Fashion is art. That teaches Hasselt’s Modemuseum
What is fashion? What does fashion mean? Who creates fashion trends?These are some of the questions we should ask ourselves. Fashion is art, luxury, clothing, trend, innovation, inspiration … We can find hundreds of different answers and all of them are correct. Fashion is art and every person finds in it a meaning of its own.
Currently in Belgium we can find two museums dedicated to fashion, one of them in Antwerp and the other in Hasselt. Today we are going to talk about the latter since although it is less known by the people, its artistic value is very important.
The Hasselt fashion museum is one of the most important according to experts of its kind in central Europe. Since its opening on Gasthuisstraat, thousands of people have visited this space dedicated exclusively to the history of fashion and the most special designers.
Thanks to our guide Cathy Paredis we were able to discover a new fashion’s side and now we would like to show you a small part of this creative world.
Trade world and forgeries
The current exhibition is called “Label it. Trademarks in fashion”so, the first thing to know is the term Trademarket.It means that it is a brand that differentiates its products from the rest thanks to a symbol, expression or design.
In fashion, the first designer to put labels on his garments was Charles Frederick Worth (England). For that reason, he is considered the father of haute couture. This occurred in the 19th century and since then, design garments have increased in value and exclusivity.
At the same time, the counterfeit market began. In this way, people who could not afford these expensive clothes had the opportunity to pretend it.
The problems of forgeries soon appeared; The textile quality was very low and controlling the designs was very difficult. For these reasons, designers began to give licenses to the factories so they could produce designs legally and in different parts of the world.
Now that we know the beginning of the fashion trade, we can understand its evolution a little better until today.
The style of women has also changed over the years. This is perhaps the most obvious thing we can observe in this museum. Today’s clothing has no commonality with the dresses of the past. We have left behind long dresses, ankle skirts and narrow waists. In a progressive way, the dresses showed more women’s skin, the skirts were shorter, the pants were a day-to-day garment and the variety of colors and textiles was increasingly varied.
Speaking of the evolution of style and things we can learn at the fashion museum, we can not forget the famous “Fashion Cycle”.
The life of trends is repeated from time to time. Some clothes that we think will never be in stores again, can be a “must” in ten years or even less. This can be seen in the designs in black and white that were filled with color years later and then, it is returned to sobriety.
So, fashion is like art: it is born, grows, dies and reborn.
Despite this, the fashion cycle and its constant changes, has not erased the style of the great designers. Through the different rooms of the museum, divided by epochs, we can see how the haute couture of Dior, Balenciaga, Versace, Louis Vuitton … maintains its style and essence. Thanks to this, their designs are recognizable in an easy and unique way.
It is important to recognize the merit of these designers as it is difficult to adapt to new trends and maintain a style of their own at the same time.
Collaborations
Another aspect about the fashion that we can learn in the Modemuseum are the collaborations.
The collaborations are not something new, almost since the beginning of fashion history, the designers united their creativity. They did not this to earn more money or increase the number of followers of the brand. Its purpose was to experience new styles, to innovate, to show the art of fashion through two different minds.
A current exampl we can find in the exhibition is in the first room. There we can see Moschino’s amusing collaboration with McDonald’s.
Finally, I would like to recommend some special clothes that I am sure you will not forget after this visit: the green dress of Dior, the red sole of Christian Louboutin’s shoes, the pink dress that looks like a fairy tale , the pork skin with the initials “LV” or the jerseys made of military socks by Martin Margiela.
More information
Entrance fee to the exhibition at Hasselt’s Modemuseum is 8 euros and 3 euros if you are a student. Group discounts and hiring of expert fashion guides are also available.
The museum changes its exhibitions every three months so you will be able to meet different designers or collections during the year.
The current collection is called “Label it Trademarks in Fashion” and can be visited until February 2017.
Website: www.modemuseumhasselt.be
Tel. +32 11 23 96 21
