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This week the Museum at FIT (one of the truly under-visited museums in the city) opened an exhibition titled ‘Trend-ology’, which investigates the diverse sources from which fashion friends have emerged over the past 250 years…..
The many pieces in the exhibition represent a wide variety of trends, with attention paid to sources as well as to over-arching themes such as prints, color, and silhouette. There are 19th century tartan dresses that were inspired by popular Scottish-themed novels, to twenty-first century ‘high-low’ collaborations such as a Rodarte for Target sequined dress.
The exhibition also highlights industrial developments that have had an impact on how trends spread, including how modern aviation and air travel changed print magazine layouts under Diana Vreeland – be sure to watch all the videos presented at the show; as usual the Museum at FIT pulls out the all the stops to make this show a multi-media jewel.
The range of design forces at work in this show is remarkable, with 19th century European ensembles in yellow brocade (fascinating back-story on the popularity of chinoiserie as it impacted fashion), to pieces from Christian Dior in the 40’s, to Lagerfeld for Chanel in the 90’s, to present day Louis Vuitton.
The exhibit also examines the 21st century, and the advent of ‘fast-fashion’ – how fashion trends emerge and spread at blisteringly fast speeds since the advent of the internet and social media.
Whether you’re a student of fashion or a cultural carnivore this show is a must see; it runs till April 30th.
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CJ Dellatore