”.

“Fully equipped, its size is just right, not too large or small, and its layout gives me much flexibility in staging. Also, the owner [my junior counterpart] Panisa Puvapiromquan is always a great supporter of my works,” he explains.

Nikorn is one of the very few Thai playwrights to make sure his works are translated into English and projected above the stage. For this new play, he smiles, “Yes, of course, we’re working on it – hope we make it in time for the opening night.”

This translation is not only useful for the non-Thai speaking audience. The surtitles recently prompted a theatre company in Auckland to present a reading of the English translation of his play.

EXPECTING SOON

– 8X8 Theatre Group’s “Boy o’ Mine” is from July 21-24 and 27-31 at Creative Industries, on the second floor of M Theatre, on New Petchaburi Road between Ekamai and Thonglor.

– The curtain rises at 8pm and there’s a 2pm matinee on July 29.

– It’s in Thai with English surtitles.

– Tickets are Bt 500 (Bt 400 for students, advance money transfer only), at (089) 762 5521.

– Find out more at Facebook.com/Theatre8X8.

What the Buddha saw

Japanese printmaker Seiko Kawachi’s work is on view at Ardel’s Third Place Gallery on Thonglor Soi 10 until August 5.

The exhibition “Cosmic View” reflects in abstract and semi-abstract, vividly hued woodblock prints the artist’s Buddhist philosophy and appreciation for nature.

The show’s title, he says, alludes to “a large galaxy where the Buddha attained enlightenment 2,500 years ago”. Find out more at http://www.ArdelGallery.com.

The ‘Sacrifice’ we make

Nakrob Moonmanas has a solo show entitled “Sacrifice” in the People’s Gallery on the second floor of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre until July 30.

It’s comprised of recent collages of “memories” in which he pays tribute to Thailand and its artists of the past, incorporating both old-fashioned and modern techniques. Thai culture and Western art |merge in many cut-and-paste images. Learn more at http://www.BACC.or.th.

“Live is Life” features Songawoot Kaewvisit’s criticism of the Thai educational system in strange oil portraits of schoolboys on show at the Subhashok Art Centre until July 31.

Two critical views

The Subhashok Art Centre is this month exhibiting paintings by Songwoot Kaewvisit and Supasit Thrammaprasert, both Silpakorn University graduates, in separate shows.

“Live is Life” features Songawoot’s criticism of the Thai educational system in strange oil portraits of schoolboys.

Supasit’s “Dreamy Land” merges visions of traditional Thai culture and modern globalised society. Get the details on the “sacbangkok” Facebook page.

Breaking free of bonds

Malaysian artist HH Lim’s paintings and installation art are on view in the exhibition “Over All, All Over” at Tang Contemporary Gallery until August 2. Lim seeks out a place where art isn’t restrained by tradition or classifications such as “sculpture”, “drawing” or “architecture”.

A resident of Rome since 1976, Lim has developed a multicultural alphabet in which references to East and West are interwoven.

His work includes portraiture and both abstract and figurative pieces. See the “tangcontemporary” Facebook page.

 Each time of day produces its own light and its distinctive vibe, in which jewellery and watchmaking creations bloom in dazzling colours thanks to the use of exceptional gems such as blue sapphires and yellow diamonds by experts of the Maison Piaget.

Secret cuff-watches in pink gold and adorned with white opals and Paraiba tourmalines play on the secret of dawn when sea and sky appear to merge in misty shades of grey, beige and pink.

A sautoir necklace sparkles with blue marquise-cut gems, diamonds and feathers, arranged around an exceptional 45.99-carat blue star sapphire that mimics the infinite stretches of sky and sea. Another necklace sparkling with an oval-cut Ceylon sapphire reflects the shimmer of the sun across the surface of the water thanks to its shower of diamonds. A nightfall celebration when the sky is clothed in orange, pink and gold is represented by a cuff-watch adorned with a purplish pink spinel.

Discover Piaget’s luxury watch and high jewellery collections at its boutiques at Siam Paragon and Gaysorn Village.

THEY MAY be fast disappearing from the streets of New York, but an Afghan-American artist has installed public telephone booths in Times Square to spotlight the immigrant experience in Donald Trump’s America.

