Belgian artist famous for paper costumes passes away
Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave has passed away at the age of 78, her family announced on social networks on Friday. De Borchgrave was famous worldwide for her paper art, especially her elaborate paper costumes, in which she combined her love of fashion, history and painting.
“I’m very sad to learn of the passing of Isabelle de Borchgrave,” stated Elisabeth Degryse, minister-president of the French Community Government, after hearing about her death. “From Brussels to New York and Japan, her creations have shone all over the world. Today, we lose an immense artist. My sincere condolences to her family and loved ones.”
Isabelle de Borchgrave was born in 1946 in Etterbeek, Brussels, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Soon after graduating, she set up her own studio focusing on fashion and interior design.
According to her biography on her website, a major turning point in her career came in 1994, when she began designing elaborate paper costumes. Combining her love of fashion, history and painting, she worked on four major collections. The first collection, entitled “Papiers à la Mode”, covered 300 years of fashion history from Elizabeth I to Coco Chanel.
As the collection travelled across the world from 1998 to 2008, she also created costumes from the wardrobes of Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, Empress Eugenie, the consort of Napoleon III, and the Ottoman kaftans.
The second collection, “Mariano Fortuny”, focused on 19th-century Venice. Then followed “I Medici”, an installation of famous Florentine figures in the ceremonial dresses of the Renaissance. Finally, there was “Ballets Russes”, where de Borchgrave paid tribute to Sergei Diaghilev, Pablo Picasso, Léon Bakst, and Henri Matisse.
Isabelle de Borchgrave also never ceased painting and sculpting. Alternating from canvas to paper, and paper to bronze, her colourful paintings and delicate sculptures have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Japan, Brazil, the U.K. and the U.S.
She also collaborated as a fashion and interior designer with the likes of Comme des Garçons, Christian Dior, Hermès, Villeroy & Boch, Pierre Frey, Lanvin and Caspari.
Artist Isabelle de Borchgrave shows rococo gowns of Marie-Antoinette at her studio in Brussels, 22 March 2011 © BELGA PHOTO VIRGINIE LEFOUR