Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice

By Duncan McDonald

It has always seemed to me that museums, specifically art museums, fall into one of three categories: historical/anthropologically focused (think the Louvre), modern established art where the cultural and, ahem, economic value are well established (think Musee D'orsay), and museums that present more challenging and perhaps controversial works (the Centre Pompidou comes to mind as an example). The first two categories represent arts history. The last one, arts future. Where does fashion fit? Many historically focused museums have dress and costume collections. And museums focused on the current cultural milieu have long presented fashion exhibits. But it never seems to be an easy mix.

Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice is a series of 12 thoughtful essays on the nature and place of fashion in the context of a museum and fashions role in developing and transforming the museum into a twenty-first century cultural institution.

Melchior, the series editor, claims that fashion is not art. Perhaps true in a narrow sense of the word, but many, many art museums have collections of commercial “design” objects like furniture that help define  the cultural aesthetic of a particular historical period or stylistic movement and in fact also function as art objects. Similarly fashion has moved from period costume and dress collections (what I called historical earlier and what Melchior terms “dress museology”) to blockbuster fashion exhibits like Alexander McQueen: A Savage Beauty at the Met that point the way towards the future of fashion (“fashion museology” in Melchior speak). By the way, I notice that Iris Van Herpin, as cutting edge a designer as I can think of, and who only started her house in 2007, already has had a number museum shows. Fashion museology indeed.

What is the role of fashion in communicating critical thinking in the context of a museum? And is it art anyway? For contemporary fashion designers and design houses does their inclusion make museums a part of the fashion system, another channel for the display of the fashion industry? 

All are great questions and this book is a fascinating read as these important issues are explored. Recommended.

Fashion and Museums: Theory and practice

By Marie Riegels Melchior (Editor), Birgitta Svensson (Editor)