13 April 2016

Insights into the MAK exhibition 'Fashion Utopias'

The Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, MAK, holds a large collection of works on paper. Yesterday, the selection of around 200 illustrations from the 15th century, the Renaissance over Rococo to the turn of the 19/20th century, the times of Wiener Werkstätte with focus on the depiction of costumes and fashion was presented under the exhibition title 'Fashion Utopias' for the first time to the public.

Curator, Head of the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection/Archive Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel and MAK Director Christoph Thun-Hohenstein welcomed the guests and spoke about the making-of - like Pokorny-Nagel's selection of 200 out of 10.000 illustrations, and that 'Fashion Utopias' is - such as mentioned by Thun-Hohenstein, one of a series of upcoming shows concerning the theme fashion. (Fashionoffice previewed this year's program already earlier this year.)

Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel closed her speech with a search-and-find takeoff 'find the screen cap' for the exploration of the illustrations after depicted clothing items. MAK also handed out (Sherlock Holmes-like) magnifying glasses! And yes, visitors will be surprised when and in which combination early screen caps were worn by women!

On 1 May, Klaus Mühlbauer, owner of Hutmanufaktur Mühlbauer, will speak on occasion of the exhibition about 'Headwear between Utility and Utopia'. 'Fashion Utopias: Haute Couture in the Graphic Arts' will be on show until 4 September 2016.

fig. from left, clockwise: Curator, Head of the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection/Archive Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel on the opening day of the exhibition 'Fashion Utopias' on 12 April 2016 at MAK in Vienna. View at the showcase with early fashion journals (18/19/20th century) like 'Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode' or 'Journal des Dames et des Modes'.
Image second row, right: Installation view; right 'Portrait of a Lady' by painter Bertold Löffler, