Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice

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Why is fashion "in fashion" in museums today This timely volume brings together expert scholars and curators to examine the reasons behind fashion's popularity in the twenty-first century museum and the impact this has had on wider museum practice. Chapters explore the role of fashion in the museum across a range of international case studies including the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Fashion Museum at Bath, ModeMuseum in Antwerp and many more. Contributions look at topics such as how fashion has made museums accessible to diverse audiences and how curators present broader themes and issues such as gender, class and technology innovatively through exhibiting fashion. Drawing on approaches from dress history, fashion studies, museum studies and curatorship, this engaging book will be key reading for students and scholars across a range of disciplines.

Reviews

This timely book explores the recent popularity of fashion in museums and its wider impact on the field. It is organized into three subjects: museums entering into fashion, controversy surrounding the nature of the fashion exhibition where essentially the human body is on display and lastly the practice of fashion in museums. Each chapter is written as a case study by authors with great experience in museum scholarship and curation including: Harold Koda & Jessica Glasscock of the Costume Institute, Julia Petrov of Alberta College of Art and Design and Rosemary Harden of The Fashion Museum in Bath, UK. * Costume Society of America *
Effective and will be valuable for those studying the topic. It tackles intriguing themes and issues, offers unexpected perspectives, and mixes theory with concrete examples. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through professionals/practitioners. -- C. E. Berg, Museum of History and Industry * CHOICE *
There is enough food for thought for both the academic (university, academies, independent scholars) and the museum communities. -- Bianca M. Du Mortier, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam * Costume *
The edited collection of essays, Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice includes accessible yet provocative discussions of historic, contemporary, and potential intersections between fashion and museums As such, this publication will appeal to those looking to develop collection strengths in the history of fashion, dress, and exhibition design as well as the critical study of fashion and its cultural and economic role in contemporary culture. -- Kathryn Stine, Senior Digital Curator, Visual Resources Center, UC Berkeley History of Art * Art Libraries Society of North America *

Author Bio

Marie Riegels Melchior is Assistant Professor at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Birgitta Svensson is Professor and holder of the Hallwyl chair in European Ethnology at Nordiska museet and Stockholm University, Sweden.