FIDM Museum Blog

Yoshiki Hishinuma

Popular conceptions of Japanese textile design usually focus on textiles similar to the sky-blue stenciled and embroidered silk seen in this 19th century kimono dressing gown. Made of natural fibers and featuring patterns and motifs borrowed from the natural world, these textiles are the work of skilled artisans trained in a variety of techniques, including weaving, dying, painting and embroidery. The resulting textiles are prized works of art, demonstrating the importance of textile traditions and workmanship to Japanese culture.

Lovely as they are, these textiles are only one branch of textile creation in Japan. In the early 1980s (just as Japanese fashion designers emerged on the world stage) Japanese textile designers began experimenting with new, often synthetic, textiles. Capitalizing on Japan's strong history of textile design and manufacturing, designers used both traditional and invented techniques to create and manipulate new textiles into existence. Like their traditional predecessors, these textiles are produced using time and labor intensive techniques.

Yoshiki Hishinuma
c. 2000
Museum Purchase
2005.5.31

Deconstruction in fashion

These days, it's fairly common to see garments incorporating raw edges, exposed seams and distressed textiles. Giving garments an unfinished appearance and hinting at the process of design and creation, this style is usually called deconstructionism. Initially intended to challenge widely held perceptions that garments must be flawlessly finished and enhance accepted definitions of beauty, these design elements have become so widely utilized that they've nearly lost the ability to shock and discomfort. Only extreme deconstruction can stop us in our tracks, such as the shredded and torn disarray of this Jean Paul Gaultier tank top. Though it appears to have been severely mistreated, this mesh tank was designed and manufactured to look tattered and torn.

Tank top
Jean Paul Gaultier
2002
Gift of Lee Sheppard
2003.38.1

Ski in fashion

Blouse (detail)
1957-1960
Mr. Dino
Gift of Steven Porterfield
2007.897.20

Until the 1950s, ski wear consisted of baggy woolen pants and knitted sweaters, topped with a bulky wool overcoat. Though warm and functional, these clothes did nothing to flatter the figure. This changed in 1952 with the introduction of Bogner ski pants. Created by Maria Bogner, member of a Swiss ski wear producing family, "Bogners" were a form-fitting ski pant made of wool and a newly developed nylon fiber called Helanca. By 1955, Bogners were available in a variety of bright colors. Because they displayed the muscular curves of both male and female skiers, Bogners were credited with introducing sex appeal to skiing. According to Ski magazine, "Marilyn Monroe, Ingrid Bergman and the Shah of Iran wore them. Henry Ford ordered 15 pairs. Overnight, skiing had been transformed into a sexy and very visible sport."¹

Menswear

Like many museums that focus on dress and textiles, the FIDM Museum suffers a shortage of compelling menswear. It is difficult to know exactly why this is the case, but it might have to do with the fact that most 19th and 20th century menswear is relatively straightforward. It tends to favor function over form, resulting in garments without intriguing structural or decorative elements. There are, of course, exceptions to this general statement, as you can see from the late 1960s ensemble featured in our post today.
Smock-style shirt and suede Levi's
Both c. 1967
Gift of Jay Hampel
Shirt 2007.801.5
Levi's 2007.801.4

Beginning in the early 1960s, long-standing dress codes began to relax and even disappear. Women stopped wearing gloves and corsets on a regular basis, and men were seen in public without hats. Though sartorial expectations for both men and women became looser, men especially benefited from this change. Many men abandoned sober, dark-colored suits, plain dress shirts and constricting neckties in favor of clothing that was more personally expressive. All aspects of menswear were under assault: neckties were replaced by scarves and ascots, turtlenecks became an alternative to the button-down shirt, multi-colored shoes and sandals replaced black oxfords and hair grew longer. Color and pattern appeared in menswear, as did traditionally "feminine" fabrics such as velvet, satin and chiffon. As a whole, these changes in menswear were dubbed the "Peacock Revolution."

Men in urban areas such as Los Angeles, London and New York could purchase these new styles at boutiques such as Mr. Fish (London), and Paraphernalia (New York). Some of these boutiques catered exclusively to men, while others sold garments for both men and women. Gender specificity was no barrier however, for in 1968 WWD reported that men were purchasing women's wide-legged pants for their own use at the Yves St. Laurent boutique in St. Tropez.¹For those in search of an even more "authentic" look, vintage and non-Western garments could be purchased at flea markets, military surplus stores or while on the 1960s version of the Grand Tour through the Middle East or Latin America. Caftans were a popular travel souvenir for both men and women and were often reinterpreted, as in this beribboned smock-style shirt from the FIDM Museum collection. Back view of 2007.801.4 and 2007.801.5

Intended to be inventive and playful, these changes in the visual character of masculinity were widely understood as a challenge to political and social conformity. Furthermore, dress was conceived as a sort of costume which allowed one to try out or take on a new identity at will. The rejection of the staid business suit freed men from societal expectations regarding personal identity and allowed for a truer expression of the self. This sartorial liberation was thought to be both personally and socially liberating. In the words of a caftan and gold medallion adorned New York dentist interviewed in GQ in the March 1971, "Groovy people should wear groovy clothes. That way we turn on the whole world." 

1 Lobenthal, Joel. Radical Rags: Fashions of the 1960s.New York: Abbeville Press. 1990 :138.