New York today boasts no more than four public phone booths, the last vestiges of the pre-cell-phone era. The arrival of three in Times Square as part of Aman Mojadidi’s installation “Once Upon a Place” has nearly doubled that number.

Passers-by can pick up the handset but can’t talk. Instead they listen. At the end of the line are the voices of New Yorkers telling their personal stories of immigration – legal or illegal – from around the world.

Mojadidi asked each to narrate their experiences in their own language for up to 15 minutes, without interrupting them with questions. Their testimonies have not been translated into English.

“Even if you don’t understand the language, you can feel the emotion, as if it’s a song maybe,” the artist explains.

The art project boasts more than five hours of recordings from 70 different New Yorkers and will remain in Times Square until September 5.

Repurposed telephone booths stand in New York City’s Times Square as part of artist Aman Mojadidi interactive public art installation “Once Upon a Place”. /AFP 

Mojadidi started working on the project in 2014, well before Trump ran for president and unleashed vehement rhetoric against unauthorised immigrants and took office attempting to restrict immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The shifting political environment saw Mojadidi scrap initial plans to dot the project around the city and hold formal workshops in different communities. He says his subjects became “very nervous” about the idea.

“Why do we need to come there? Who else is going to be there?” he quotes them as saying. “In the end, it was all very one on one. So the way I implemented the project changed a lot.”

Nor is the choice of telephone booths insignificant.

“When I learned how phone booths were starting to be removed from the streets, not just in New York but in other cities around the world, I immediately thought about all of the stories that are trapped inside of these phones,” he says.

“I thought of a natural way to bring stories back to the streets by using the phone booths, bring back the spirit of the phone booths.”

A HUGE show about the fabled French fashion house Christian Dior, which opened Wednesday, has seen a galaxy of stars making the pilgrimage to Paris.

With Hollywood actresses Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst and Kristen Stewart already in town for the label’s haute couture show, Stewart’s “Twilight” co-star Robert Pattinson queued with models Bella Hadid, Karlie Kloss and Cara Delevingne to get a sneak peak of the retrospective at the city’s decorative arts museum.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs presents an exhibition of the work of French designer Christian Dior during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris. /EPA

While Dior – celebrating its 70th anniversary – has become synonymous with classy highly feminine glamour, fashion was not its founder’s first love.

Christian Dior came to clothes through art after setting up a Paris gallery to “champion the most avant garde of artists”, says the exhibition’s curator Olivier Gabet.

“It was he who gave Salvador Dali and Alberto Giacometti their first shows” in the French capital, he adds.

And it was his friendships with artists Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob and Pablo Picasso that helped sustain him through a difficult decade after his gallery closed in the Depression.

Dior, a talented artist, began designing theatre costumes and from there took his first steps into couture.

Hugely superstitious, he only made the final leap after a tarot reader told him he would head his own fashion house.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs presents an exhibition of the work of French designer Christian Dior during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris. /EPA

Two years later in 1947 his “New Look” revolutionised fashion, throwing wartime austerity out the window, trailblazing a new femininity.

Tarot and astrological motifs would later become one of Dior’s trademarks.

Historian Florence Muller, who co-curated the show, said the “New Look” became “emblematic”, with the show tracing how the six designers who came after Dior subtly adapted it – and how rival houses still “reference” it to this day.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs presents an exhibition of the work of French designer Christian Dior during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris. /EPA

The spectacular exhibition – which includes more than 300 haute couture gowns and dresses – documents how Dior became the go-to brand for stars from Lauren Bacall to Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren.

It also reveals that Dior named his famous Bar suit after the bar of the Plaza Athenee hotel next to his headquarters on Avenue Montaigne between the Champs Elysee and the River Seine.

Ever the artist, Dior spent much of his time in the country drawing, leaving the nitty gritty to Marguerite Carre, who headed his studio.

“I think of my work as ephemeral architecture dedicated to the beauty of the female body,” he said.

It was, however, to prove far from ephemeral.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs presents an exhibition of the work of French designer Christian Dior during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris. /EPA

When Dior died suddenly at the age of 52 from a heart attack in 1957 his mantle fell on his timid young assistant Yves Saint Laurent, who was only 21 at the time.

