9:55 THANK YOU! I’m so glad that it’s becoming more common to critically examine how gender is used in terms of dress in highly binary and absolute terms “Victorian-era librarian with a deadly secret and a a punk as pirate bitch” 🤩 I LOVE IT!!!!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes more context than "pretty dress." This video made me wonder about what qualifies a garment as being museum quality or worthy of collection. I'd love to see the garments of the rich juxtaposed with what most people were wearing but those garments weren't collected.
My impression of why the Museum of Vancouver marketed the exhibit as costume collection exhibit rather than a fashion history exhibit was because if it was fashion history they should include garments from people who weren't wealthy, white, and Western. As it was, they were just drawing from 3 collectors whose interest was wealthy, white, Western (and to be fair, white and wealthy clothing are more likely to survive to present day). I guess it also gives a Vancouver angle too. But you're right, the exhibits plaques were rather dry, glossed over a lot of the colonial history, and didn't even attempt to address the questions it raised. Claus Janke's collection focuses on German and Austrian clothing, including Jewish made clothing, and his interest in it seems to be the political dimensions, but none of those ideas were really brought out at the exhibit.
Good work! I really enjoy your critiques and reviews on museum exhibits-it’s helped me find problematic descriptions in various places and gets me to ask important questions.
Krystia, really interesting video! I love your vision of what a museum in 2024 should be. I look forward to more discussions about exhibitions you have attended and how well they deal with colonialism, wealth disparities, and cultural context. I have not seen these particular shows, but I haven't felt satisfied by costume exhibitions I have seen. I am disappointed when there is no background presented about the people who wore the clothes. It would be nice if they could show the clothing lower classes may have worn even if they don't have extant garments. Failing that, information on the construction and sewing techniques in the creation of the garment. It is probably because, less interested in a cohesive narrative of the story the show could be telling and more interested in just showing their collections, museums fail their mission of educating the public. They could thus broaden their appeal. Keep up the good work.
WOW. This made me really think deeper, not just about fashion exhibits, but any exhibit. I would have been at the Vancouver exhibit enthralled with the fans and shoes and lace. So it was interesting to see it through your eyes!
Wonderfull video. You raise some excellent points. If you are ever near Belgium I recommend visiting the momu in Antwerp. They have had some wonderfull exhibitions that go beyond just pretty dresses.
Great video! Exhibit development is the area of museums I want to work in, so I love seeing this kind of review. My favorite fashion exhibit is a traveling one from Jewish Museum Milwaukee. They worked with Milwaukee Rep to create dresses that were designed by a woman who was killed during the Holocaust. It was a really impactful exhibit. I need to remind myself of the title and come back to add it.
I walked through the MOV exhibit before heading to a lecture (Why I Design: 60 Years Onstage with the Arts Club) and was underwhelmed. From reading the dress descriptions, it appears they all came from one collector, so I wondered what that meant for the exhibit. They did all feel very descriptive rather than telling a story. I did note the reference to Port Ellice House and found it odd since your museum has closed.
Oof. I think you missed the actual point of the exhibition in Vancouver. I live in Vancouver, I have seen that exhibition. I do see your point with the introductory panel and not going into the issues discussed on said panel, but the entire point of that exhibition is to raise awareness of costume history IN VANCOUVER - for which there is no permanent and public way to explore extant garments locally. The garments on display are the property of two collectors in Vancouver, and the exhibition is a way to raise funds towards having a permanent way to exhibit these collections. The exhibition is a labor of love by private individuals that was supported by the museum of Vancouver but not actually produced by the museum of Vancouver. To compare it to an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which has a world famous costume department with a generous budget is doing it a serious disservice.
If that was the point of the exhibition, why was it not on the panels? None of the information you provided was apparent throughout the display. I am all for that perspective and would have been so down for that! But the execution wasn't effective. I also addressed the cost difference between the institutions towards the end of the video. This video is also just my opinion! If other people found it to be an impactful exhibit, that's great! I just wished it had been more clear in what it was trying to accomplish.
@@professorpeachez I don't know why it wasn't mentioned in the panels, and honestly I didn't notice that it wasn't. I know both of the people whose collections were being exhibited (Ivan Sayers of the Vancouver Historical Costume Society, and Melanie Talkington of Lace Embrace corsets, who has a tiny museum in the back of her store), and Ivan happened to be there the day that I was there so we chatted about the exhibition. I'm not saying your points aren't valid, but your video feels really harsh considering the grassroots nature of the exhibition. If you want exhibits that could be compared to the Met, you need to go to costume exhibits at the VAG where they've exhibited touring exhibitions like Guo Pei's work. I'm guessing Ivan and Melanie did most of the work themselves and were just given space to exhibit by the MOV. On a separate note, did you notice the garment that had been owned by a drag performer? So cool and rare to have an item with documentable queer history. Also the Cathie Jung corsets were amazing to see in person. Wish you'd mentioned them.
@@ariareddy730 Why, did the corsets talk about why costume collections matter? And of course you didn't notice the lack of explanation, because you already knew the context. Where did you learn that the real point of the exhibit was Vancouver costume history? You specifically mention that you know the collectors, and that you spoke with one at the exhibit. A museum goer should not need those outside sources of information when looking at an exhibit. You don't need a MET budget to write relevant information on the panels. Something ProfessorPeachez talked about when referencing the exhibitions at the Point Ellice House.
Bringing 21st century ideas about gender and the freedom to wear what we want to the 17th 18th and 19th century feels like trying to rewrite history. (That’s not the right phrasing , but I can’t think of something better) Were people cross-dressing? Of course. But they did not see it as we do today.
