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Fashion Reimagined: Themes and Variations 1760 - Now
December 10, 2022 - July 2, 2023
Mint Museum Uptown: Gorelick Gallery
Fashion Reimagined features 50 outstanding examples of fashionable dress drawn entirely from the permanent collection of the Mint Museum, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the fashion collection’s founding in 1972 by the Mint Museum Auxiliary. Encompassing a wide range of attire, the exhibition includes men’s and women’s fashions from 1760 to 2022 and is divided into three thematic sections: Minimalism, Pattern and Decoration, and The Body Reimagined. Carefully researched and new information will provide insights about the individual designers, fabric and construction details, and globalization that is embedded in both the textiles and fashions of 1760 to today.
Iris van Herpen (Dutch, 1984-). Labyrinthine Dress, Spring 2020, silk organza. Museum Purchase: Funds provided by Ann and Michael Tarwater. 2022.22.1.
Walé Oyéjidé (Nigerian-American, 1981-). Man’s Suit. Museum Purchase: Funds provided by Clay and Deidre Grubb. 2022.18.1-4.
Oscar de la Renta (Dominican, 1932-2014). Evening Gown with Jacket, Spring 2011, silk. The Mint Museum Auxiliary's Gift to the Costume Collection. 2011.43a-b.
Fashion touches the lives of all people, whether you prefer simplistic forms or maximalist silhouettes. We are influenced by what the market provides, the trends that are set, and of course, our personal preferences. Regardless of the time period, fashion goes through the Fashion Cycle, which begins with an introduction of a new silhouette, material, fabric, or other quality. It gains acceptance in society, reaches a peak, starts to decline, and eventually hits obsolescence. The cycle has varying speeds because trends are dependent on the state of a culture or the ability to produce something.
In recent decades, fashion has existed on runways as models put clothing in motion. However, this exhibition presents fashion in a vastly different setting of historic and aesthetic contemplation. Fashion and art were once believed to be distinct categories, but the line between them is increasingly blurred. If you are interested in learning more about the history of fashion as museum display, see Fashion, History, Museums: Inventing the Display of Dress, which is available as a free ebook, or Museums Are Finding Room for Couturiers by Geraldine Fabrikant.
Below you will find online resources on a variety of topics related to Fashion Reimagined and the industry. The sections are not exhaustive, but offer various perspectives on how fashion exists in our world. For a broad overview of fashion history, view the Mint Museum's Library Resource page or visit the Fashion History Timeline from the Fashion Institute of Technology. This timeline provides a thorough analysis of fashion history that can be searched by time period or designer.
Fabric, Textile, and Pattern
Choice in fabric leads to differing looks, feelings, and cultural associations in clothing. This blog has links to the histories and creation of textiles, felt, cotton, silk, wool, and linen. The most common fabric in the world is cotton, largely because it is comfortable and breathable. In 18th century America, producing cotton was laborious, as it required separating the cotton seeds from the fibers by hand. In 1794, the cotton gin was invented, which greatly sped up production and allowed for more clothing to be made and sold. Below you can compare the cotton gin to our modern production process. The 19th century cotton dress pictured between these videos from Fashion Reimagined was most likely produced at a quick rate because of the cotton gin.
However, as this article from the National Archives points out, the profits gained from the cotton gin encouraged plantation owners to enslave more people to increase production. This history is one of violence and brutality, but important as we consider how our clothing is made and by what practices. To learn more about this, read Cotton Gin and the Expansion of Slavery. Additionally, read Child labour in the fashion supply chain to learn more about the continued prevalence of unethical labor in the 21st century.
With more advanced techniques of creating fabric, pattern also becomes more common. It would be impossible to name and discuss all histories of pattern, but the dress below from Fashion Reimagined introduces us to 1970s fashion. The emergence of groovy, brightly colored, and patterned clothes was at the same time as the Counterculture Movementin the United States. Many were protesting the Vietnam War, arguing against conformity, and fighting to end discrimination based on race, gender, or sexuality. While the dress below was made by an Italian designer and marketed to the upper class, its style is reflective of the social changes in the United States. To learn more, see Disco Fashion: That's the Way They Liked It, How the 1960s and ’70s Counterculture Queered Fashion, and Remembering Gender-Bending DIY Fashion In the 1970s.
This title is one of the thematic sections in Fashion Reimagined. Throughout fashion history, makers have desired to create novel clothing with unique forms. Often, these evolutions attempt to highlight a certain body part or hide it completely. As you will read below, historical and contemporary clothing have allowed for new representations of the body that align with cultural values, political environments, or creative pursuits.
A variety of articles by Jessica Glasscock discuss silhouette and support in dresses of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. The first popular dress style of the 18th century was the mantua, which resembled a semi-lightweight robe that could be put over a petticoat. Stays and panniers ensured that women's dresses were flat in the front, but had volume in the back. Toward the end of the century, the dresses were tightened and shaped with a triangular form to slim the person's waist and lift their chest. The beginning of the nineteenth century brought about higher waistlines, balloon sleeves, and bell-shaped skirts. Wide hooped crinolines were popular in the 1850s, but by the 1870s, bustles were preferred to only create volume on the back of the dress. By the early twentieth century,a less structured style became more popular. Loose-fitting dresses were much more comfortable than the tight corsets and built shapes of previous centuries. However, structure was not completely erased, as we can see in the tailoring of padded shoulders and tight clothing that emphasized a slender body.
