I have a deep love affair with anything dark, romantic and slightly macabre. So it’s fair to say that a new exhibit that just recently opened at the Museum at FIT has got me a bit turned on. It is a look at the history and beginnings of Gothic fashion as well as it’s influence on today’s designer and street fashions. The exhibit will feature looks from designers who truly exemplify the spirit and essence of the Gothic aesthetic along with ensembles representing several of today’s Gothic subcultures such as Japanese “Gothic Lolitas”.
Victorian mourning dresses, Alexander McQueen and Gothic Lolitas … I’m swooning already.
images and copy: FIT
The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue at 27 Street. New York City 10001-5992.
Gothic: Dark Glamour
September 5, 2008 through February 21, 2009
“Gothic” is an epithet that evokes images of death, destruction, and decay. Not simply a word that describes something, such as a Gothic cathedral, it is almost always a term of abuse that implies the dark, barbarous, and gloomy. Such negative connotations have made the gothic an ideal symbol of rebellion for a wide range of cultural outsiders. From its origins in 18th century gothic literature of terror to its contemporary manifestations in vampire literature and cinema, the gothic has embraced the powers of horror and the erotic macabre. Throughout its history, fashion has been central to our vision of the gothic. The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) presents Gothic: Dark Glamour, the first exhibition devoted to the gothic in fashion, from September 5, 2008 through February 21, 2009.