Zagreb, Croatia: Kjellmer presents on The scenography of paper fashion

17-19 July Conference Fashion Costume and Visual Culture 2018 (FCVC2018) University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Fashion, Costume and Visual Cultures is an international, interdisciplinary conference which aims to bring together established and emerging academics and practitioners in order to explore key issues, theoretical debates, new methodologies and case studies exploring fashion and costume design and their distinct, yet simultaneously symbiotic relationship within contemporary visual cultures.

https://fcvc2018.com/index.html

Netwoking: Viveka Kjellmer presented a paper about "Costume and the scenography of paper fashion".

ABSTRACT

Costume and the scenography of paper fashion

Dr. Viveka Kjellmer, University of Gothenburg

I examine the scenography of fashion in two fashion exhibitions: Paper Stories, at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities; and Secrets of Couture, at Sven-Harry's Art Museum, Stockholm 2018. Both exhibitions include, among other objects, paper dresses by Swedish fashion designer Bea Szenfeld. I analyze Szenfeld's works in these exhibitions to highlight how the paper costumes can be seen as a part of the exhibition scenography. To "test" the idea of costume as scenography outside the static setting of a fashion exhibition, I discuss Swedish Minister of Culture Bah Kuhnke's Nobel Banquet outfit, featuring a paper bolero by Szenfeld.

Applying a concept of scenography extended beyond traditional theatrical settings (McKinney & Palmer 2017), I aim to examine the role of costume as a key factor in the visual communication of these events. As stated by Monks (2010) and Barbieri (2017), costume is a vital part of a performance, and drawing on Hann (2017), I argue that costume is critical for the understanding of a staged event.

I suggest that costume can be understood as scenography that interacts with the bodies wearing them, the architecture, and the set design of an event, be it a museum exhibition or a formal gala dinner. The understanding of costume as scenography implies that costume is more than dress; it has an active role, transforming the body wearing it. I propose that the understanding of visual couture as scenography in fact suggests that the costume might be wearing the body, not the other way around.

Viveka Kjellmer