When 3 of My Favorite Things Become 1!

I love art.

I love fashion.

I love paper engineering.

Put the three together and you'll find the Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave exhibition running from February 5-June 5 2011 at the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  The website describes the exhibit best:

Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave is a painter by training, but textile and costume are her muses. Working in collaboration with leading costume historians and young fashion designers, de Borchgrave crafts a world of splendor from the simplest rag paper. Painting and manipulating the paper, she forms trompe l’oeil masterpieces of elaborate dresses inspired by rich depictions in early European painting or by iconic costumes in museum collections around the world. The Legion of Honor is the first American museum to dedicate an entire exhibition to the work of Isabelle de Borchgrave, although her creations have been widely displayed in Europe.

Pulp Fashion draws on several themes and presents quintessential examples in the history of costume—from Renaissance finery of the Medici family and gowns worn by Elizabeth I and Marie-Antoinette to the creations of the grand couturiers Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, Christian Dior, and Coco Chanel. Special attention is given to the creations and studio of Mariano Fortuny, the eccentric early-20th-century artist who is both a major source of inspiration to de Borchgrave and a kindred spirit.

Oh my goodness, I'm in heaven, and shall make it to this show!  I must!

By the way, Isabelle de Borchgrave is the artist of the show, is also the creator of the Fashion a la Mode pop-up book that I treasure and now see it's out of print.  Sorry, not parting with mine, but there are two books associated with the show:  Pulp Fashion and Paper Illusions, the first I'll pick up at the show and the other is on my wishlist.