Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice

Description

Why is fashion "in fashion" in museums today? This timely volume brings together expert scholars and curators to examine the reasons behind fashion's popularity in the twenty-first century museum and the impact this has had on wider museum practice. Chapters explore the role of fashion in the museum across a range of international case studies including the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Fashion Museum at Bath, ModeMuseum in Antwerp and many more. Contributions look at topics such as how fashion has made museums accessible to diverse audiences and how curators present broader themes and issues such as gender, class and technology innovatively through exhibiting fashion. Drawing on approaches from dress history, fashion studies, museum studies and curatorship, this engaging book will be key reading for students and scholars across a range of disciplines. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING FASHIONAND DRESS MUSEOLOGY The attraction of the new, the obvious, and the popular Fashion and dress in museums: past and present Fashion museology as a “new museology” controversy Past dress—future fashion? Introducing the book Notes References SECTION 1 THE POWER OF FASHION: WHEN MUSEUMS ENTER NEW TERRITORY 1 THE COSTUME INSTITUTE AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: AN EVOLVING HISTORY Ambition and innovation in avagrant collection Early exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Vreeland era The academic and the cinematic References 2 UNDERSTANDING FASHION THROUGH THE MUSEUM Establishing fashion as a cultural phenomenon in art museums Fashion as popular culture: a new vision, a new approach Fashion studies and their influence on the fashion exhibition Conceptual fashion: explaining the idea behind the object Fashion, storytelling, and experience design Conclusion Notes References 3 CONTEMPORARY FASHION HISTORY IN MUSEUMS Only a terminological issue? Fashion designing the museum Curating (with) the fashion designer The “new” fashion history and its objects Concluding remarks Notes References 4 APPRAISED, DISPLAYED, AND CONCEALED: FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE SWEDISH MUSEUM STAGE Two art and design museums Two cultural historical museums Collecting, displaying, and concealing The art of display In conclusion Notes References SECTION 2 FASHION CONTROVERSIES: WHEN BODIES BECOME PUBLIC 5 GENDER CONSIDERATIONS IN FASHION HISTORY EXHIBITIONS The gallery of fashion Museums, fashion, and gender The self-styled consumer Tasteful consumption: the uses of fashion in art education Conclusion References 6 CLASS AND GENDER IN A MUSEUM COLLECTION: FEMALE SKIWEAR Fieldwork in the past Outdoor life on skis Winter sports and bourgeois fashion apparel Female ski runners in “Lapp costumes” Twin sisters Wiking ahead of their time Short skirts hide the breeches Sports and skiwear in vogue Skiwear for everybody Full-length, wide trousers Conclusion References 7 EXHIBITING THE BODY, DRESS, AND TIME IN MUSEUMS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Dress, body, and time Dress collections and exhibitions in Scandinavian museums The Swedish System The dressed figure: a mounted mannequin inscribed with class, gender, and the history of style The ideal of the discrete dressed figure In conclusion Notes References SECTION 3 IN PRACTICE 8 FROM MUSEUM OF COSTUME TO FASHION MUSEUM: THE CASE OF THE FASHION MUSEUMIN BATH Bath The Assembly Rooms Doris Langley Moore The collection Presenting the collection Conclusion Notes Reference 9 COLLECTING PRACTICE: DESIGNMUSEUM DANMARK The fashion, dress, and textile collectionat Designmuseum Danmark and the criteria of collecting The definition of fashion and dress in relation to the practice of collecting Some examples of the relationship between textile, dress, and fashion in the collection at Designmuseum Danmark The challenges Introducing a new all-inclusive collecting policy at Designmuseum Danmark Conclusion Notes References 10 ENGAGING THE PUBLIC INISSUES OF DRESS AND IDENTITY: A CASE STUDY OF AMAGERMUSEET IN DENMARK The Amager dress collection How we got from country bumpkin to saggy pants Dressed 1: the folk dress and the notion of the “country bumpkin” Dressed 2: the uniform Dressed 3: breaking the rules Dressed 4: the alternative Amager folk dress Dressed 5: “I am so tired of being hot!” Perceptions and responses to the exhibition Notes References 11 LEARNING THROUGH FASHION: THE NORWEGIAN MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY The educational program “Sources of Knowledge” Theoretical approaches The four boxes On consumption On production On checks Fashion for everyday use References 12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS A PROPOSED APPROACH TO A FASHION EXHIBITION The fashion autobiography in contemporary media Realizing a fashion autobiography in exhibition form: the “Hotel” project Conclusion Notes References IN CONCLUSION: MUSEUMS DRESSED IN FASHION City branding and tourism Visibility and bodily image Dress museology Fashion museology Overcoming the controversy Notes References INDEX