Exhibition review

[Charlie]

I've just come across an exhibition review for the Men in Skirts exhibition at the The Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
during 8 February–12 May 2002. It's a downloadable pdf file at:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/b ... awler=true

with the wonderful quote:

Nowhere did the exhibition make plain that the skirt was a problem for men in the West and nothing of the sort for men almost everywhere else in the world.

Charlie

[crfriend]

I've just come across an exhibition review for the Men in Skirts exhibition at the The Victoria and Albert Museum, London,[...]

Thanks for that, Charlie -- it was a very interesting read.

I didn't see the original exhibition, nor even any of the detailed promo stuff from it, but if it failed to ask why wearing skirts was a problem for "Western civilisation" and not others that's a bit troubling. The further questions posed by the reviewer get closer to some of the ideas we are wrangling over at the moment. It's definite "food for thought".

[alexthebird]

I saw the exhibition (in NY, not London) and I didn't draw the same conclusion this critic did. I thought the exhibit did a fine job at establishing historical, geographical, and cultural precedents for men wearing skirts/dresses. It also demonstrated a consistent trend away from loose-fitting, draped garments towards fitted, tailored clothing as societies developed, industrialized, and globalized. It also suggested that in recent years, as the idea that men and women wear different clothes and men's clothes are drawn from a certain kind of drab uniformity, that haute couture has started experimenting with an edgy approach that incorporates blending gender lines into the avant garde.

I highly recommend the book that was produced from the exhibit. The title is Men in Skirts and you can usually find used copies through Amazon.

[crfriend]

I highly recommend the book that was produced from the [Men In Skirts] exhibit. The title is Men in Skirts and you can usually find used copies through Amazon.

Do you happen to have an ISBN for that bad boy? This may be the tipping point for me getting a local library card (I haven't had one of those in decades! ), and the local one might be able to get one on inter-library loan.

[Peter v]

Very interesting read.

There do seem to be two conflicting lines of thought however. One is that skirts will sometime in the ... near future become the equivalent for pants, or at least that is suggested. And the other, which I see as more likely and the only real way to follow. That skirt wearing, not on it's own, but as an integral part of men awakening to other possiblilities to dress themselves, and express themselves, based on the skirt, will become the way to dress for a small part of the male population.

Just as the Gothic scene is not for all, but it is well established, suits for men are not for all men, etc, skirts I believe will become the choice of a small part of the western male population. How small I do not know, and what will happen once that has been established I don't know either. I think that that is real thinking, not imagionary take over the men's fashion, replace pants with skirts idea.

[alexthebird]

I highly recommend the book that was produced from the [Men In Skirts] exhibit. The title is Men in Skirts and you can usually find used copies through Amazon.

Do you happen to have an ISBN for that bad boy? This may be the tipping point for me getting a local library card (I haven't had one of those in decades! ), and the local one might be able to get one on inter-library loan.

The ISBN is 0810965585. Here is the link to the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Bravehearts-Men-S ... 868&sr=8-1

[Charlie]

Humm, the ISBN in my (UK) copy is 1 85177 340 1, but the picture on the front cover is the same as that shown in alexthebird's post.

Charlie

[Kris]

Searching Google Books comes up with two different ISBNs:
Bravehearts: Men in Skirts
By Andrew Bolton
Published by Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 2003
ISBN 0810965917, 9780810965911
144 pages

Bravehearts: Men in Skirts
By Andrew Bolton
Published by Harry N. Abrams, 2003
ISBN 0810965585, 9780810965584
144 pages

Also this, probably the version sold at the MMA during the exhibition:
Bravehearts: Men in Skirts : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 4, 2003 - February 8, 2004 : Checklist
By Andrew Bolton, N.Y. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, Costume Institute (New York, N.Y.), N.Y. Costume Institute (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003
104 pages

In addition, there is a discussion of the exhibit in this book, a useful preview of which is in Google Books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=CzaOW1 ... #PPA143,M1

Kris