Exhibition The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined in Modemuseum Hasselt
Why is something considered vulgar?
The Vulgar. Fashion Redefined — The temporary exhibition in the mode museum Hasselt deals with a lot of different meanings of vulgarity and what can be seen as a good taste. It´s an extraordinary way to discover fashion.
First the exhibition, The Vulgar. Fashion Redefined was shown in London and Vienna before the doors opened for visitors in Hasselt on the 29th of September. It´s not a common fashion exhibition, in psychological way they try to define vulgarity. Originally the word “vulgar” was used to characterize a social class and to describe something as commonly prevalent. This neural description became over the years to an insult. It got associated with pretension and ambition and still conjures up negative meanings. With the support of psychoanalyst Adam Philips, Judith Clark creates the exhibition around 12 definitions of the word “vulgar”.
In the exhibition you can see a large amount of different historical costumes, couture and ready to wear fashion from several centuries. The only thing they all have in common is that they represent certain aspects of vulgarity. Creations by famous designers like Walter Van Beierendonck, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Prada or Vivienne Westwood can be seen. For the exhibition in Hasselt items from the museum´s collection got added.
A scandal is at the first sight always vulgar, but after a while the people get used to it. This topic can be seen in exhibition a few times. For example, Yves Saint Laurent designed a dress after a famous painting from the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. At the begin it seemed vulgar, but know this pattern can be seen on a lot of dresses from several designers.
Another subject of the exhibition was the presentation of
Chanel´s collection for the Autumn/Winter 2014–2015 season, which took place in a shopping centre. The products of the supermarket, like milke sugar and salt was used as requisites and can also be seen in the museum.
In the most tempting room of the exhibition with the theme “extreme bodies”, there are a lot of silhouettes dressed in black or white. Black represents a higher society group, but in the costumes, are also other historical items hidden. Various designer tried to find the mix between covering, up but also showing a lot of the bodies.
In the exhibition fashion items are presented in a unique and extraordinary way. The visitors can see the fashion from another perspective, like what the meaning behind the dress is or how the clothes are used to present a social status or value. To understand the message the creator of the exhibition wants to tell, there are a lot of interesting, psychological descriptions between the silhouettes. The creator definitely succeeded in describing a variety of different meanings of the word vulgar. It´s worth visiting the museum and discover fashion from another perspective.
Fashion in Hasselt has a long history. Already in the 14. century trade of weaving was important and gave Hasselt the great renown as a cloth city. The cloth industry gained during the years even more and more prominence. It had not only a great economic than also as a social importance for Hasselt. So the city is the perfect location for a mode museum. 1987 the museum starts its activities and opened the door for visitors. Since then it was located in the historical valuable complex of buildings, which was a hospital of the Grauwzusters in earlier years. Through this special location the museum has a unique atmosphere. In the mode museum in Hasselt are only temporary exhibitions located. Between the two exhibitions in one year is a short break, where the museum is closed. More information about the opening hours you can find here.
