Symposium | Emma McClendon "The Body: Fashion and Physique"

Summary

The speaker explores the evolving concept of body inclusivity in fashion, highlighting the historical and contemporary challenges of body image. Through the Open Style Lab’s work in designing clothing for people with diverse abilities and examining the fashion industry's role in perpetuating unrealistic ideals, the speaker advocates for a more inclusive future. The exhibition reveals how body standards have shifted over time and the impact of fashion media in shaping self-image. The rise of social media and body positivity movements is transforming fashion, encouraging greater diversity and pushing for lasting change in the industry.

Takeaways

• 😀 Open Style Lab creates clothing solutions for people with diverse abilities, pairing designers with clients to address specific challenges in daily life.
• 😀 The exhibition explores the history of the idealized fashion body, emphasizing that the ideal body is a cultural construct that has changed over time.
• 😀 Fashion has often marginalized certain bodies, particularly those outside the idealized body type, and this exhibition seeks to highlight body diversity.
• 😀 The ideal fashion body and its portrayal in the fashion press have often been manipulated through clothing design and image alterations, creating unrealistic body standards.
• 😀 Historical fashion illustrations exaggerated body proportions to reflect idealized silhouettes, a practice still present today through digital image manipulation.
• 😀 The exhibition features garments from across history, demonstrating the diversity of body types and celebrating the wearers of these garments, contrary to the misconception that past women were all thin.
• 😀 Satirical cartoons from the 18th and 19th centuries mocked women’s bodies based on their clothing choices, reinforcing harmful body standards that continue to persist.
• 😀 Body shaming and the portrayal of certain body types as ‘unfashionable’ continue to dominate media and popular culture, especially in fashion critique.
• 😀 The internet and social media have disrupted the fashion industry, giving marginalized bodies a platform to challenge beauty standards and promote body-positive imagery.
• 😀 The history of fashion inclusivity shows that moments of diversity in fashion, such as plus-size fashion, have appeared intermittently but have not led to lasting change, highlighting the need for ongoing vigilance in advocating for inclusivity.

Q & A

What is the mission of Open Style Lab?

Open Style Lab is a nonprofit organization that creates clothing solutions for people with diverse abilities. They pair designers with clients to develop custom clothing that addresses specific challenges faced by the clients in their daily lives.

What was the significant moment during the author's visit to Open Style Lab in 2016?

During the author's visit in 2016, they were particularly moved by a client who shared her experience of feeling that her body was wrong before receiving a custom-designed coat. The coat allowed her to feel that her body was celebrated, not flawed, which deeply impacted the author.

What critique does the speaker offer about the current fashion industry?

The speaker critiques the current fashion industry for promoting the idea that bodies need to fit into predefined clothing sizes, rather than the other way around. This results in societal pressure to conform to idealized body standards, leading to body shaming and exclusion.

How does the exhibition aim to contribute to the conversation around body diversity in fashion?

The exhibition seeks to provide a historical perspective on how the idealized fashion body has evolved. It explores the cultural constructs surrounding body image and aims to educate the public on how we arrived at the current state of body ideals in the fashion industry.

What is the significance of the display of historical and contemporary dress forms in the exhibition?

The juxtaposition of historical dress forms with contemporary ones, such as the Martin Margiela piece, highlights how the idealized fashion body and the dress forms used to display clothing have evolved over time. This encourages viewers to reconsider the idea of a 'standard' body shape and appreciate the diversity of body types throughout history.

What does the speaker want to challenge with the exhibition's exploration of body diversity?

The speaker aims to challenge the misconception that bodies have always been uniform in size or shape throughout history, and to emphasize that body diversity has always existed. The exhibition showcases garments that span various body sizes and shapes to demonstrate this historical diversity.

How does the exhibition address the impact of fashion media on body image?

The exhibition highlights how the fashion press has historically manipulated body proportions in fashion imagery, using both hand-drawn fashion plates from the 18th and 19th centuries and digital manipulation in modern media. This manipulation reinforces unrealistic body standards, which still affects how we view bodies today.

What role has social media played in the evolution of body positivity in fashion?

Social media has allowed individuals, especially those with bodies typically excluded from mainstream fashion, to create and share body-positive imagery. Through platforms like Instagram and YouTube, they challenge traditional fashion norms and promote the idea that all bodies are beautiful and fashionable.

What does the speaker identify as a recurring issue in the history of plus-size fashion?

The speaker identifies that while there have been moments in history where plus-size fashion was visible in the mainstream (e.g., the 1910s and 1980s), these periods were often short-lived. Plus-size fashion has struggled to maintain lasting visibility in the fashion industry, and the speaker stresses the importance of not letting this progress become just a passing trend.

What is the significance of the quote from Thomas Cash about the body and identity?

The quote from Thomas Cash emphasizes the importance of our bodies in shaping our sense of self. Clothing, as a social tool, influences how we perceive ourselves and how society perceives us. When the fashion industry promotes the idea that certain bodies are wrong, it negatively impacts individuals' identities and self-esteem.