As the exhibition website cites: “People have not often considered denim important enough to keep and preserve” I have found during a personal study of the 501 Levi’s Jeans how that has been the case for many years, up until recently. Denim was designed to endure the labor of a cowboy in the far west or a mine worker in California, when their jeans wore off, they would use the fabric to tie pieces of wood or other materials together. Denim, until the rock era, was working wear and nothing else.
Since EXHIBITIONISM: 50 years of the museum at FIT, intendeds to go through some of their most successful shows within the past 50 years, it seems very appropriate to include textiles that through culture and social change have been lifted from one status to a higher one (workwear to fashion) Within the last year or two, denim has had a heavy impact on street style, and therefore the latest “hype” brands such as: Vetements, Off-White, Supreme… It remarks the constant change and waves of influence items in fashion undergo.
“The explosion of museum exhibitions is only a mirror image of what has happened to fashion itself this millennium. With the force of technology, instant images and global participation, fashion has developed from being a passion for a few to a fascination — and an entertainment — for everybody.” Says Suzy Menkes in her article: Gone Global: Fashion as Art? For so long, only a limited amount of people where given the privilege to choose what’s art and what isn’t. It can be compared to the Salon des Refusés, when the Impressionist artist showcased their work despite being rejected by the Academy. Fashion, has been perceived as a trivial and ordinary subject, but like music, sculpture, painting, photography(…) it can be a form of art, therefore the right to be displayed.
Exhibitionism: 50 Years of The Museum at FIT. https://exhibitions.fitnyc.edu/exhibitionism/?url=2012-–-2017:-special-exhibitions-gallery/ysl-halston-1.
Menkes, Suzy. “Gone Global: Fashion as Art?” The New York Times. July 04, 2011. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/fashion/is-fashion-really-museum-art.html.
“Salon Des Refusés (1863) Exhibition of Rejected or Refused Artworks.” Salon Des Refuses, Paris, 1863: Exhibition of Rejected Art. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/salon-des-refuses.htm.