Reimagining Gender: Fashion & Costume Exhibits as Sites of Radical Museology and Public Engagement

Honors Thesis in Sociocultural Anthropology Brown University 2022

Read full text here: https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:2duwr2cy/

Research Questions:

1. How do museums effectively utilize narrative in order to radically transform the public imagination and retell history from multiple perspectives?

2. What gendered narratives have been and are being told through fashion and costume exhibits and how can museums garner their role as public facing institutions to intervene in these narratives in order to envision a relationship to gender that radically imagines otherwise?

3. Can museums play a role in the decolonization of gender or are they ultimately too ingrained in histories of colonization?

 Table of Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….………6

   1. Methodology………………………………………………………………………..…………………………..7

   2. Chapter Breakdown………………………………………………………………………………………………………9

2. Chapter 1: Gender, Fashion, Museums...Oh My! …………………………………………………………………...12

   1. “Fashion” versus “Costume”………………………………………………………………………………………………….….14

   2. The Performance of Gender through Dress ……………………………………………………………………17

   3. A Brief History of Fashion & Costume Museums……………………………………………………………...19

   4. Decolonizing Gender In and Out of the Museum ……………………………………………………………..22

3. Chapter 2: Captivating the Public…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….31

   1. Alternative Anthropologies & Museologies……………………………………………………………………………………………………33

   2. From the Archive to Display: Methods on Engaging the Public…………………………………………….….36

   3. Archival Methods……………………………………………………………..………………………………………...39

   4. Curatorial Strategies……………………………………………………………………………………………………….40

   5. Display Techniques……………………………………………………………………………………………………..43

   6. Meeting the Public Halfway……………………………………………………………………………………………...………...49

   7. Disruption: Alternative Temporalities………………………………………………………………………...………………………...53

   8. It All Comes Back to Gender…………………………………………………………….………………..………………………….54

4. Chapter 3: Where Are We Now?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….62

   1. Interview Methodology & Questionnaire………………………………………………………………………………………………….62

   2. What Professionals Had to Say………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…...64

   3. Erica de Greef’s Sartorial Disruption and 21 Years: Making Histories with SA Fashion Week…………………..75

5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..80

   1. Recap: What on Earth Did We Just Talk About?………………………………………….……………………80

   2. Projecting Forward: Suggestions for Strategies to Adopt…………………………………………….………….81

   3. What Does the Future Hold?………………………………….……………………………………………………………………….84

   4. The Big Question: Can Museums Play a Role in Decolonizing Gender or are They Ultimately Too Ingrained in Histories of Colonization?……………………………………………………………………………………...86

6. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………….………...88

7. Appendix A: Interviews, 2021-2022…………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………...96

   1. No.1: Shonagh Marshall…..……………………………………………………………………………………………………96

   2. No.2: Julia Petrov……...………………………………………………………………………………………………….109

   3. No.3: Karolien de Clippel………………………………………………………………………………………………………..112

   4. No.4: Dilys Blum………………………………………………………………………………………………………….118

   5. No.5: Petra Slinkard……………………………………………………………….………………………………………126

   6. No.6: José Teunissen……………………………………………………………………………………………………..139

   7. No.7: Daan van Dartel…………………………………………………………………………………………………………143

   8. No.8: Steeve Buckridge……………………………………………………………………………………………………..147

   9. No.9: Laura van Broekhoven…………………………………………………………………………………………………...151

   10. No.10: Erica de Greef………………………………………………………………………………………………………….161