What's on the Fashion Calendar in September 2013?

Other than the rollout of Fashion Weeks around the world, there is a long list of fashion-related events and exhibitions on the calendar for September 2013. My picks for the month include:

Interwoven Globe
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

September 16, 2013: The Opening of Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

This is the first major exhibition to explore the global circulation of design through the trading of textiles from the 16th to the early 19th century through the medium of textiles.  This exhibition features 134 works in order to tell the visual history of design, exploring the interrelationship of textiles, commerce, and taste.


September 18, 2013: The Opening of Farandole: Perspectives on Western Metis Culture at the Textile Museum of Canada.

This show, a combination of textile art, fashion and art installation, promises to be a visual feast -- combining the couture garments crafted by French fashion designer and embroiderer Pascal Jaouen adjacent to a room-sized embroidered textile installation by Franco-Manitoban visual artist Colette Balcaen.


September 20-21, 2013: Uncommon Beauty, The CSA Mid-west Conference in Chicago.

At this annual conference of the mid-west section of the Costume Society of America, I will present "Memories of a Dress".


September 25, 2013: David Bowie at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

On its first stop on its world tour, this exhibition from the Victoria and Albert Museum celebrates the David Bowie's collaborations in the fields of fashion, sound, theatre, art and film. presenting more than 50 stage costumes plus music videos, set designs, photographs and excerpts from films and live performances. Organized thematically, the show immerses visitors in a spectacular and interactive trip through Bowie’s numerous personae and legendary performances, with particular attention paid to his artistic influences. (And of course, if you have not seen it yet,  combine your visit with a tour of Ai Weiwei: According to What? also at the AGO).


September 28, 2013: Alaia at the Palais Galliera, Musee de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.

After being closed for several years, curator Olivier Saillard will reopen the newly renovated galleries of the Palais Galliera with a retrospective of the work of designer Azzedine Alaia. On display will be 70 garments tracing the trajectory of the designer's career set amongst a scenography by designer Martin Szekely. Alaia is known for his highly sculptured dresses that hug every curve, articulated through his mastery of cut.

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

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.

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.

What's on the Fashion Calendar for October 2011

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.

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

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

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.

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!

Notice of copyright: 
All text and images on this blog are the copyright of Ingrid Mida, unless otherwise noted. The copying of posts, images and/or text without proper attribution is violation of copyright and legal action will be pursued.