Hazel Clark and Annamari Vänskä (eds.)

Fashion Curating: Critical Practice in the Museum and Beyond

As the practice of fashion curation extends into commercial galleries, into public and retail spaces, and even to the individual self, the concept of curation is undergoing rapid change. Today everyone is seemingly able to "curate," but where does this leave the traditional understanding of fashion curation as the selection and display of clothing in a museum? This thought-provoking volume explores fashion curation in the 21st century, bridging the gap between discussion of methods of display and notions of "the curatorial" in fashion exhibitions, commercial settings, and the virtual world.

Examining subjects ranging from fashion's earliest forays into museums to creative collaborations between luxury fashion brands and artists, this book challenges ideas about fashion curation by drawing on the new spaces, places, and actors in today's curating scene. Exploring poetic and performative museum displays in venues such as the V&A, Somerset House, MoMu, and the Royal Ontario Museum, along with the ways brands such as Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton have used "the curatorial" in their own commercial strategies, Fashion Curating asks pressing questions about topics including controversial ones like funding by and collaboration with the commercial fashion sector and the difficulty of producing exhibitions that are both critical and popular.

Bringing together approaches from fashion curators, designers, and world-renowned academics, the book positions curation as a critical practice that opens up new ways of conceptualizing and theorizing fashion, challenging how we think and what we already know. View this publication.