It all started with Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette's Dress (Property of the Royal Ontario Museum)

Life is funny. If someone had told me that one day I'd be interviewing curators and that people in New York would be talking about a speech I'd given on the topic of Fashion and Art, I would have laughed at the improbability of it all. And yet, that is now my reality and it is all because of a dress.....

Back in 2008, I was new to blogging. All I knew at that point was that I wanted to write about fashion, art and books. It was a slow beginning. And then one day, I saw a dress at the Royal Ontario Museum that may have been worn by Marie Antoinette. It is probably the only such dress in existence and is believed to have survived because it was customary for royalty to give away their clothing after the season. The dress had been altered in the 19th century and was purchased by the ROM in 1925 by the ROM's first director, Charles Trick Currelly, from an antiques dealer in London, England.  I became obsessed with this dress and wanted to understand what it might have looked like before it was altered (actually I'm stilll obsessed with this dress and will soon begin to post about a creative project inspired by that dress).  I started reading everything I could about Marie Antoinette and 18th century dress and discovered a whole world of fashion scholarship that I had not even known existed. By immersing myself in the topic, I taught myself costume history. (The one thing I learned from my first master's degree was how to teach myself anything although I have since taken courses in costume history). And although fashion had been my muse in my art practice for several years before this juncture, I also began to make replicas of period dress in paper, in fabric and in mesh. I attended lectures and exhibitions about costumes and textiles. As I gained knowledge, I began to write about what I saw - at first for my blog, then for newsletters and then for journals and now for my masters of fashion thesis.

There was a time when I worked in finance that I had an unshakable confidence in what I was doing. They called me the Blonde Barracuda - probably because I was fearless in speaking my mind. But when I left that career to care for my sick little boy and tend to my dying father, my self confidence evaporated. It seemed that people no longer were interested in what I had to say because I was a stay at home mother.... And even after I forged a new career as a photographer and then as an artist, something still didn't fit. As much as I enjoyed the process of creation, I did not feel intellectually engaged or challenged as an artist and my days in the studio were too solitary. But what this immersion in art has done is helped me to understand the common visual vocabulary and processes shared by both art and fashion.

After attending the Costume Society of America mid-west conference last weekend, I feel like I have found my people... I speak the language of fashion academia and I'll be reshaping my speech into an article to submit for publication. Who knows maybe one day I'll actually be brave enough to actually talk to Hamish Bowles and Anna Wintour ....

P.S. I received permission from Valerie Steele and Harold Koda to publish the transcripts of our conversations on fashion and art on Fashion Projects.

When Does Fashion Become Art?

Alexander McQueen Jungle 1997-1998

This is the abstract for my Keynote Address at the Costume Society of America Mid-West Conference presented on October 14, 2011 at 4 pm at the University of Northern Iowa:

When Does Fashion Become Art?  by Ingrid Mida

Clothing can be a visual mirror of our inner selves. We each get dressed in the morning and make choices how to present ourselves to the world. We construct our identity with our choice of clothing and accessories and signal our belonging or not. This expression of identity through dress makes it a ready subject for artistic practices and interpretation and both artists and designers have considered notions of the body and identity as articulated through fashion. 

There has been much debate about whether fashion is art. Fashion scholars such as Sung Bok Kim, Sandra Miller, Anne Hollander and Elizabeth Wilson have considered the question. In my interviews with four museum directors/scholars, including Matthew Teitelbaum of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Nathalie Bondil of the MMFA, Valerie Steele of FIT and Harold Koda of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there was no consensus. This was not surprising given that fashion designers themselves do not agree on whether fashion is art.

It was an instinct – as a result of my work as an artist - that led me to frame the question in a different way. Instead of asking “Is fashion art” it seemed to make more sense to ask “When does fashion become art?” After all, both fashion and art require the translation of an idea into another form. Both disciplines share a visual vocabulary and process-oriented development. Both fashion and art also have commercial aspects driving their conception and both can include multiples in a series or collection.

But, not all fashion is art. What falls into the realm of fashion is just too broad for that statement to be true, especially when fashion can include both garments of haute couture and trendy mass-produced items.

Changing the question to “When Does Fashion Become Art?” leaves open the possibility that some fashion might be considered art. This is especially true when contemporary art is defined by the expression of an idea or a concept. The object – whether painting, sculpture, video, installation or clothing – is important, but only in terms of the manifestation of the idea. In our post-modern world, the boundaries have blurred and the conception of what is art has changed.

Ideas expressed in terms of fashion are accessible to audiences in a way that contemporary art often is not. One does not have to be a fashion scholar or understand the complex and divergent theories of how fashion works to decipher the language of clothing. We do it unconsciously every day and to me, it is this quality that makes fashion as art such a powerful statement. 

Some curators have embraced the concept of fashion as art. Recent noteworthy exhibitions of this type have included The Concise Dictionary of Dress at the Blythe House, London in May 2010, Rodarte, States of Matter at Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles in March 2011, McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in May 2011 and The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art in June 2011. 

