The Body: Fashion and Physique

Today, I went to the Museum at Fit (Fashion Institute of Technology) as there was a Free exhibition named 'The Body: Fashion and Physique'. This exhibition is about the ways garments have been developed over the years to suit all body kinds. When we first walked in, there was a short film on how plus size models and people are not catered to as much as your average sample size. It then went on to talk about high end designers such as Gucci not catering to people up to size 26 which they are loosing money out on. When brands who wonder why they are going bankrupt, this is most probably the reason. If a brand doesn't cater to all women, it is more likely to be in trouble than a high end brand who sells to all women, therefore, making more money. Another thought they went on to say was about how people may feel uncomfortable looking at sample size mannequins and saying to themselves "that wont look good on me because I'm bigger" as unrealistic body expectations are already shoved in your face the second you walk into a store. This may put people of clothes they may like just sitting on a rail which actually would look great on them if they tried it.

In the image above, it shows some of the beautiful designs created to show the curves of a plus size woman and enhance them. This challenges the fashion norm and really celebrates women of all sizes.

After the short film, I then went into looking at some designs and how corsets were made to clinch the waist when full skirts would help make the waist look even smaller. This then went onto developing styles of corsets from historical times and that children often wore them also, without them or their parents knowing this could potentially be dangerous. The last corset design I saw was made for a pregnant woman and how it would hold them in underneath their dresses. This shows how uneducated they were in history and how much danger this could put their baby in without even knowing. Underneath this design was then a book which showed a diagram of how a corset could effect a growing baby, therefore this would have been maybe one of the first recollections of this and changed peoples perceptions on this design.

These three designs below really interested me because they describe how gay men in the 1970s wanted to look ultra-masculine. This was called the "clone" look. As you can see, each design would give off the effect that they have a large upper body, showing strength and masculinity.Also the jeans would've been worn tight to show off the male genitals. If this were to be a fashion statement now, I'm pretty sure most people would feel uncomfortable however I feel as the 70s may have been tough for gay men as it was still quite uncommon, gay men may have felt that being ultra masculine may have been their way of feeling accepted in society at the time.