Good Essay On Museum Response: Fairy Tale Fashion

Sponsored by the State University of New York, the stylistic Museum at the Fashion Institute Technology, also known as Museum at FIT organized an online exhibit called Fairy Tale Fashion which began in the 15th of January continuing up to the 16th day of April 2016. Featured in this collection are the post-modern renditions of some of the well-loved classical fairy tale outfits of the past. The title of the online exhibit might evoke a more grandiose display of Baroque style to medieval princess garbs full of frills, bows, shirrings made out of fancy silks. But upon viewing the said exhibitions of apparels, some audiences might get frustrated or confused regarding the clothing that is supposed to be linked to the fairy tale characters. For starters, the title itself evokes imagination from the audiences regarding the nature of the display; some might imagine fancy dresses made in the modern age to reflect the older fashions of the bygone age. To link their designs to the fairy tale characters, all clothing set on the display contains symbolisms that tell the audience about the clothing. This symbolisms help in linking the clothing to the fairy tale characters they supposed to represent. The first apparel in the collection is the scarlet robe of Little Red Riding Hood which is a garment that remained true to its namesake in the story. In the exhibit, there are different styles concerning the garment, one of them is a long robe with head coverings but the cloth used for the garment has floral designs; another design of the robe is a rather simple scarlet velvet robe with straight cut pattern and trimmed with colored and intricate embroidered abstract patterns on the edges of the cape. The design of this robe embodies the simple medieval clothing styles. Another design made specifically for this fairy tale character is the long red velvet robes adorned with colored crystals throughout the fabric. Next in the collection is the Alice in Wonderland clothing which some people might view as a poker outfit worn in casinos. One of the garments in the group called The Queen of Hearts has the design that matches the decadence of the Baroque styles yet the intricate embroideries on the plump pumpkin-like skirt is rather toned down and this is why it is modern in the sense that this clothing managed to portray the queen but without further adornments except for the pink fabric color and the embroideries scattered onto the skirt, the heart-shaped headdress, and onto the décolletage area. Another interesting gown inspired by the Alice in Wonderland story is the dark brown satin dress with short puffed hemline derives it style from one scene in the story where the main character, Alice encounters Mr. White Rabbit with clock in his hands. The design has a golden locket chain on right side of the waist while the chains of the watch are strung all around the dress.
The other collections displayed on the exhibit are the Snow White and Rose Red gowns. In this group, the dresses are made based on the motifs of Snow White and her sister, Rose Red. One particular gown in that group was made from pristine white silk fabric decorated with a narrow black velvet ribbon and rose patterns on the upper portion of the skirt. On the other hand, Rose Red’s costume, one of the dresses from the same group was a suit made up red wool cloak decorated with two black buttons on the bodice. The skirt has a nice irregular cut hem with contrasting colors of white, grey, and red all covered with embroidered red floral patterns. Next on the display was the crystal clear acrylic slippers with disproportioned arrangement of soles without any supporting heel. The front and the lower part of the slipper has a thick sole while the middle part leading to the heel of the shoe does not have any support and therefore, wearing the shoe would actually require an effort because it is not ergonomic to support the weight of a person. Meanwhile, the exhibit also showcased the other outfits based from the fairy tale characters such as The Little Mermaid and the Beauty and the Beast costumes. In this exhibit, I particularly enjoyed and appreciate how the contemporary designs correlate to the details from the fairy tales. For example, in the Beauty and the Beast, one of the gowns there dates back from the 18th century and it was a dress meant for the aristocratic women of the French court. Another 18th century male suit was also included to pair with the French gown and I think these costumes made a perfect combination knowing that Beauty and the Beast eventually ended up together and wore beautiful clothing in their wedding. Furthermore, another gown from the Beauty and the Beast collection symbolizes the main theme of the story. The black and white gown with enormous pink flowers, laces, and minimal inclusion of frills, this dress represents the story, since Beauty asked her father for a rose as a present. The rose served as the trigger to set the events such as the Beast’s final transformation from a monster to his human form again.
The cultural significance of this exhibition is to educate people of the old folklore through fashion. In order to learn a culture or a specific period in history, one must be able to detect their fashions because the style of clothing represents the period and the story of the fairy tale characters. It is culturally significant because people will be able to see different representations of every characters’ costumes some dating back from the 18th century up to the modern times and it shows how dynamic and exciting is to learn the history through fashion because it lets people see, experience, and feel through looking what was it like to wear those costumes in real life. From this exhibit, I learned that despite the title of the exhibit is quite not what I have expected to see, I did enjoyed looking at the displays because it lets my imagination wander and the things that I have known and do not know are rekindled by the fashion and the unity of the designs of the apparels made it possible for these garments to re-educate the mass about the old stories from the past through symbolisms.
*Question 1: If fashion managed to re-educate the visitors about the fairy tale and character’s stories, do you think fashion can help students learn more about the culture and history of a specific country? Yes or no. If yes, explain how.
*Question 2: The exhibit implicitly points out that ‘less is more’. Explain how the less and avant-garde designs of the modern apparels managed to tell the audience about the story they supposed to represent. What physical and symbolisms or design elements that help viewers’ understand the meaning of the objects?