Dress is subject of new museum exhibit
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CVM's newest
exhibit, Full Reflection: Dress and Identity, considers clothing
as a form of communication. Sometimes we try to say things about
ourselves by what we wear, and other times what we wear says things
about us. “When you
step back and think about it, clothing is always communicating information
about you,” says Janet Dykema, CVM’s director of public
programs, and a member of the exhibit development team. “Before
you even speak to someone, you’re gathering information about
that individual from what he or she is wearing.” The exhibit brings sharp focus to several ideas about clothing, among them that we dress for the moment, we dress to belong, we dress for the times we live in, for the weather, and for our work. “We have a special case of hats,” Dykema says. “Often when we think about work or work uniforms, the hat is remarkably representative of the entire uniform. You see the hat and you can immediately visualize the whole outfit.” As for the weather, “We have extremes here,” she says. “It’s so cold and so hot. People have thrived, though; they’ve found really fun things to do. So we ask ourselves, ‘How do we take that three feet of snow and make it fun’ — or, at least, ‘What do we wear in it?’ There are a remarkable range of artifacts and pieces of clothing for this section, because weather in Wisconsin has such extremes.” |
As a whole, the exhibit
makes the point that we are all reflections of our time, place, and cultural
connections, and then asks visitors to consider whether, given all that,
is individual expression really, truly possible?
But, while the exhibit
explores such important themes as self-identity and group affiliation,
it is also a great chance for CVM to display some of its most interesting
and compelling artifacts: those of its costume collection.
One section of the
exhibit, “We Dress for the Moment,” shows a children’s
masquerade costume worn by Ralph W. Owen at a George Washington party
in 1893. “It’s never been exhibited before at the museum, even
though it’s been in our collection almost twenty years,” says
Carrie Ronnander, the museum’s curator of collections and a member
of the exhibit development team.
Full Reflection
has several interactive features including a most unusual dress-up area
for kids. “We have engaged a seamstress to create reproduction historic
clothing,” Dykema explains. “There will be everything from 1910s
swimsuits to try on over their clothes, to flapper dresses for the girls
and knickers and bowties for the boys.”
She continues, “We’ve
tried to pick a variety of periods so kids would have the opportunity
to put themselves into history and adopt a time period.”
The exhibit will also include a section on collections care, with a take-away
reference guide for people who want to preserve their clothing, such as
wedding dresses or family heirlooms.