Love and War:
The Weaponized Woman
September 9 through December 16, 2006
The Museum at FIT www.fitnyc.edu/museum

fig.: Issey Miyake, Bustier, Molded plastic, 1983. The Museum at FIT. Gift of Krizia Co. Photo by Irving Solero, courtesy The Museum at FIT

The exhibition is divided in four sections: one of them is called The Hard Body. In this section you will find an armored breastplate from the Renaissance beneath high fashion equivalents such as Issey Miyake’s red fiberglass bodice shaped like a naked female torso and Hussein Chalayan’s fiberglass dress.

“If lingerie is like soft skin, armor is a hard exoskeleton,” said Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT. “Lingerie symbolizes nakedness, intimacy and seduction, while armor is associated with authority, protection and discipline. Of course, different designers take different approaches to this dialogue between silk and steel. The British design team Boudicca create styles that evoke transgressive warrior women, while Jean Paul Gaultier does camouflage couture, Issey Miyake makes references to samurai armor, and Narciso Rodriquez blends silk with chain mail." next>>>