Exhibition Title: “Constraining Time”
The first item that I would include in my exhibition is a classic corset from 1835, USA. This item became popular during the first decade of the 19th century and was used to emphasize the waist, for both men and women, by making it narrower. These proportions were exaggerated and unnatural in the way that it heavely distorted the bodies of both genders.
Corset, 1880, France. Black cotton sateen with pink lace.
The second item that I would include in the exhibition is the girdle. It was designed to make the wearer look slimmer, and even to help burn the fat from the hips and waist as it was made from rubber. Therefore, the desire and the fetish of making the body achieve a hourglass unnatural figure was still present.
Girdle, circa 1932-1935, USA. Rubber.
Moreover, the third object that I would include is a Woman’s Cage Crinoline used during the 1860s. It was a structured meant to be used underneath dresses to make the waist appear narrower and the hips bigger.
Woman’s Cage Crinoline. Circa 1865, England.
Additionally, the fourth item that I would include is a Comme des Garçons dress. This dress was part of the collection of 1996 in which it challenges the relationship between the body and fashion, as well as the idealized female physique.
Ensemble, spring 1996, Japan. Nylon and Polyurethane.
Finally, the final item that I would include is a performed photography by Lucy McRae. This artist focus her work on the relationship between fashion and the human body. This piece shows how the artist constructing structures over the body to reshape and create new silhouettes.
In conclusion, my exhibition would create a progression from the first forms of constraining the human body with corsets, girdles and cages. This objects are a result of a fetish and idealization of the body to meet expectations that were considered a sign of beauty and social status. However, the reality is that the human body is not a perfect hourglass figure in any way. For this reason, artist and designers have made a statement with their work by challenging the relationship of fashion and the body and reshaping the classic silhouettes. In the same way, the exhibition by putting these items together, is also creating a progression by portraying the cause and effect, just like how corsets or any constraining object deformed, and distorted the human body.
