Fashion Exhibitions: The Power of Communication

Abstract

Dr. Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT, describes curatorial strategies for communicating visually within the context of the fashion exhibition.  Focusing on her exhibition, Gothic: Dark Glamour, she explains how she used objects and sets to convey an atmosphere and tell a story. She then interviews three other curators. Patricia Mears, deputy director of MFIT, describes her process (“I typically start an exhibition by asking two questions: how and why?”) curating exhibitions, such as Madame Grès, Ivy Style, Expedition, and Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse. Colleen Hill, curator of costume and accessories, describes her innovative exhibition, Fairy Tale Fashion: “Sleeping Beauty was the tale that started me on my research journey… She was asleep for 100 years and when the prince wakes her up he thinks, ‘She’s so beautiful, but her clothing is like something my grandmother would have worn’.”  Finally, Emma McClendon, former associate curator of costume, emphasizes relevance and real-world issues: “With my exhibition, The Body: Fashion and Physique, I really had a message: that fashion has always had a problematic relationship with the female body.”