Although women have been used to sell clothes to other women, they’ve largely been left out of powerful positions in the fashion industry.
“Women Dressing Women,” a new exhibit from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, highlights how women’s creative contributions and labor in the fashion industry have gone largely unrecognized.
The exhibit, which opened on Thursday, features roughly 80 pieces from more than 70 women designers, whose works date from the early 20th century to today. Most of the pieces are from the museum’s Costume Institute.
Dress, Ester Manas (French, born 1992) and Balthazaar Delpierre (Belgian, born 1993) for Ester Manas (Belgian, founded 2019), spring/summer 2022
Although it boasts big names like Rei Kawakubo, Diane Von Furstenberg and Jil Sander, the exhibit also spotlights lesser-known talents.
One such talent is Ann Lowe, a Black designer who most notably designed Jacqueline Kennedy’s 1953 wedding gown. Lowe's work has garnered mainstream attention in the past few years, and the show features one of her pieces: a cream-colored evening gown with pink flowers sewn into its lower half.
The show is organized according to four themes: anonymity, visibility, agency, and absence/omission.
While many people might assume the person whose name is on the label is solely responsible for creating an item of clothing, the exhibition's theme of “anonymity” aims to show how teams of people bring garments to life.
“We hope that our viewers consider and take away the numerous hands involved in the production of fashion,” said Mellissa Huber, one of the exhibition’s curators.
On the surface, women run the fashion industry. Female models dominate clothing advertisements, and women spend three times more than men on clothes — a total of $159 billion in U.S. sales, according to a 2018 report from McKinsey & Co.
“Theodosia” tea gown, Maria Monaci Gallenga (Italian, 1880–1944) for Gallenga (Italian, 1918– 1974), ca. 1925
And yet, that same report found that “fewer than 50% of well-known womenswear brands are designed by women and only 14% of major brands have a female executive in charge.”
Alexis Romano, a professor at Parsons School of Design who teaches courses on fashion writing and history, said “Women Dressing Women” is important because men have traditionally held the most power at big fashion houses. Karl Lagerfeld famously oversaw Chanel for decades, and Kim Jones is the artistic director of Fendi’s women’s collection.
“Lots of journalists have been making noise about the fact that there need to be more women at the heads of fashion companies,” she said. “It's really important to show the public that women have played really important roles in fashion's history.”
Romano rattled off a list of legendary female designers — Coco Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet and Claire McCardell — who have made clothing more practical for women, by ditching tight corsets, or opting for softer fabrics that allowed for easier movement.
Romano was particularly excited for people to learn about Yeohlee Teng, an American designer who specializes in slow fashion and using zero waste when producing clothes.
“She's always been around, but she doesn’t have a shiny name that everybody knows about,” Romano said.
Huber said she hopes the show galvanizes visitors and other fashion history enthusiasts to think about the industry and who gets to be remembered.
“We hope that the exhibition will also inspire others to perhaps just contemplate the way that institutions are collecting and celebrating and who's being given attention and who's not and why,” said Huber.
“Women Dressing Women'' runs through March 3, 2024. More information can be found here.
