MoMA to open 'Is Fashion Modern?' exhibit in 2017

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jun 29, 2016

The Museum of Modern Art will open in December 2017 its Items: Is Fashion Modern? exhibit featuring fashion pieces that have made an impact on history and society.

 
The exhibit will consist of 99 garments and accessories that have had an effect on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries such as the Levi’s 501 jeans, the Casio watch, the Little Black Dress, and ancient and cultural garments including the kippah and the keffiyeh. Items explores each garment’s design, manufacturing and functionality, as well as its relationship with culture, politics, labor, economy and technology.
 
The garments on display are explored according to archetype, stereotype and prototype. For example, Diane von Furstenberg’s 1974 Wrap Dress may represent the stereotype and it will lead back to its design archetype, the kimono. In some cases, the garment will be complimented by a prototype.

The exhibition’s title harkens to the MoMA’s Are Clothes Modern? exhibition curated by Bernard Rudofsky, the only time the museum fully address the design field. Unlike the 1944 exhibit, Items is driven by objects instead of designers though it invites a new generation of creatives and designers to extend the conversation into the future.
 
Items: Is Fashion Modern will open on December 10, 2017 and will remain through April 1, 2018.