Within each of these exhibitions, fashion was presented as a means of conveying a specific conceptual premise. This premise was not just a source of inspiration, but was a message or statement about society, identity or the body. And it is this aspect of fashion – when the form of expression is based on a thematic premise -- that defines for me the point at which fashion becomes art.

Notes:

To read the transcripts of my interviews with Nathalie Bondil and Matthew Teitelbaum, please visit Fashion Projects (www.fashionprojects.org). I have requested the permission of Harold Koda and Valerie Steele to post the transcripts of our conversations there as well. This will be my last post about the conference as it is time to move on to other things...

Report from the Costume Society of America Mid-west Conference in Iowa

It was a whirlwind weekend in Iowa and I'm happy to report that my speech went well. Although I've given talks and presentations before, I felt a different level of expectation as the keynote speaker and I  was nervous. Luckily the hours before were so busy that I hardly had time to think about it. My presentation on When does Fashion Become Art? went very well. There was a lively discussion about the issues I raised in my speech and I had many people come up to me afterwards to say how much they enjoyed my talk. I also had several profs suggest that I have my paper published. And one of the CSA organizers thought that it would be a topical choice of theme for a conference. Unfortunately, the talk was not taped and nor did anyone take photos....

But it was a wonderful experience for me for many reasons. I made some new contacts and hopefully some new friends, I learned about some new directions in research, and I also had a good time. The organizers of the event - Annette Lynch, Carol Colburn, Amy Rohrburg, Darrell Taylor, and Linda Grimm of the University of Northern Iowa - thought of everything. We were enlightened with 8 research papers and 3 invited speakers, entertained with dance and theatre performances, catered to with far too much good food and made to feel welcome in their community. It made me wish that I didn't live quite so far away.

Although all the presentations were first rate, some of the research talks that I particularly enjoyed included:

Dressing for Love, War and Suicide by Linda Pisano of Indiana University. This asssociate professor of Costume Design talked about her experiences in delivering three interpretations of costumes for the play Romeo and Juliet to give it a contemporary edge. These three modern interpretations were radically different from traditional period dress giving a new edge and life to the play.

In their talk about A Woman of Considerable Influence, Ann Braeten and Jacqueline Wayne Guite of the North Dakota State University talked about the suffragist movement in North Dakota. The movement was led by Kate Selby Wilder and her clothing was examined in context to her work for that movement. What was particularly interesting about this talk was their examination of cartoons from the period as a way of understanding how people viewed the suffragist movement at the time.

Barbara Trout of the University of Nebraska gave a talk on Transparency: Space, Dress and the Female Form. Transparent fabrics reveal and transmit light but they also elevate, seduce, and elude. Barbara reviewed the history of transparent fabrics which goes back as far as the early 17th century. She also discussed the use of transparency by designers like Vionnet, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace and others. I found her reflections on transparency as an aesthetic tool particularly relevant to my work with mesh as it has an element of transparency making the articulation of seaming an important consideration during construction.

Petra Slinkard from the Indianapolis Museum of Art talked about a Seattle based performance troupe called Friends of the Rag. This group which formed in 1972 combined elements of wearable art with performance. Their name was a pun on the trend towards groups naming themselves "Friends of" - "everyone was friends of something - friends of the earth, friends of the whale". Their surrealist like costumes were on display in the UNI Gallery and were not only funny but thought provoking.

I am on my way home today. As much as I enjoyed my time here, truly there is no place like home!

The Keynote

Fiona dress by Judith & Charles

I have had so many ideas for posts but no time to write them.... Between caring for my family and cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family, doing course work, reading, research, studying for a test, yoga, practicing and re-writing my keynote address for the Costume Society of America conference later this week, there hasn't been much time for anything else....

Of course, there was one thing I absolutely had to make time for and that was picking out a dress to wear for the keynote. I wanted something to signify confidence.... and this red dress was it! Made by the Canadian label Judith & Charles, it makes me look like I know what I'm talking about. And after nearly 6 months of thinking about my keynote, 5 drafts of my speech, 4 interviews with curators Nathalie Bondil, Matthew Teitelbaum, Valerie Steele, and Harold Koda, 3 long practice sessions with my slides, 2 sleepless nights and 1 red dress,  I think I'm finally ready!!!  

What's on the Fashion Calendar for October

Saena Afternoon Scent Collection

October is chock-a-block with fashion and arts related events:

October 1-2: This is the last weekend to see The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This exhibition is a celebration of the 30 years of visionary and groundbreaking fashion creations by Jean Paul Gaultier under the premise that there is no singular standard of beauty. The exhibition will move on to venues in Dallas (November 13 - February 12, 2011) and San Francisco (March 24 - August 19, 2012). My review of the show can be read on Fashion Projects here.

