Fashioning the Body

The Shaping of Silhouettes From The 17th Century To Modern Times

As long as clothes and fashion have been of importance in human history, so has the way our garments accentuate our figures.

This fascinating shaping of silhouettes will be explored in the upcoming exhibition, Fashioning the Body, at the Bard Graduate Center in New York, which opens this April.

The show will take a look at the extraordinary ways in which women and men from the seventeenth century till today have carved their bodies into various shapes in the name of fashion.

Heavily sourced from selected Paris museums, such as the Decorative Arts Museum, curator Dr. Denis Bruna explained to The Plus that the exhibition encompasses a wide range of items. On display will be pieces from the earlier periods, highlighting the French and European upper class styles. From the late 19th and 20th centuries, both European and American fashions are being featured.

Dr. Denis Bruna, who has a doctorate in history from the University of Paris, told us more about curating this collection.

The Plus: Why do you feel some of these pieces, such as the corsets, eventually faded out of style?
Denis Bruna: Fashion is mercurial, as Gabrielle Chanel said, “La mode c’est ce qui se démode” or “Fashion is what goes out of style.” For example, the fashion of the corset in the late 19th-century was around 1920 replaced by a more liberated silhouette, featuring a flat bust, but then, after, an imposed, rigid under structure returned by the 1940s with the conical, pointed brassiere.

TP: What influences of silhouette shaping from the 17th, 18th, and 19th century can still be recognised in today’s fashion?
DB: From the 17th to the 19th century there were many fashions, not only one. Today, we can see that the popular high breast and cinched waist is not new – as both the catalogue and exhibit reveal, the slender waist was in fashion at least from the 16th century to the 19th century.

TP: Do you have a favourite piece from the collection?
DB: It’s difficult to choose. There are many pieces that I love from the Musée’s collection. I often think about the whalebone stays from the 18th century, or perhaps, my favourite object is the “Spanish” doublet for a young woman, form about 1590-1610. This is a very rare and special garment, and it is the first time it has left France.

Fashioning the Body: An Intimate History of the Silhouette, opens at the Bard Graduate Center, New York, April 3–July 26, 2015.

Images info, appearing in this order:
Bra (and bustier). France, 1920–30. Cotton tulle, silk satin, elastic, lace. Les Arts Décoratifs, collection Mode et Textile, don Madame de la Marlière de la Sauverie 1994

Langtry bustle “strapontin”. France, 1887. Satin, braid, cotton lacing, crocheted lace, metal armature, fasteners, eyelets. Inscription: “Langtry. Patented [. . . ].” Les Arts Décoratifs, collection Union française des arts du costume

Double panniers with pockets. France, 1775–80. Linen, whalebone (?). Les Arts Décoratifs, collection Mode et Textile, don Madame M. Pastre

“Exquisite Form” bra-bustier. United States, ca. 1950. Rayon satin, Nylon, mesh, elasticized fabric, flannel, plastic, metal. Inscription: “Exquisite Form Brassieres.” Collection of Melanie Talkington, Vancouver. Photographer: Patricia Canino

Man’s belt. France, early twentieth century. Perforated rubber, metal, silk. Les Arts Décoratifs, collection Union française des arts du costume, Gift of Monsieur et Madame François Boucher 1951.
Corset baleinine incassables (Unbreakable Whalebone Corset) 1900 © Musée de la Publicité, Les Arts Décoratifs

Woman’s formal dress, France, ca. 1770. Silk and metallic thread, trimmed with metallic lace and silk flowers. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection