The concept of “physical enthusiasm” is a relatively new invention. But the same applies to mass-produced clothing. The body always has a variety of shapes and sizes, many of which go beyond the prevailing norms of the day – it is never completely stable.
The “Body: Fashion and Fitness” exhibited by the Museum of Fashion and Technology at the City of New York City demonstrated this tension. It “explored the complex history of the ‘ideal’ fashion body and its various body types. It was considered from the 18th century to the present. “This is a thought-provoking tour that has gone through the history of clothing for two and a half centuries, shifting from the beginning of the 20th century to the “short barrel” to the modern big-fashion fashion. Including Christian Siriano’s custom Oscar dress Leslie Jones.
Jessebel: What is the goal of this exhibition?
Emma McClendon: This exhibition is in a special gallery in the museum. The goal of this space is that each exhibition we put in is a new theme, a new focal point to show the history of fashion. This is also where we display our permanent collection. We don’t show it forever. You can see the same clothes on the same human body model in the same place for decades. The clothes are too fragile. What we have done is to use this as an opportunity to explore the history of fashion through a variety of perspectives. We can also exhibit works that have never been seen before or obtain new works during the permanent collection of exhibitions. This is the core element of planning any performance in this space.
For this exhibition, I hope that visitors can stand out from the crowd, or be able to do more within a wide range, which will add a historical perspective to the ongoing discussions on the inclusiveness and diversity of the fashion industry. When I first started planning this exhibition, the physical enthusiasm movement definitely penetrated and grew, but that was about two years ago. Being able to see this exhibition was very surprising, and very occasional, to see how it really thrived and grew to reach so many people and reach out to such a wide global audience. I hope that this program can contribute in this way, perhaps to show how certain elements of the current dialogue are so new and exciting – and we see the open way of the fashion industry I don’t ‘I think we’ve seen before – But there are some aspects that have already emerged.
Just as it was known in the early 20th century as “hyper shorts” clothing, these terms may be problematic – the industry has always been part of the retail industry, which is full of retail interest and fashion magazines throughout the 20th century. Interest, but unfortunately, it has dropped after a few years. By showing this history, I hope people understand how the fashion system has evolved and established in the past 250 years, so that we can really ensure that the current discussion will not be disconnected. The games we see now affect more permanent changes.
Sometimes you look at things in fashion history that seem to be because of prejudice to survival and other factors. The idealized silhouette is what you end up seeing in the record. Interestingly, even caricature – on the one hand, it is frustrating to see that people have been doing cartoons about ugly fat women. But seeing evidence of their existence is also very interesting.
absolute. And this is another goal of the program is to introduce works that may be of different sizes or emphasizing different body types throughout the chronology, whether it be a child’s bodice or maternity bodice, or a maternity robe or early stockings or The size of the work from the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century is different. I think there is a lot of time in the exhibitions or films or magazines that brings us a misunderstanding. Let us think that all women in the past have a certain scale. Very small. It is an idealized body type. This may make us think we have any problems now. It not only continues the ideal, that is, the ideal does not exist, the ideal does not meet the ideal person is not invisible, marginalized, is humiliated, but it also makes us question our diversity in a useless way. Because of the fact that physical diversity has always existed as long as people are always there. No two people have the same body. No two people have the same shape. This is not just a matter of size. This is also a question of age, race, ability, and gender identity.
Most of the content in the exhibition is about this size issue, but it is hoped that something that appears in some comics is like this – not only for the design of a specific human shape, but also for the material in one person Specific moments in life. Or it is a special type of person who is a 20 year old young white woman, and it does not consider how our body will change, how their age, how our ability and mobility are affected. I’m very happy that we can collaborate with Open Lab’s Grace Jun and really highlight some of their projects, what they do there, and the designer Lucy Jones, I think they not only want to rethink the body and how to do different things Designing clothes for the body at different stages, but also educating students and industry professionals to begin to rethink the body types of fashion design.
What new works have you collected? One of the interesting things for me is that you rarely see museum exhibits. This is hard to find? Do you have to find it?
No, this is our collection of early clothing. But you are right, these works are often more rare. In general, ready-made clothing may become scarce over time. More everyday clothes, no matter how big you are talking, are hard to find early.
We already have most of the works in the exhibition. Where have I done most of the new acquisitions are in the contemporary section, because I really want to draw inspiration from these budding designers and brands, these designers and brands really provide a how to reflect on the body, how to make them Examples The entire brand and the entire company revolve around a more inclusive view of the body, from the way they make clothing, to the way they sell clothing, and how they display or sell on the runway. They are really just changing the game. So I want to end the exhibition with more positive and encouraging notes. I think there are many things in the program that can feel very sad, familiar and heavy, but I hope at the end of the character era, especially for students – we have a lot of student participation and student performances at the Fashion Institute. I want to give them some examples of people who have rethought about this issue. Provide inspiration for how we move forward.
Part of the exhibition is that you see these huge changes in the oceans partially centered on technological advances. Just as corsets wholesale are widely used because it allows them to use machines, it is possible to sell them at a lower price and have a golden age of wearing corsets in the late 19th century. Looking back at these 250 years, when you see the rise of the modern fashion industry – I know this is a very complicated relationship – but you think it is more the industry that shapes our idealized body, or the culture of our idealized body What does the idea shape?
I hope there is a clear answer. I think it is actually more detailed and interrelated. I think fashion is not a reflection of culture. This is not a mirror that reflects our body’s thinking. It is the promoter of cultural change and plays an important role in the formulation and dissemination of our ideals. Well, now, I don’t think there are any more extensive changes and trends in other aspects of culture. These changes and trends are affecting things that ultimately happen in the fashion industry. But I think they are so complexly connected and connected throughout history that it is tricky to separate them.
