NYU is showing a new virtual fashion exhibition
The Broadway Windows at NYU is showcasing a new exhibit called Fashion In/Action: Dressing for Global Undress. The virtual exhibition will begin on February 6 and end on March 8.
It portrays 2020 through fashion, focusing on COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests. The exhibition builds off of stay-at-home fashion that developed in 2020. Coronavirus has forced the fashion industry to adapt to a new world.
This new world has allowed fashion designers to create new items that can keep us safe, like face masks. It has also led to new creative breakthroughs.
Details of the Exhibit
Some items in the exhibit are indicative of 2020 trends, like tie dye crocs that also double as comfortable shoes worn by healthcare workers.
Clothing pieces combine both issues the exhibition touches on, Coronavirus and racial injustice. Specifically, there are patterned face masks designed by Korina Emmerich, an indigenous designer. The exhibition will also showcase an outfit worn at the Brooklyn Black Trans Lives Matter March and a bag by designer Brandon Blackwood that reads “End Systematic Racism.”
The Curators
“Telling the story of 2020 through the lens of fashion, a medium that has emerged as an important site for building community, solidarity, and advocacy during a time of crisis,” is how the exhibition is described on its website.
The curators portray fashion as a place of relief amidst turbulent times. They cite both COVID-19 and the killing of George Floyd as calls to action. They say fashion allows people to speak and send a message.
“Fashion has become a place of refuge, a source of strength, and a locus of unity,” reads the website.
Items were curated by The NYU Costume Studies Graduate Students. A virtual reception for the exhibition will be held on Zoom on February 6 from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.