{"id":2685,"date":"2025-06-24T15:43:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T22:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/?p=2685"},"modified":"2025-06-24T15:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T22:43:44","slug":"psychoanalysis-and-fashion-blended-in-museum-at-fits-fall-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/?p=2685","title":{"rendered":"Psychoanalysis and Fashion Blended in Museum at FIT’s Fall Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tOn or off the runway, fashion can conjure up psychoanalytical questions that are spoken or subliminal. And this fall, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology will stage the first exhibition to dive into the cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrawing from five years of research, \u201cDress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis\u201d delves into psychoanalytic concepts about the body, sexuality and the unconscious, by highlighting nearly 100 looks from the 19th century to the present. Th exhibition will be on view from Sept. 10 to Jan. 4.<\/p>\n

\n\tFashion fans will find a wide swath of designer creations from Azzedine Alaia, Gabrielle \u201cCoco\u201d Chanel, Willy Chavarria, Bella Freud, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Gar\u00e7ons, Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, Sonia Rykiel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Viktor & Rolf, Grace Wales Bonner, Vivienne Westwood and Yohji Yamamoto.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverseeing the orchestration is the MFIT\u2019s director and chief curator Valerie Steele, who was nicknamed \u201cthe Freud of Fashion\u201d by fashion critic Suzy Menkes. The unprecedented show is meant to reflect the museum\u2019s commitment to original inquiry and creative thinking about the cultural significance of dress. Needless to say, there will be a lot to unpack. Those who want to dive deeper will have to wait until November for the release of Steele\u2019s companion book about the exhibition.<\/p>\n

\n\tSteele said, \u201cFashion is a primary lens through which we see ourselves \u2014 and how others see us. Far from being superficial, fashion can be regarded as a \u2018deep surface\u2019 that communicates our unconscious desires and anxieties, with none of us fully aware of the messages we send. The Museum at FIT is dedicated to advancing knowledge of fashion, and psychoanalysis provides important clues about the power and allure of fashion, as well as the ambivalence and hostility that fashion also attracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exhibition will be set up chronologically and thematically, starting off with a historical look at the relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis. In what sounds like a fitting opener, the introductory gallery will shed some light on Sigmund Freud\u2019s personal style circa 1900. Visitors will also find a primer about his radical ideas about sexuality and the unconscious, and his problematic theories about women\u2019s \u201cexhibitionistic\u201d and \u201cnarcissistic\u201d relationship with fashion.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"John<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tJohn Galliano for Dior Haute Couture fall 2000, two figures by photographer Robert Fairer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Robert Fairer\/Courtesy MFIT<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tFrom there, gallery goers will get a glimpse of the 1920s and 1930s, when psychoanalysis was associated with sexual and personal freedom, especially as it related to women and sexual minorities, according to the advance material. Unlike Freud, the British psychoanalyst and experimental psychologist J.C. Fl\u00fcgel envied women\u2019s freedom to adorn and expose themselves. One of Fl\u00fcgel\u2019s contemporaries Joan Riviere, who came of age with what was then an increasing cohort of female psychoanalysts, theorized that femininity was a \u201cmasquerade\u201d that was necessitated by male prejudice.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdvance press material for the exhibition suggests that \u201cit is widely recognized\u201d that by the 1950s, most psychoanalysts, especially in the U.S., were \u201cvirulently homophobic and misogynistic.\u201d One shift occurred in the second half of the 20th century, when some feminists and LGBTQIA+ activists stopped rejecting Freud as \u201cthe enemy\u201d and called for more inclusive, and liberatory psychoanalysis.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Mamado<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tMamado pantsuit by B\u00e1rbara S\u00e1nchez-Kane as featured in \u201cAmantes Encontrados\u201d for Vogue Italia, 2019. Styling by Chino Castilla. Models: Emiliano and Samuel for Guerxs Agency MX<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Paola Vivas\/Courtesy MFIT<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tWhile that historical area may give visitors reason to linger, there is more fashion ahead. The exhibition then takes a closer look at themes as they relate to different types of fashion, as they are seen through the lens of psychoanalytic ideas about dreams, desire, sexual difference and death. Building off the idea that Freud interpreted most dreams as disguised sexual wishes, there will be such connections as Moschino\u2019s chocolate bar dress as sign of the pleasure principle with the incentive being to seek pleasure and avoid pain.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose who never took Psychology 101 will also learn how by contrast, Carl Jung interpreted dreams in terms of eternal archetypes from the collective unconscious. While many designers favor the feminine prototype of a queen or lover, in September 2008, Rick Owens created a more esoteric collection dedicated to the \u201cPriestesses of Longing,\u201d which was the antithesis of Hollywood glamour.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the MFIT, visitors will also learn how Freud later went \u201cbeyond the pleasure principle\u201d to develop a psychoanalytic theory called \u201cthe death drive,\u201d Also known as \u201cThanatos,\u201d it is characterized by aggression and destruction. There will be references to Josephus Thimister\u2019s anti-war haute couture collection that debuted in January 2010 \u2014 \u201c1915: Bloodshed and Opulence,\u201d which drew from the Bolshevik Revolution and its aftermath. Another thought-provoking collection was Undercover\u2019s Takahashi one that featured roses and razor blades. Some might read that as evoking Eros \u2014 life and love \u2014 versus Thanatos \u2014 death and destruction.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith body positivity and identity top-of-mind with many in the fashion industry, the exhibition will also dive into the development of body image and personal identity through Jacques Lacan\u2019s theory of the mirror stage \u2014 an individual\u2019s lifelong process of developing a self-image. In addition, there will be hints of Didier Anzieu\u2019s concept of the skin ego \u2014 as in a sense of self that is formed initially through the sensations on the skin. The Elsa Schiaparelli-designed jacket with embroidered rococo hand mirrors will be on view too. It could be considered a sign of ambivalence toward her mirror image, or the body image created through internalizing the gaze of the other.<\/p>\n

