Beyond Measure
“While the subject of plus-size is prevalent in social media, blogs, and online media today, it is rarely treated within the academia and museums,” co-curator Ya’ara Keydar told Hyperallergic. “With this exhibition, we wanted to provide the plus-size woman in history the space that she seldom receives, and by doing so, start a conversation on this important subject.”
Through a series of objects Beyond Measure will examine the plus-size woman's place within fashion and its defining entity, the fashion industry, from the perspectives of designers, manufacturers, the general public, and the individual women themselves. As a complicated cultural construct itself, the very term "plus-size" evokes a myriad of reactions, thus, "After careful consideration from the curators of the exhibit, the term "plus-size" is used here for its association with fashion, the primary focus of this exhibition," said curatorial director of the exhibit, Tracy Jenkins.
The fashion industry has played an undeniable role in enabling the stigmatisation of larger women's bodies. Despite consumer needs, plus-size fashion has traditionally been given little sartorial energy. Yet women of all physiques have had to clothe themselves, and thus have stood somewhere in relation to the fashion system. The plus-size woman's place within the history of the body and her space within the fashion industry is presented here through a diverse set of objects emphasizing her relationship to gender and body politics as well as cultural attitudes toward beauty and health.
Curated by the Masters of Arts Candidates in New York University's Visual Culture: Costume Studies Program, this show is an important and insightful investigation.
In addition to occupying a section of the gallery, the exhibition also exists online in the form of a web app that allows visitors to explore each object along with audio clips from curators and additional images and videos.
Beyond Measure: Fashion and the Plus-Size
New York University Steinhardt School's gallery space
Until February 3rd, 2016.
Through a series of objects Beyond Measure will examine the plus-size woman's place within fashion and its defining entity, the fashion industry, from the perspectives of designers, manufacturers, the general public, and the individual women themselves. As a complicated cultural construct itself, the very term "plus-size" evokes a myriad of reactions, thus, "After careful consideration from the curators of the exhibit, the term "plus-size" is used here for its association with fashion, the primary focus of this exhibition," said curatorial director of the exhibit, Tracy Jenkins.
The fashion industry has played an undeniable role in enabling the stigmatisation of larger women's bodies. Despite consumer needs, plus-size fashion has traditionally been given little sartorial energy. Yet women of all physiques have had to clothe themselves, and thus have stood somewhere in relation to the fashion system. The plus-size woman's place within the history of the body and her space within the fashion industry is presented here through a diverse set of objects emphasizing her relationship to gender and body politics as well as cultural attitudes toward beauty and health.
Curated by the Masters of Arts Candidates in New York University's Visual Culture: Costume Studies Program, this show is an important and insightful investigation.
In addition to occupying a section of the gallery, the exhibition also exists online in the form of a web app that allows visitors to explore each object along with audio clips from curators and additional images and videos.
Beyond Measure: Fashion and the Plus-Size
New York University Steinhardt School's gallery space
Until February 3rd, 2016.