day 1

Exhibition - His and Hers @ The museum Fashion Institute of Technology

"By exploring fashion's past we can better understand its present and future"

I really enjoyed this exhibition about different perceptions of gender through time, place and individual experience.
Here are a few interesting facts I noted down...

In the 19th Century woman's clothing was mocked as frivolous, bright and decorative, it was seen as childish compared to men's fashion.

"it is ever an amusement to contemplate the fanciful and fickle freaks of fashion"

Harper's weekly 1865

Up until the end of the 18th Century fashion was a fairly reliable indicator of a wearer's social rank. Aristocracy and gentry lost both their traditional monopoly on fashionable luxuries and their hold on political power.

Making and selling changed over the 19th Century with the rise of ready made clothing and the development of Haute Couture. Magazines and department stores made stylist clothing available to the population of consumers.
Paris was seen as the centre of Fashion for woman and London

was for the Men's.

1900-1949

Society was changing rapidly due to industrialization, urbanization and the rise of mass consumer culture. Social changes made the sporty, slim silhouette become popular, moving away from the once voluptuous and corseted waists.