Fashion exhibitions tend to focus on designers. But a subversive new show is turning the spotlight back to where it belongs from Joan of Arc to Joan Collins
From monobosoms to shoulder pads in pictures
Miriam González Durántez: The power of fashion
Donna Loveday, co-curator of Women Fashion Power, wants to get one thing clear from the start, when we meet at her office in the Design Museum: this is not, repeat not, an exhibition about power dressing. I have deliberately avoided using that term. I dont feel it represents either the way women think, or the way they dress she says.
Power dressing it may not be, but this is undoubtedly a timely show. The discourse around how women in positions of power and influence dress has never been more fractious. In July, coverage of the appointment of new female cabinet ministers that labelled it the Downing Street Catwalk whipped up a media firestorm. But as befits a show dominated by such figures as Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel and Joan of Arc this is no passive taking-of-minutes on the contemporary argument. Instead, it is an exhibition with a strong agenda.
Continue reading...