Many of the ideas and themes in the exhibition, as well as the overall narrative of many aspects, are difficult to show in physical clothing. This is why video is available at the beginning, with all the supporting materials, manga and video clips, and so on. But this whole topic has deep psychological factors. Clothing is a manifestation of practice. We are dressed every day, we all go shopping in some form, try on clothes and so on. Regardless of their personal relationship with the clothes, everyone has had experience entering the store or ordering things online at their usual size. Think they are, then try it, it just doesn’t fit. At that moment, they felt something wrong with their body and the clothes were right. The real takeaway here should be physical diversity, the body is correct, and the clothes are wrong. This is a fashion system. The way the clothes are made, the way they are sold, the way the entire system is set up is wrong. We need to try to separate.
This exhibition is by no means provided with all the answers. What I hope is that it has triggered a dialogue so that we can start thinking about how to start changing the system. Because we can’t fix it before we admit that the fashion system is physically flawed. One of the elements boils down to standardized dimensions. The standardized size is a double-edged sword. This is very beneficial for democratizing fashion because it can produce garments in batches, making them cheaper and making them more affordable. It opens the entire fashion system. Over the past 150 years, we have seen more and more – the opening of the fashion system, so that people can participate in the fashion trend in an unprecedented way. But at the same time, by creating standardized dimensions, you are predicting the idea of a standardized body, where you are trying to put their bodies in their clothes instead of putting clothes on them. This has a strong psychological impact on how we treat our bodies, how we think about our bodies and how we see and think about the bodies of others.
It’s hard to show it in kind, but the concept of error-proneness and malleability in this fashion system, and how it treats the body and how it has changed in many ways, but it’s also true in many ways – in the past I hope so We can pass in program.
You are talking about trying to motivate students who will continue to work in the fashion industry. I want to know to what extent do you think it is possible to make the fashion world possible – instead of treating fashion design as a true positive expression of art?
What I mean is that they can start with many things. They can start selling various sizes of clothes first. They may start to make the brand’s size generally rise to 26 size and fall to 0 size, and categories without these sizes will be split in the store. There are more editors in the magazine, more representation on the magazine’s page, and these are things about clothing and style, not just a naked curvy woman.
There are a lot of things that can be done on a very basic level, and then I hope that with the leaps and changes in technology and all the changes we see so many other industries can really focus on and solve these problems in the fashion industry and re Think about the way we make clothing, the way we make clothing. Innovate in the same way they did in the industrial revolution, change the method and make it open and more inclusive.
It seems that there is usually such an idea, oh, what you don’t understand is that we can’t do this. So what’s interesting about this exhibition is that it clearly shows that the iron law that is usually regarded as nature was invented 120 years ago. Do you understand? It was not a long time ago.
Indeed, this is the point. Our body is natural and our clothes are fabricated. This is something made. There are ways to change the manufacturing process. This is something we can figure out how to innovate. I think that now, with all the other dialogues and innovations in culture and society, discussions and debates, fashion needs to catch up. Fashion needs to communicate with the truly inclusive dialogue that is currently underway. If you do not do this, it may be left behind and it seems to be losing contact.
In my opinion, it is very important to emphasize that I really hope to use contemporary designers who can provide inspiration and justify the reasons that they can change the status quo of contemporary designers, because I think that fashion is based on the system. I don’t think it’s worthwhile to blame those who did it wrong, because the entire system has been set up for hundreds of years. I think it’s more important to celebrate and emphasize and support those who show that they can accomplish in different ways and use it as a positive and encouraging example rather than calling out to all other people who are doing it. Because it is indeed a motion that other sectors of the industry are experiencing the status quo.
Now there seems to be a broader reflection, but I think that as a shopper who likes to buy clothing in more places, we sometimes have a very shallow touch on these concepts. As you said, this is a naked woman who is curved in shape. It’s like, come on. This is not very aggressive.
Yes, it only played visual effects that have been passed down from centuries. We are used to seeing that we are very relieved to see “big woman”, “curvy woman” or “flesh woman” or any euphemism you want to use – we are used to seeing these bodies as Rubenesque’s nudity and understanding Their beauty and their aesthetic value are such. Whenever you see a naked XL model, it will play again. The editorial shows that these women will be more inclusive, progressive and encouraging. Instead of showing them individually and showing their bodies completely, they should be placed seamlessly in editorials just like any other model.
And also highlight the clothing. In these industries, these segments are between straight and positive dimensions, which also means that no or only few plus signs are included in the high fashion conversation, so not only is a plus size institution not fashionable The concept of oversized clothing that the oversized body can wear is not really fashionable either.
At the end of the day, I hope to actually achieve this in the video. This is a marketing opportunity. Many speakers in our video, including Christian Siriano, are very blunt. You know, everyone is bankrupt, which is why you will go bankrupt. Because all these designers did not create clothes for most people. From a business perspective, this is just crazy. Another reporter asked about this person’s flattering question and all these talks about how to dress up different body shapes and shapes, asking about the true freedom and inclusiveness in the industry. I really believe that true freedom and inclusion in the industry seem like everyone has the same choice and the same style, aesthetics and clothing. Clothing pays more and more attention to yourself and your identity until we give it to everyone – no matter how big they are, regardless of their size, regardless of their abilities, regardless of their gender identity or race, they can participate in the same style, Looks and buys them and finds where to buy them – until this happens the fashion industry is operating on an exclusive and marginalized system.
