Items: Is Fashion Modern

(Hardback)

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An encyclopaedic selection of 111 garments, footwear, and accessories - from humble masterpieces to high fashion - that have had a strong impact on society in the 20th and 21st centuries and continue to hold currency today. Published to accompany the first major exhibition on fashion design at The Museum of Modern Art since 1944, Items: Is Fashion Modern presents 111 iconic garments, footwear and accessories that have strongly influenced society in the 20th and 21st- centuries and continue to hold currency today. Organized alphabetically as a reference book, the publication examines the ways in which these items are designed, manufactured, distributed and used, while exploring the wide range of relationships between clothing and functionality, cultural etiquettes, aesthetics, politics and technology. Designs as wellknown and transformative as the Levi's 501s, the pearl necklace, the sari and Yves Saint Laurent's Le Smoking - and as ancient and historically rich as the Breton sweater, the kippah, and the keffiyeh - are included, allowing for exploration of the numerous issues these items have produced and shaped over many decades. Richly illustrated with historical and archival imagery as well as newly commissioned photography from Omar Victor Diop, Bobby Doherty, Catherine Losing, Monika Mogi and Kristin-Lee Moolman, Items reflects not only on fashion's power and social history, but also on its design construct and staying power, in order to understand what of the system of fashion should remain for generations to come - and what alterations need to be made to ensure a tenable future for this arena that touches us all.

Reviews

...along with ta Louis Vuitton one of similar size and shape, are what the museum chose as examples of Monograms. The criteria They had to have changed the world.--Emilia Petrarca "New York Magazine, the Cut"
...an investigation of 111 garments and accessories that have had a profound effect on the world over the last century...runs the gamut from Levi's 501 jeans and Nike's Air Force 1s to Chanel No. 5's bottle and a Vivienne Westwood x Louis Vuitton fanny pack.--Lisa Lockwood "WWD"
...asks a question whose answer lands squarely in the sensibility of the know-it-all now-ness that is New York City.--Peggy Roalf "Ai-Ap"
...explores the present, past - and sometimes the future - of 111 items of clothing and accessories that have had a strong impact on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries - and continue to hold currency today. Among them are pieces as well-known and transformative as the Levi's 501s, the Breton shirt, and the Little Black Dress, and as ancient and culturally charged as the sari, the pearl necklace, the kippah, and the keffiyeh.-- "It's Liquid"
...it also brings into the fold iconic non-Western staples, such as the sari and the dashiki. Antonelli says the show addresses questions of sustainability, gender, and the means (and problems) of industrial production in a globalized world.--Felix Burrichter "W"
...it's a fun and informative walk down memory lane. With "Items: Is Fashion Modern" opening Oct. 1, the museum explores iconic fashion/accessories items, many of which received cult status and essentially changed the fashion landscape ...--Lauren Parker "Accesories Magazine"
...more than merely a tracking of trends, Antonelli and her team sought to address industry issues ranging from sustainability and labor practices to diversity and religious modesty.--Stephen Sporn "Hollywood Reporter"
...taken garment by garment, it is full of wonderful rabbit holes of narrative and information.--Guy Trebay "New York Times"
Colin Kaepernick's jersey is now on display at the MoMA...His 49ers jersey will be part of a section dedicated to sports's influence on fashion.--Ben Dandridge-Lemco "Fader"
Items: Is Fashion Modern At MOMA will highlight 111 iconic garments and accessories that have become paragons of Design.--Melissa Ogier "The Garbwire"
MoMA has identified the most game-changing clothing in the world- feel free to disagree though.--Eliza Brooke "Racked"
MoMA's first fashion and design exhibit in more than seven decades looks at iconic apparel...-- "Newsday"
MoMA's first fashion exhibit in 73 years includes Supreme, Kaepernick, and Yeezy.--Trace William Cowen "Complex"
Museum takes its first look at fashion since WW!! with 'paragons of design'.--Keira Alexander "AM New York"
Of course fashion is Modern-- MoMA just took 7 decades to acknowledge it.--Michelle Honig "Observer"
The quarterback's jersey will reportedly be displayed in the museum's "Items: Is Fashion Modern" exhibit. The exhibit reportedly examines how sports have influenced fashion and culture.-- "VIBE"
The Modern's second-ever fashion exhibition proposes a global canon of 111 emblematic widely used items ...a compact mine of information, rather like a handbook, arranged A to Z with in-depth entries and a pleasing combination of matte and glossy pages.--Roberta Smith "The New York Times"
The Museum of Modern Art's, 'Items: Is Fashion Modern' is an ambitious exploration of the everyday wardrobe with nearly 350 (!) objects on display, visitors will rethink a garment's past, present and future.--Maria Bobila "Fashionista"
The New MoMA fashion exhibit isn't afraid to get political and those are its most powerful moments.--Taylor Bryant "NYLON"
To trace the history of fashion through objects and their ancient archetypes, the show's organizers dipped into the material slipstream and fished out 350 objects representing 111 'typologies.' Just how deliriously diverse those typologies are was made clear by the museum...with the release of a list itemizing the things to be displayed. And what a list it is, from kaffiyehs to kilts, flip-flops to guayaberas, pencil skirts to moon boots, Speedos to Spanx.--Guy Trebay "The New York Times"
What makes MoMA's approach to fashion design unique is that rather than delve into the specifics of a single idea or designer, Antonelli and her curators are looking at the larger role fashion plays in our lives. If that sounds incredibly broad, well, it is--there are more than 350 pieces in the upcoming exhibit. But not every LBD [Little Black Dress] is created equal, and just 10 have made the MoMA cut: Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Arnold Scaasi, Versace, Wolford, Nervous System, and a '40s utility dress.--Steff Yotka "Vogue.com"
Which garments have had the most profound effect on the world over the last 100 years This is the beautifully simple, yet daunting question that a new exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art aims to address with a display of 111 items that represent fashion's most significant contributions to popular culture.--Jacopo Prisco "CNN"
Why MoMA's ' Items: Is Fashion Modern' Is not the exhibition you were expecting.--Sasha Levine "SURFACE"

Author Bio

Paola Antonelli is a Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture & Design as well as the Director of R&D at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Michelle Millar Fisher is a Curatorial Assistant of the Department of Architecture & Design at The Museum of Modern Art.