Hamza Mejri's THE DRESS Opens 4/3 at ALT Hotel

Fashion photographer Hamza Mejri will present his latest project, The Dress, an impressive new exhibition taking place at ALT Hotel in Griffintown. This collection of limited edition fashion photographs captures spectacular moments with more than twenty Montreal celebrities and fashion designers. Don't miss this free, one time only 5 à 7 event on Friday, April 3 before it heads to New York this summer.

A dress is a unisex garment that covers shoulders, legs and the body, all in one piece. Throughout human history, every civilization has distinguished itself with a particular dress style having a specific design or a distinct colour palette. The Dress dramatically covers many styles of dresses inspired by various nations, cultures and empires (Roman, Berber, Japanese, African, Arabic, etc.), transporting you through the ages from antiquity to modernity. For Mejri, this beautiful garment is a statement piece of design, and highlights his pride in Montreal's extended fashion community, "My goal is to show as many different dresses as possible and promote our terrific Montreal designers with every photograph and every dress style." Dresses and accessories are chosen from a variety of sources including new collections from the designers, as well as antique and vintage stores.

After days of shooting over fifty models, forty stunning photographs were selected. Each photograph in The Dress tells a story about a civilization and a time, with the dress representing a link to past lives and artistic visions. Mejri is inspired by Karl Lagerfeld, "Lagerfeld's way of working, his creations and his photography has set the standard for my work. His 'The Little Black Jacket' exhibition was one of the biggest inspirational sources for my show".

Unlike classic fashion photography, the dresses are not being showcased only by mannequins. Here, Montreal artists from diverse disciplines are the models, including: musicians Les Jumelles Barabé, Amylie, and Marco Calliari; fashion designers Evelyne Fay of White Label, Julie Bessette, Luca Galardo of Diodati, Zaida Melo, Emeline Morellet of Les Incompetents and Habi Gerba of Gazelles Montréal; television hosts Angelo Cadet, Cindy Charles; actor Sarah Dagenais Hakim; as well as painters, fashion models, dancers and photographers. Meet the creatives behind the pictures; on hand for the event will be the photographed celebrities, models and designers.

As a special treat, at 7pm Les Jumelles Barabé will perform some of the singles from their new album. (www.jumellesbarabe.com)