Yet in his very first collection Saint Laurent invented the “trapeze dress” which became a runaway success, and he was quickly dubbed the “little prince of fashion”.

However, the leather jackets of his “beatnik” show were just too much for some of the brand’s conservative clientele and he was bundled out the door in 1960.

He was replaced by Marc Bohan, who despite running the house for a record 29 years, became the “forgotten man” of Dior, according to Muller.

“The extravagance of his successors Gianfranco Ferre and John Galliano overshadowed a lot of what he did,” says Muller even though his “Slim Look” exemplified by models such as Twiggy was highly successful.

The Musee des Arts Decoratifs presents an exhibition of the work of French designer Christian Dior during the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris. /EPA

Ferre brought an exuberance back to the label in the 1980s with flowers, feathers and rich embroidery while Gibraltar-born Galliano – then fashion’s punk rebel – brought a strong dose of British eccentricity and theatricality, she adds.

“Even so Galliano had a strong connection linking him with Dior in his vision of strong femininity, with tight waists and ample hips,” she says.

The Belgian Raf Simons stepped up to the mark in 2012 after Galliano was sacked following a drunken rant in a Paris cafe.

Muller says the show demonstrates that Simons’ work was less minimalist than his reputation might suggest.

“You can get the impression it’s quite simple but close up you can see the complexity,” she says citing organza cut by laser and a dress make entirely of tiny feathers.

The exhibition ends with the Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s first female artistic director who took the reins last year.

“This exhibition is not just about Dior. It is about women in every era which is fascinating for me,” she says.

TWO HIGH-END American labels made their Paris haute couture debuts on Sunday in a week when the French capital pays tribute to two of fashion’s legends.

New York-based Proenza Schouler and Californian house Rodarte – who normally present their collections at New York fashion week – have been invited into the elite haute couture fold, which shows only in Paris.

Their debut as guest members comes as Chanel’s veteran maestro Karl Lagerfeld was given the Grand Vermeil medal, the highest honour the city of Paris can bestow, and a major new exhibition opened about Christian Dior.

The Belgium label AF Vandevorst and Holland’s Ronald van der Kemp have also been invited to show on the haute couture catwalks for first time alongside French brand Azzaro.

Only 15 fashion houses including Chanel, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Margiela and Giambattista Valli have the right to call their work haute couture.

Their entirely handmade creations, which can cost tens of thousands of euros for a single piece, are worn by some of the richest and most powerful women in the world.

French haute couture designer Julien Fournie – whose clients include royalty – said he welcomed the inclusion of the American brands, which are best known for dressing Hollywood stars.

“Everyone has the right to come to Paris to measure themselves against the greats. All the better (that) the Americans come and we will see what they can do,” he added.

Los Angeles-based Rodarte, run by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, have dressed pop star Katy Perry and made headlines with their 2014 “Star Wars” dresses which carried images of Luke Skywalker and robot R2-D2.

They designed the costumes for the ballet movie “Black Swan”, and its star Natalie Portman wore one of their gowns to pick up her Oscar for best actress in 2011.

Her husband French choreographer Benjamin Millepied has worked with the sisters on a number of his ballet productions.

Proenza Schouler designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough will show their spring summer ready to wear line they would have shown in New York in September, allowing them to deliver it to shops two months ahead of the competition. The haute couture shows will also see newly appointed French designer Maxime Simoens take his first bow at Azzaro, which was founded half a century ago by the Italian Loris Azzaro.

But the big set-piece events of the week are as ever the often spectacular Dior and Chanel shows.

Maria Grazia Chiuri presented her second couture collection for Dior on Monday, which was followed by the opening of a new exhibition dedicated to the house’s founder Christian Dior at the city’s museum of decorative arts.

The show, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams”, which will run until January 2018, traces the history of the brand from Dior’s invention of the “New Look” after World War II right up to Chiuri, who became its first female artistic director last July.

And 83-year-old Lagerfeld, known as the “kaiser” for his mastery of the fashion world, was presented with the Grand Vermeil medal on Tuesday after Chanel’s show at the Grand Palais by the mayor of the French capital, Anne Hidalgo.

THE BIG GUNS came out to play this week on the Paris haute couture catwalks and showed why they are still top of the fashion tree.

