Exhibit spotlights 50 years of fab fashion from FIT archives

50 years of fab fashion takes center stage

By JOCELYN NOVECK

AP National Writer

NEW YORK

A brilliant green gown in sculptured silk satin by Charles James, the late American master couturier, gleams like a just-polished emerald as you enter the archives of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology – a huge, climate-controlled space that houses more than 50,000 garments and accessories.

Care for a little Chanel? How about hundreds of delectable vintage suits, hanging closely together in the fantasy closet of a fashionista’s dreams, with tweed jackets in plaids, pastels or florals?

Nearby are the historical garments, which range from the 18th century onward, including dresses from the Civil War era, “just like ones you’d see in an Impressionist painting,” says Valerie Steele, the museum’s director and chief curator.

It was Steele who had to cull through this huge permanent collection, and a half-century worth of FIT exhibits, to come up with “Exhibitionism,” a new show that opened recently and celebrates the museum’s 50th anniversary.

There wasn’t room enough in the museum to spotlight all of the favorite exhibits from 50 years – there have been more than 200 – so Steele whittled it down to 33, each of which are represented with a vignette.

They include “Fairy Tale Fashion,” a 2016 show that illustrated 15 well-known fairy tales using both clothes – such as the iconic red riding hood – or accessories, such as the glass slipper.

A real red-hooded cape from 18th-century England stands next to a more modern one by Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, featuring a shiny, quilted patent-leather hood.

An eerie sight is Thierry Mugler’s short black vampire dress, worn by a mannequin stepping out of a coffin, from the 2009 show “Gothic: Dark Glamour.”

Also featured is “Fashion and Surrealism,” a 1987 show that was one of the museum’s most popular; an eye-catching (literally) suit by Larry Shox features a pattern of huge, disembodied eyeballs.

And if you like corsets, look no further than the waist-cinching examples from the 2000 show aptly named “The Corset,” exploring what the museum calls “the most controversial garment in fashion history.”

The retrospective also touches on social themes, with highlights from “A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk,” from 2013.

“It was really the first significant exhibition of LGBTQ influence on fashion,” Steele says. “We thought we would just begin with the mid-20th century, but it turns out that gays and lesbians had a big impact on fashion as early as the 18th century, as trendsetters.”

Also represented is “Black Fashion Designers,” a very popular 2017 show that displayed work by more than 60 black designers of different generations.

A wide, brilliantly colored cape by Duro Olowu, the Nigerian-born designer, is paired here with a red-and-black wrap-style gown by Scott Barrie.

Over the 50 years of exhibitions, fashion came to be viewed differently, Steele says – as a social barometer rather than just, well, clothes.

“I think in the past there was much more of a kind of male chauvinist view that fashion was something frivolous and feminine ... just about hemlines,” she says. “Increasingly over time, younger generations came to accept that fashion is significant.

“It’s a multi-billion-dollar business,” Steele adds. “It sometimes has a really bad impact on the environment. But it’s also a way that individuals can express themselves.”

In order to whittle down decades of exhibits for the retrospective, FIT curators said they stuck with those for which garments were available in the permanent collection upstairs.

“Exhibitionism: 50 Years of the Museum at FIT” runs through April 20.