\n\tDress scholars have recently borrowed from Anzieu\u2019s skin ego to view clothing as a changeable, renewable second skin that offers physical and psychological protection. Visitors will also wade further into psychoanalytic ideas about the object of desire, sexual fetishism and movement toward nonbinary and gender-fluid dress, and how that plays out in society\u2019s openness about sexuality and gender.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On or off the runway, fashion can conjure up psychoanalytical questions that are spoken or subliminal. And this fall, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology will stage the first exhibition to dive into the cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis. Drawing from five years of research, \u201cDress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis\u201d delves into psychoanalytic concepts about the body, sexuality and the unconscious, by highlighting nearly 100 looks from the 19th century to the present. Th exhibition will be on view from Sept. 10 to Jan. 4. Fashion fans will find a wide swath of designer creations from Azzedine Alaia, Gabrielle \u201cCoco\u201d Chanel, Willy Chavarria, Bella Freud, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Gar\u00e7ons, Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, Sonia Rykiel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Viktor & Rolf, Grace Wales Bonner, Vivienne Westwood and Yohji Yamamoto. Overseeing the orchestration is the MFIT\u2019s director and chief curator Valerie Steele, who was nicknamed \u201cthe Freud of Fashion\u201d by fashion critic Suzy Menkes. The unprecedented show is meant to reflect the museum\u2019s commitment to original inquiry and creative thinking about the cultural significance of dress. Needless to say, there will be a lot to unpack. Those who want to dive deeper will have to wait until November for the release of Steele\u2019s companion book about the exhibition. Steele said, \u201cFashion is a primary lens through which we see ourselves \u2014 and how others see us. Far from being superficial, fashion can be regarded as a \u2018deep surface\u2019 that communicates our unconscious desires and anxieties, with none of us fully aware of the messages we send. The Museum at FIT is dedicated to advancing knowledge of fashion, and psychoanalysis provides important clues about the power and allure of fashion, as well as the ambivalen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}