Items: Is Fashion Modern? - by Paola Antonelli & Michelle Fisher (Hardcover)

Number of Pages: 288
Genre: Art
Sub-Genre: Fashion & Accessories
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Museum of Modern Art
Age Range: Adult
Author: Paola Antonelli & Michelle Fisher
Language: English

About the Book

"Published in conjunction with the exhibition Items: Is Fashion Modern?, organized by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator and Michelle Millar Fisher, Curatorial assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 1, 2017-January 28, 2018"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

Items: Is Fashion Modern? presents 111 items of clothing and accessories that have had a profound impact on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Arranged A-Z encyclopedia-style, it includes designs as iconic as Levi's 501 jeans, the pearl necklace and Yves Saint Laurent's Le Smoking, and as ancient and rich as the sari, the Breton shirt, the kippah and the keffiyeh.

The catalog accompanies the first fashion exhibition to be mounted at MoMA since 1944. An essay by curator Paola Antonelli opens the volume, highlighting the Museum's unique perspective on fashion and exploring the latter's role in the changing international landscape of design. The 111 texts that follow trace the history of each item in relation to cultural forces past and present, touching on labor, marketing, technology, religion, politics, aesthetics and popular culture, among many others. These concise essays are richly illustrated with a lively mix of archival images, fashion photography, film stills and documentary shots.

Punctuating the book are newly commissioned portfolios by five international contemporary photographers--Omar Victor Diop, Bobby Doherty, Catherine Losing, Monika Mogi and Kristin-Lee Moolman. Each photographer was assigned to represent the objects in one alphabetically ordered section of the book, and their diverse responses bring a vibrant creative energy to the project.

Design objects are complex indicators of larger social, cultural, political and economic contexts, and fashion is no exception. Kaleidoscopic yet exacting, Items takes readers through the history and significance of clothing that has changed the world, from the bucket hat's multifaceted sartorial journey to the ubiquity and perennial popularity of the white t-shirt and the ever-changing silhouette of the little black dress. It locates new centers of gravity for the field of fashion and asserts its role as an incisive and confident contributor to the broad pantheon of design and the visual arts.

Review Quotes

...explores the present, past - and sometimes the future - of 111 items of clothing and accessories that have had a strong impact on the world in the 20th and 21st centuries - and continue to hold currency today. Among them are pieces as well-known and transformative as the Levi's 501s, the Breton shirt, and the Little Black Dress, and as ancient and culturally charged as the sari, the pearl necklace, the kippah, and the keffiyeh.--It's Liquid

MoMA's first fashion and design exhibit in more than seven decades looks at iconic apparel...--Newsday

The quarterback's jersey will reportedly be displayed in the museum's "Items: Is Fashion Modern?" exhibit. The exhibit reportedly examines how sports have influenced fashion and culture.--VIBE

The Modern's second-ever fashion exhibition proposes a global canon of 111 emblematic widely used items ...a compact mine of information, rather like a handbook, arranged A to Z with in-depth entries and a pleasing combination of matte and glossy pages.--Roberta Smith "The New York Times "

...taken garment by garment, it is full of wonderful rabbit holes of narrative and information.--Guy Trebay "New York Times "

...along with ta Louis Vuitton one of similar size and shape, are what the museum chose as examples of "Monograms." The criteria? They had to have changed the world.--Emilia Petrarca "New York Magazine, the Cut "

...asks a question whose answer lands squarely in the sensibility of the know-it-all now-ness that is New York City.--Peggy Roalf "Ai-Ap "

...it also brings into the fold iconic non-Western staples, such as the sari and the dashiki. Antonelli says the show addresses questions of sustainability, gender, and the means (and problems) of industrial production in a globalized world.--Felix Burrichter "W "

...it's a fun and informative walk down memory lane. With "Items: Is Fashion Modern?" opening Oct. 1, the museum explores iconic fashion/accessories items, many of which received cult status and essentially changed the fashion landscape ...--Lauren Parker "Accesories Magazine "

...more than merely a tracking of trends, Antonelli and her team sought to address industry issues ranging from sustainability and labor practices to diversity and religious modesty.--Stephen Sporn "Hollywood Reporter "

Colin Kaepernick's jersey is now on display at the MoMA...His 49ers jersey will be part of a section dedicated to sports's influence on fashion.--Ben Dandridge-Lemco "Fader "

MoMA has identified the most game-changing clothing in the world- feel free to disagree though.--Eliza Brooke "Racked "

MoMA's first fashion exhibit in 73 years includes Supreme, Kaepernick, and Yeezy.--Trace William Cowen "Complex "

Museum takes its first look at fashion since WW!! with 'paragons of design'.--Keira Alexander "AM New York "

Of course fashion is Modern-- MoMA just took 7 decades to acknowledge it.--Michelle Honig "Observer "

The Museum of Modern Art's, 'Items: Is Fashion Modern?' is an ambitious exploration of the everyday wardrobe with nearly 350 (!) objects on display, visitors will rethink a garment's past, present and future.--Maria Bobila "Fashionista "

The New MoMA fashion exhibit isn't afraid to get political and those are its most powerful moments.--Taylor Bryant "NYLON "

Which garments have had the most profound effect on the world over the last 100 years? This is the beautifully simple, yet daunting question that a new exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art aims to address with a display of 111 items that represent fashion's most significant contributions to popular culture.--Jacopo Prisco "CNN "

Why MoMA's ' Items: Is Fashion Modern?' Is not the exhibition you were expecting.--Sasha Levine "SURFACE "

Items: Is Fashion Modern? At MOMA will highlight 111 iconic garments and accessories that have become paragons of Design.--Melissa Ogier "The Garbwire "

...an investigation of 111 garments and accessories that have had a profound effect on the world over the last century...runs the gamut from Levi's 501 jeans and Nike's Air Force 1s to Chanel No. 5's bottle and a Vivienne Westwood x Louis Vuitton fanny pack.--Lisa Lockwood "WWD "

To trace the history of fashion through objects and their ancient archetypes, the show's organizers dipped into the material slipstream and fished out 350 objects representing 111 'typologies.' Just how deliriously diverse those typologies are was made clear by the museum...with the release of a list itemizing the things to be displayed. And what a list it is, from kaffiyehs to kilts, flip-flops to guayaberas, pencil skirts to moon boots, Speedos to Spanx.--Guy Trebay "The New York Times "

What makes MoMA's approach to fashion design unique is that rather than delve into the specifics of a single idea or designer, Antonelli and her curators are looking at the larger role fashion plays in our lives. If that sounds incredibly broad, well, it is--there are more than 350 pieces in the upcoming exhibit. But not every LBD [Little Black Dress] is created equal, and just 10 have made the MoMA cut: Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Arnold Scaasi, Versace, Wolford, Nervous System, and a '40s utility dress.--Steff Yotka "Vogue.com "