"Exoticism" Exhibition
The Museum at FIT
This event has ended.
Exoticism, the latest theme for the Fashion and Textile History Gallery, presents 250 years of fashion inspired by diverse cultures from around the world. Designers often draw inspiration from "exotic" styles that originate in "foreign" cultures. But for whom is something exotic and foreign? During the centuries of European and North American expansion, exoticism encompassed most of the non-western world. Historically, this meant that European designers such as Paul Poiret and Yves Saint Laurent appropriated design elements from places as diverse as Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. But this exhibition demonstrates that exoticism in fashion has changed profoundly as we have moved from the Eurocentrism of the colonial past to the hybridity of today’s multicultural "global village."
The exhibition opens with a display of saris, kimonos, and other non-western styles, then shifts to a chronological history of mostly western fashion, from the 18th century to the present. We see how an interest in "exotic" styles and techniques coalesced into new visual idioms, such as japonisme and chinoiserie. More than 70 looks are featured by designers such as Kenzo (Japan), Dries Van Noten (Belgium), Yeohlee (Malaysia), and Vivienne Tam (China), as well as Xuly Bët and Stoned Cherrie from Africa, Manish Arora of India, and Brazil’s Alexandre Herchcovitch, who are providing fresh perspectives on what constitutes exoticism.
Media
Schedule
from November 27, 2007 to May 07, 2008