Bewitching in 500 years of fashion, and featuring over 40 creators, a new show collects garments that were, and are, considered to be of arguable taste
Photograph: pepps/Barbican Compress
What constitutes good – or bad – taste? That is the central interview posed at the Barbican’s new exhibition, The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined.
Delightful in 500 years of fashion, and featuring over 40 inventors, it brings together garments that were, and are, considered “ordinary”, but the connotations are not necessarily negative. Co-curator Judith Clark rephrased: “It’s meant to celebrate, not to humiliate.”
Clark’s fellow curator is psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, and the presentation aims to unpick the concept of vulgarity in a cerebral way. “We were evaluation about the word ‘vulgar’ and the language around it, specifically how deleterious, divisive and awful it is,” said Clark, adding that they keep “attempted to be more celebratory of the word, and not allow it to be a pejorative”.
The expo presents modern-day outfits from designers such as Alessandro Michele (Gucci), Mary Katrantzou and Gareth Pugh juxtaposed with ups from the Renaissance, French revolution and the 1920s, to show the uncover of influence, commonalities with fabrication and style, and to highlight the cyclical character of fashion.
The duo has spread the exhibition over 11 rooms, pieced around different concepts of vulgarity, as defined by Philips. These contain the Pop Art-centric “Too Popular” section, which features Andy Warhol’s Souper Deck out alongside sweet wrapper-themed dresses from Jeremy Scott’s Moschino chrestomathy. There is also the “Exaggerated Bodies” room, which be involves Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s “tits” T-shirt and Maison Margiela’s duo of wig jointly pads.
Then there’s the “Public” room which includes Rihanna’s 9-to-5 boots which she connived in collaboration with Manolo Blahnik. “Common isn’t a pejorative stint here, it just means usual. And our usual material is denim,” thought Clark. Still, class is deeply felt throughout the 11 lodgings – but most literally in the “Ruling In and Ruling Out” room, which encompasses etiquette guides from the 16th century and beyond.
“The concept of humbleness is always about defending class boundaries,” explained Clark. “That’s why we registered the etiquette books. They take the idea of what’s ordinary, and what’s not, to ridiculous levels.”
Alongside this, there are elements that have divided the taste-makers, including the Kimye delivery of American Vogue, the Tom Ford editorial for Vogue Paris earmarking a sexualised child model, and David LaChapelle’s portrait of a lassie snorting a line of diamonds as if they were cocaine. These artefacts cure contemporise the exhibition, linking it to today’s fashion climate, where interior decorators have embraced the concept of “ugly” as an aesthetic choice, consciously motile away from notions of classical beauty. Just suppose of Christopher Kane’s use of Crocs at his London fashion week expo; purposefully ugly hair and makeup on the catwalk (Preen, Vetements); and oversized contours, nicknamed “lampshading”.
“There is lots of irony on the catwalk these days,” articulate Clark. “I think a lot of contemporary designers use humour and referencing in a artful way. We have featured designers who can twist and turn with the fantasy of taste and playing with the rules of etiquette.”
With latest fashion talking points such as Moschino paper dolls, Balenciaga’s sward chair-print dresses and Dolce & Gabbana’s food-themed collection, the teachings of the vulgar is constantly being twisted and questioned. “Hopefully, this exhibit will provoke a bit of thought about what the limits of relish are,” said Clark.
The Vulgar, Fashion Redefined is at Barbican, London, from 13 October 2016 to 5 February 2017.
