#ItemsMoMA Inspiration — Tagging as Curatorial Research
The Items Curatorial Team
About two years ago, when we began to research our Items: Is Fashion Modern? checklist in earnest, it very quickly ballooned to an alphabetical list of over 500 garments, accessories, and footwear entries from all over the globe. It was tough, but we whittled these items down until we were left with exactly 111 of them—from Nike Air Force 1 to cheongsam, dashiki to pearl necklace, Wonderbra to Touche Éclat.
As happens with any intense project, our team developed a one-track mind while researching these items in depth. Suddenly—and perhaps unsurprisingly since the thesis of our exhibition covers a fair number of humble masterpieces—we started seeing our 111 items everywhere: on the subway, at work, walking down the street, in the mirror, and on all shapes, sizes, and ages. So we began chronicling what we saw using the hashtag #ItemsMoMA:
Always fans of the late, great Bill Cunningham’s astute New York Times image medleys, we started snapping and recording when we came across one (or more!) of our 111 items on the street.
To form our final checklist, we gleaned ideas from our own personal backgrounds (our Items team hails from Italy, Scotland, New York, Colombia, California, and China) and experiences (including recent travels to Africa, India, Bangladesh, the West Coast of the US, and different parts of Europe) as well as conversations with very kind colleagues (for example, at The Powerhouse Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Australia, an institution with — among other great collection works — an enviable collection of 20th-century Speedo swimwear).
Our list spans from near-universal items like the denim jean (with the Levi’s 501 as our stereotype), to national-dress-turned-fashion staples like the kilt and the clog, to Pierre Cardin’s wonderful space-age Cosmos Collection. We started from the principle that there is power in admitting we don’t have omnipotent knowledge of fashion and dress history — although we have an omnivorous appetite for it! While we’ve stacked up book purchases and inter-library loans, talking to others — from experts to everyday wearers — has been a joyful and instructive part of our proactive research process.
It’s not a new approach for us. For each of our recent major design acquisitions at the Museum, we have gathered groups of expert stakeholders and facilitated conversations about the how, what, and why of display and acquisition. We did it about a decade ago before we brought digital typefaces into MoMA’s galleries, and more recently we convened a panel on synthetic biology in order to refine our own research and listen to the expertise of others before making acquisitions. (And, importantly, in each case we made this process transparent, which allowed us to invite public perspectives.)
This was the goal of our Items Abecedarium last May, and in our convening a formal Advisory Council for the exhibition. Our Advisory Council members have proven to be a patient, warm, knowledgeable, and precious resource, and we acknowledge them here:
Imran Amed, Founder and CEO, The Business of Fashion; Omoyemi Akerele, Founder, Lagos Fashion and Design Week; Mickey Boardman, Editorial Director, PAPER magazine; Julie Gilhardt, fashion consultant; Kim Hastreiter, Co-founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief, PAPER magazine; Sofia Hedman, Curator, Museea; Malika Kashyap, Founder, Border&Fall…
… Gene Krell, International Fashion Director, Japanese editions of Vogue and GQ, and Creative Director, Korean editions of Vogue, Vogue Girl, and W; Linda Loppa, strategy and vision advisor, Polimoda International Institute of Fashion Design & Marketing; Founder, Flanders Fashion Institute, Belgium; and former head, Fashion Department, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp; Penny Martin, Editor-in-Chief, The Gentlewoman; Serge Martynov, Curator, Museea; Shayne Oliver, Founder, Hood By Air…
… Michael Preysman, Founder and CEO, Everlane; Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology; and Bandana Tewari, Fashion Features Director, Vogue India.
We now have our list set, though we had to discard many great contenders to get to a final grouping. We’ll share the items we’ve chosen when the show opens on October 1 this year. In the meantime, what would be on your list?
