Skirting the Border Between Art and Fashion

Skirting the Border Between Art and Fashion
The grand architectural experiment that is the Prada Epicenter on Rodeo Drive is exploring its potential as something more than a clothing store.

On Friday, "Waist Down: Skirts by Miuccia Prada," an exhibit of 100 of the Italian designer's skirts, went on display in the 24,000-square-foot technological marvel designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren.

With the addition of the unusual skirt exhibit, the store, built in 2004 as a conceptual merger of art, fashion and commerce, becomes a gallery space where one can ponder: Is a skirt art?

The exhibit, which ranges from Prada's first women's collection in 1988 to the present, was conceived and designed by the think-tank arm of Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture to illustrate the ideas and craftsmanship of Prada's skirt designs.

Prada fans might have been happier with a display of purses, which in Prada's hands revolutionized the focus of luxury goods companies, status-conscious consumers and knockoff artists the world over. Skirts, however, were simply more interesting.