Exposed: A History of Lingerie [exposition/exhibition : New York, USA]

Exposed: A History of Lingerie
Museum at FIT, New York, 3 June — 15 November 2014

The Museum at FIT presents Exposed: A History of Lingerie, an exhibition that traces developments in intimate apparel from the 18th century to the present.Exposed features over 70 of the most delicate, luxurious, and immaculately crafted objects from the museum’s permanent collection, many of which have never before been shown. Each piece illustrates key developments in fashion, such as changes in silhouette, shifting ideals of propriety, and advancements in technology.

The concept of underwear-as-outerwear is most commonly associated with the 1980s, but the look of lingerie has long served as inspiration for fashion garments. Exposed opens with several pairings of objects that underscore that connection. For example, a 1950s nylon nightgown, made by the upscale lingerie label Iris, is shown alongside an evening gown by Claire McCardell, also a 1950s garment, created in a similar fabric and silhouette. McCardell was one of the first designers to use nylon—a material typically marketed for lingerie—for eveningwear. A 2007 evening dress by Peter Soronen features a corset bodice, the construction of which is highlighted with bright blue topstitching. It is flanked by two 19th-century corsets, one made from bright red silk, the other from peacock blue silk.

The exhibition then continues chronologically. The earliest object on view is a sleeved corset (then called stays), circa 1770, made from sky-blue silk with decorative ivory ribbons that crisscross over the stomach. Stiffened with whalebone, 18th-century corsets straightened the back and enhanced the breasts by pushing them up and together. While they were essential to maintaining both a woman’s figure and her modesty, corsets also held an erotic allure.

Women’s undergarments were generally modest in the first half of the 19th century. This is exemplified by a dressing gown from circa 1840, made from white cotton. Although the dressing gown was simply designed and meant to be worn within the privacy of a woman’s boudoir, its full sleeves and smocked, pointed waistline mimic fashionable dress styles of the era.

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On Aura tout vu : Sensations

Nouvelle exposition : du 14 juin au 31 décembre 2014 à la Cité internationale de la dentelle et de la mode de Calais

Plongez vous dans l’univers poétique et décalé de la maison de couture on aura tout vu

La Cité internationale de la dentelle et de la mode accueille la maison de couture On aura tout vu. Fidèle à la dentelle depuis leurs débuts en 1998, les créateurs jouent avec les codes de la mode en toute liberté. Broderie, peinture, soudure, sculpture, impression textile se juxtaposent, brouillant les frontières entre la mode, les arts plastiques et le costume de scène. Leur mode extravagante et festive repose sur la fabrication de sensations, véritable fil conducteur revendiqué par la maison. L’exposition s’articule en petits théâtres à découvrir selon un parcours interactif, rythmé de surprises sonores et olfactives. Modèles issus des collections, créations uniques pour le show-biz, objets revisités, c’est un univers éclectique, poétique et ludique qui vous attend !

Pour voir la bande annonce de l'exposition, cliquer ici.

Lace and Commerce in 18th Century Europe (Rotterdam, 27-31 Jul 14) [call for papers]

Call for papers 

Deadline: Jun 16, 2014 

CFP: “The International Thread: Lace and Commerce in Eighteenth-Century Europe” 

Opening Markets: Trade and Commerce in the Eighteenth CenturyISECS Quadrennial Congress, on the Enlightenment, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 27 - 31 July 2015 

Chairs:  Tara Zanardi, (Department of Art & Art History, Hunter College/CUNY 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065; tzanardi@hunter.cuny.edu), and Michael Yonan, (Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Missouri, 21 Parker Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211; yonanm@missouri.edu)Enormous amounts of lace flooded the marketplaces of eighteenth-century Europe, which fostered a vibrant international trade.  This marketplace centered on competition between the Low Countries (especially the regions that now comprise Belgium) and northern France, two areas that  included Europe’s most technically accomplished lacemaking centers, including Alençon, Argentan, Brussels, Mechlin, and Valenciennes.   

These towns exported huge quantities of lace to an international clientele and competed with locally manufactured lace.  Our panel seeks  papers that examine how lace operated within eighteenth-century  mercantile networks, economic systems, and black markets.  What were the trade factors the affected the distribution of lace, both locally  and globally, and how did those factors affect working conditions, design choices, and the objects created?   How did these market conditions affect what lace was used for, be it garments, decorative items, or household textiles?  Topics might include treatments of lace and lace making in gendered terms, as statements of regional or national pride, labor practices in lacemaking, techniques and  materials, and the industry’s global ambitions.  Interdisciplinary papers are especially welcome. 

For more information, see the congress websites:http://www.openingmarkets.eu/http://isecs2015.wordpress.com/

Fashion, Function and Ornament: Accessorising the Long Eighteenth Century [appel à contribution]

In fashion the term ‘accessory’ covers a wide range of items such as gloves, sashes, reticules, spectacles, watches, parasols, and potentially many other articles. Accessories can be seen as marginal to the nature of fashion, but historically they have played a key role in shaping the character of men’s and women’s fashions, combining ornament and function and giving scope for the expression of individual and collective identities. The era from the late Stuart to the early Victorian period saw the accessory achieve new prominence as a fashion statement, an expression of wealth, status and taste, and a desirable object of consumption, possession and display.

This symposium aims to bring together interested parties from curatorial, conservation, academic and other backgrounds with an interest in fashion, textiles, clothing and related topics to explore the nature and significance of accessories in the history of fashion from c.1660 to c.1840. Relevant topics to be addressed in contributions to the symposium may include (but would certainly not be limited to) the gender, class and identity dimensions of the accessory, collecting and collections cultures of consumerism and consumption, style, fashion and ornament, exoticism and the antique in accessory design and ornament, and the accessory in the visual and literary culture of the ‘long eighteenth century’.

Proposals are invited for symposium contributions not exceeding 20 minutes in length. Please send outlines of c.200 words to fairfaxhousesymposium@gmail.com by Monday 28 July 2014. Please direct any queries about the symposium to the same email address.

York Hilton Hotel and Fairfax House, York, 19 September 2014

Proposals due by 28 July 2014

La Chapellerie Atelier-Musée du chapeau [Chazelles-sur-Lyon]

La Chapellerie est un Atelier-Musée qui s’attache à la conservation de la mémoire chapelière des Monts du Lyonnais (à Chazelles-sur-Lyon) et à la sauvegarde active des savoir-faire. Il est labellisé « Musée de France».
Pour en savoir plus, cliquer ICI.