Christian Dior, Schiaparelli and Iris Van Herpen conjured up some thrilling clothes that married daring and tradition the day after two new American kids on the block made their debuts in the French capital.

While the US newbies Rodarte and Proenza Schouler make solid Paris debuts, the first day of showings underlined why haute couture with its decades of tradition and know-how is such a uniquely Parisian phenomenon.

Dior, now under the sure hand of Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, set out on an odyssey through 50 shades of grey inspired by pioneering women explorers, channelling the great traveller Freya Stark and aviators like Amy Johnson.

Stark frequently dressed as a man on her peregrinations around the Middle East after World War I and Chiuri topped her long and enveloping ash-grey wool and tweed suits with trilby hats.

Pulled tight at the waist with thin crocodile and bamboo effect belts, they were both sober and dramatic, typical touches of Chiuri style.

After becoming the first woman ever to lead the fabled label last year, the Italian adopted the slogan, “We should all be feminists”.

True to that spirit, she said this collection was a homage to the “restless first female explorers who overcame geographical and psychological frontiers”, with a leather one-piece shearling flying suit summoning up the first female pilots.

“Women explorers were very brave and they dressed themselves like males,” Chiuri said after the show, sometimes adding “ethnic local pieces” to their looks, something she mirrored in her autumn winter line.

“These women were among the first independent women and in some ways I feel myself also (following in their footsteps) coming to Paris from Rome and moving around the world with Dior,” she added.

The designer said she had dipped into the archives of the label’s founder Christian Dior, and was particularly struck by his post-war suit designs that raided the male wardrobe.

Despite their manly roots these highly tailored suits gave their wearers a gamine quality that was magnified in delicate flapper chic of the equally long evening dresses.

Here typical Dior prettiness carried an added touch of grey steel, women who knew were they were going – cue the spectacular map cape – and were no pushovers even as they embraced the ethereal and the romantic.

“The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence was among the A-listers watching the Dior show.

Dior will this year celebrate it 70th birthday. The revived house of Schiaparelli has an even longer – albeit interrupted – history.

Its resurrection under Bertrand Guyon continued apace with another sleek and hugely sophisticated collection.

Watch out next winter as its historical surrealist motifs – the Salvador Dali lobster and Joan Miro-inspired colour schemes – get a big airing on the red carpet.

Couture’s great innovator Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen pulled out the stops for her tenth anniversary collection, with one of her biggest fans, Bjork, rumoured to be performing at the party afterwards.

The Icelandic singer will need to go some to match the Danish group Between Music who played the show’s soundscape underwater in fish tanks on specially adapted instruments, coming up for air every few moments.

Their spine-tingling performance would have washed away a lesser designer. But not the Dutch master whose collection might have been billed “Iris Van Herpen’s Undersea World”.

This was the aquatic as fantastic, with schools of impossibly fluid semi-transparent knock-you-dead squid and cuttlefish sheaths taking the evening dress into an entirely new dimension.

The designer – known for embracing hi-tech techniques – said she had been inspired by the musicians. “I found out about how these artists had been working for 10 years on developing underwater techniques for both making music and singing” and thought it was too good to miss.

The Bt150-million Bangkok Art Biennale 2018 will take place from November 2018 to February 2019.

Funded by private companies Thai Bev, Central Group and Siam Piwat, the four-month festival aims to promote contemporary art and Thai culture, as well as boost tourism. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will also support the festival.

“The festival will feature 70 artists, both international and Thai artists, who will interpret the theme ‘Beyond Bliss’ through their artworks,” reveals artistic director Apinan Poshyananda, who is the former secretary general of the Culture Ministry.

Officially launched at the opening of Venice Biennale in Italy in early May, the organisers on Tuesday hosted the press conference at Banagkok Art and Culture Centre – one of the festival’s venues.

Apinan and his team, including Thai and Asian curators as well as directors from the world’s leading museums, aim to introduce Thailand as a new contemporary art destination. The Thai organisers have been inspired by the leading biennales in Venice, Sydney, Fukuoka, Shanghai and Singapore.

The contemporary art world now has over 200 biennales.

Artists are invited to submit their projects at http://www.bkkartbiennale.com by September 30.