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Issue Date: March 31, 2002
Why fashion matters
Think you're just wearing clothes? You're actually speaking volumes.
By Priscilla Totten
At the Costume Institute, curator Harold Koda showcases some of the most important fashions in the world, including these classic Chanel suits from the 1990s (left) and '60s.
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Forget Oscar. It was all about the dresses last Sunday. Millions tuned in to check out who and what Halle and Nicole were wearing, and who made a fashion faux pas. After all, most of us have forgotten what won Best Picture last year, but we remember Bjork's quirky swan dress. We amateurs indulge in this sport each year during awards season, but Harold Koda, curator of the Costume Institute at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, reads fashion cues for a living.
"Fashion is only wrong when it's practiced without understanding," says Koda, who sees dressing as a social act. "We dress because we're going to see people." So clothing is never frivolous; it's always encoded with messages. Even the most functional garments are loaded with codes. Consider: Suits are to be taken seriously; blue jeans are not.
Koda regrets that celebrities have come to rely less on personal expression and more on stylists to define their look: "I would rather see someone I adore making a mistake but being herself." Two stars whose style he admires: Sharon Stone, who "understands herself and fashion," and Madonna, who has an "instantly recognizable" look. "She has never communicated what she didn't want to communicate," Koda says.
A long-time fashion scholar, Koda became curator of the Costume Institute in 2000. The nation's premier repository of high fashion is home to 75,000 costumes and accessories spanning four centuries, from a man's corset from the African Dinka tribe to a 17th-century English needlework bodice to the elaborate gown actress Susan Sarandon wore when she won her Academy Award in 1996.
Although the institute was first organized in 1937, legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland put it on the cultural and social map in the '70s by staging large, provocative exhibits, including Romantic and Glamourous Hollywood Design and The Glory of Russian Costume. Last year's retrospective Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years was the institute's latest blockbuster.
The unique folding technique on Susan Sarandon's 1996 Oscar gown, by Dolce & Gabbana, creates volume without petticoats or wires.
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Because of the time needed to research and set up an exhibit, the institute stages just two shows a year. Coming in May: a retrospective on Hollywood designer Adrian, who worked for MGM in the '30s. He helped to create the enduring signature styles of actresses such as Jean Harlow (slinky, bias-cut gowns) and Joan Crawford (tiny-waisted, big-shouldered suits). After leaving the studio, Adrian launched his own successful line of sophisticated ready-to-wear for non-celebs.
The institute's collection includes a mix of historic standouts that trace the origins of fashion and its constant reinterpretation. Among them: Coco Chanel's little black dress of 1926. Elegant and simple, it was a radical break from the opulent look of the day and continues to be reinvented as a wardrobe staple. Christian Dior's "New Look" -- voluminous, bell-shaped skirts and cinch-waisted jackets -- signaled an end to the hardships of World War II and came to define the '50s. In 1964, Rudi Gernreich's topless bathing suit appeared at a pivotal moment when sexuality and feminism conflated to change the way women live. Yves St. Laurent took it a step further with his man-tailored fashions for women: His 1970 collection featured a safari-style suit that Koda says "made pantsuits legitimate for women."
Who's creating today's masterpieces? Koda's votes go to Giorgio Armani for his light, relaxed tailoring and Japanese designer Issey Miyake for his clean architectural design.
Koda concedes that designer runways remain flights of fancy for most of us. The rich and famous often are the only ones who can afford to wear what many see as outrageous or extravagant. Buyers are more practical when it comes to knowing what the average consumer will wear. In the end, an element of a designer outfit, or an accessory paired with it, is what catches the buyer's eye and what winds up in department stores.
But that doesn't keep us from loving the catwalk, where pure fashion can still captivate us. And that might just be what Bjork was doing with her swan dress.
Photo (top) by Rob Kinmonth for USA WEEKEND
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