While men's clothing rarely had striking volume like in women's dresses, it would be inaccurate to say that men's fashion was stagnant or lacked unique silhouettes. We can see this in examples like the frock coat or the politically charged nature of Zoot Suits. The video below explains the changes in men's suit styles or you can refer to this article from the Smithsonian Magazine that shows other interesting silhouettes in men's clothing.
Not every piece of clothing is meant for any event. This section is meant to explain a few of the different purposes of works in Fashion Reimagined.
Court Suits
Unknown English Maker. Gentleman’s Court Suit, circa 1770, silk. Museum Purchase: Auxiliary Costume Fund and Exchange Funds from the Gift of Harry and Mary Dalton. 2003.123.3a-c.
Court Suit (example from the Victoria and Albert Museum)
In the 21st century, celebrity and fashion are in a reciprocal relationship. When a designer becomes famous, hopeful or established celebrities wear their pieces as a mark of status. On the flip side, a well-known celebrity can influence the designer's career trajectory by wearing their pieces to a publicized event. The tradition of asking "who are you wearing?" on the red carpet began with Gianni Versace when he started dressing celebrities like Prince and Sylvester Stallone for red carpet events.
For those who are not celebrities, brands have tried to make their goods more affordable for public audiences. However, by use of logos, they can increase the recognizability of the brand and further commodify the designer's name. Interestingly, the correlation between logo size and price forms a bell curve. Cheap goods have small or no logos, middle to upper-priced goods have larger logos, and the most expensive goods do not have logos at all. Prominent logos are easier to be copied; therefore, one has to be in the know to "read" which items are luxury ones. Read more about this trend in this article.
Biographies of Some Designers in Fashion Reimagined
As with fine arts, the cultural influence of fashion between groups is inevitable, but at what point does inspiration become appropriation? Many fashion designers have caused an outcry for offensively using elements from other cultures. For example, in the 2012 Victoria's Secret fashion show, a model wore an Indigenous headdress to represent the theme of Thanksgiving. This choice disregarded the violent history perpetuated against Native Americans at the beginning of American history. The fetishization and stereotyping of minorities in fashion harmfully influence the ideologies of the general public. Therefore, while the public nature of these high fashion choices are controversial, they also extend to more troubling daily inflictions of racism.
However, it is possible to use elements of other cultures when making art. By acknowledging the inspiration's context, whether it is appropriate for reuse, and the intended meaning, an artist can ethically take inspiration from cultures other than their own.
For example, Mary McFadden, an American fashion designer famous in the 1970s and 1980s, is a perfect example of this. As this text says regarding a dress by McFadden in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, she was inspired by forms like the kimono of Japanese culture and the chiton of Greece. She adds her own spin by using the "marii" fabric she created and does not seek to copy other artists or cultures. A dress by McFadden made of white silk and adorned with glass beads is shown in Fashion Reimagined.
Fashion Reimagined does not only focus on Western trends in clothing, but analyzes a wide range of styles. For example, the work below by Anamika Khanna is an example of contemporary clothing from India. The history and industry of fashion in India reveal a dynamic set of traditions that date back to ancient civilization. Khanna's design includes a dhoti, which is a type of loose pants that were worn by men beginning in the Vedic Era. Her designs rework traditions into clothing that is reflective of India in the 21st century.
Anamika Khanna (Indian, 1971-). Coat, Pants, Necklace, Fall 2019, silk, cotton, metallic thread, beads. Museum Purchase: Funds provided by Deidre Grubb. 2021.19a-c.
These resources provide insight into other non-Western cultures and fashions because fashion was not invented by the West. This list is not exhaustive, but it provides starting points for research as we embrace the diversity of styles and trends throughout global history. There are also library resources that provide excellent discussions about the importance of global fashion.
While it may seem that fashion history has always separated the masculine from the feminine, in reality, it is a more recent phenomenon. As this article explains, in the ancient world, it was common for all people to wear dresses and they only fell out of style for the sake of convenience. Until the 14th century in Europe, differences in clothing depended on class, not gender. However, around the 17th century, the difference between men's and women's clothing started to become starker and by the 19th century, it became unusual for men to wear skirts or dresses. If we consider the non-Western world, markers of femininity like dresses or certain colors do not have the same cultural significance.
While much of recent history has enforced the divide between men's and women's clothing, designers, models, and consumers in the 21st century fashion world are pushing to break from these barriers. Not only does this movement allow for more freedom and creativity in style, but it also liberates trans and nonbinary people from society's harmful, gendered expectations.
The availability of online shopping and inspiration on the Internet has had drastic results in the 21st century. Many companies in the fashion industry produce "fast fashion," a term referring to the mass quantities of low-quality clothing. Fast fashion allows companies to quickly create and sell clothing that fits current trends. While it is seemingly a convenience of modern life, fast fashion is particularly harmful to the environment. This article by Ngan Le explains how fast fashion requires excessive amounts of water, the process expels toxic chemicals into the land and ocean, landfills are being filled with relatively new clothing, and the transport of goods contributes to fossil fuel emissions. Trends that once lasted decades and allowed clothing to be reworn have been warped by the fast fashion industry, which has sped up the rate of the fashion cycle. As Mariel Nelson notes in this article, micro trends (lasting around 3-5 years) encourage people to endlessly purchase new clothing and increase the wealth of fast fashion companies. Ethical fashion designers in brands are attempting to combat this issue by selling high-quality pieces that are less likely to fall apart or "go out of style."