October 1 from dusk until dawn: Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is Toronto's all-night celebration of contemporary art. The menu of activities is too long to recount here, but one of the highlights will be a live performance called SLEEP as part of Gullivers' Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance at Loop Gallery.

until October 5: Paris Fashion Week.  I had two invitations to Paris Fashion Week this year neither of which I could accept.... Sigh! I am intrigued by the work of both of these talented young designers as they seem fresh and vibrant in their own way. I've mentioned Saena before as she appeals to my romantic side. Saena Chun is based in Berlin and creates modernist confections like the gorgeous dress shown above. The other designer who has caught my eye is Andrew Majtenyi who has created an edgy and fashion forward collection inspired by the Medieval trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer in 1477. I am especially sorry to miss this one since I am currently doing research into how fashion designers reference history.

October 14: I will be giving the keynote address at the Costume Society of America mid-west conference on the topic of When Does Fashion Become Art?

October 17-21: The Spring/Summer 2012 Collections of LG (Toronto) Fashion Week Beauty by L’Oréal Paris will take place in their new home at the David Pecaut / Metro Square.  The SS12 Collections will include more than 40 shows and presentations filled with local talent.

October 20: The launch of my project tentatively titled  The Swing on this blog. I chose to do a creative project for one of my grad courses called Design, Text and Ideas and will be posting regular updates here as part of my progress reports for that assignment. This work takes its inspiration from the 18th century painting by Fragonard which is in the Wallace Collection. I will create a dress sculpture in a post-modern mash up of fabrics and using embroidery or other means as interventions to make the work into a conceptual art piece.

October 29: Opera Atelier’s 2011-12 Season opens with a glittering new period production of Don Giovanni designed by Martha Mann and my friend Gerard Gauci. The new production will be presented October 29, 30, November 1, 2, 4, and 5, 2011, at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto and will also be performed in Columbus, Ohio on November 25 and 27, 2011.

Photo provided courtesy of Saena.

Finding Balance

Do you ever wish there were more hours in the day? Lately I've been feeling that way as the hours and days fly by in a blur. Finding balance in my life when I'm juggling so many roles means I have to make choices. I find I am saying no much more often than I used to.

One lovely invite that I really wish I could accept is to see Saena's capsule collection in Paris. I discovered Saena - a sophisticated and romantic line of women's clothing and accessories - this summer when I was in Berlin. The designer, Saena Chun, completed an internship at Celine and then worked at Sonia Rykiel as well as Chloe before beginning her own label in Berlin. "Every woman has the desire to have something special in her wardrobe, something that only belongs to her and no one else - this one favourite garment, which gives her the confidence to get through the day." Between her major collections,  Saena works on various projects that reflect her creative spirit and artistic perspective in collaboration with other artists.

Instead of going to Paris, I'll be finalizing my keynote address for the Costume Society of America mid-west conference, doing research, trying to narrow down my thesis topic and hoping to find a new equilibrium in my life.

Thank you so much to all of you who sent me emails, Facebook messages and left comments on my last post. It means more to me than words can express to get so many kind and thoughtful words of support and encouragement. I know I can do it, but it is not going to be pretty and it is definitely not going to be easy!

Fashion and the Art Museum: A Talk by Harold Koda

Harold Koda

 On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Harold Koda will be speaking on the subject of Fashion and the Art Museum as part of the Bata Shoe Museum's Founder's Lecture Series.

Harold Koda has served as the Curator-in-Charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since June 2000. He is the author of 19 books including Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed.

He has curated and co-curated many exhibitions including Balenciaga (1986), Fashion and Surrealism (1987), Jocks and Nerds (1989), Fashion in Film (1990), Splash! (1991), Giorgio Armani: Images of Man (1990), Paper Clothes (1991), and Halston: Absolute Modernism (1991), Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style (1993), Waist Not (1993), Madame Grès (1994), Orientalism (1994), Haute Couture (1995), Bloom (1995), Bare Witness (1996), Two by Two (1996), and Christian Dior (1996) and The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion (2009).

Born in Honolulu, he graduated from the University of Hawaii with a B.A. in English Literature and a B.F.A. (Art History), and a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Last week, Harold answered a number of questions for me on the topic of Art and Fashion which is the subject of my keynote address at the Costume Society of America mid-west conference in October. His eloquence and the clarity of thought helped illuminate the topic for me and I was grateful for the generosity of his time. Because of that interchange, I know that his talk will be an unforgettable experience.

Tickets are available through the Bata Shoe Museum.

The Arrangement: Fashion and the Art Museum by Harold Koda
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
George Ignatieff Theatre, Trinity College
15 Devonshire Place, Toronto

Costumes as Performance and Activism

It's official. I've signed my contract to be the keynote speaker for the Costume Society of America - Midwest Region Conference - which will be held on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15, 2011 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. More details about the event are available on the CSA site here.

The selection committee was drawn to my work as an artist who uses costume in my work (All is Vanity series) and the themes of feminism and social activism that I have explored in my series Revolutionary Fashion and 1966 (Paper Dresses). They also liked my mesh dress sculptures (which are a work in progress) titled Women in Armour. I will also draw on my experiences as a writer and researcher in reviewing the relationship between fashion and art, particularly in recent exhibitions like McQueen at the Met and Gaultier at the MMFA. Let's hope I can live up to their expectations!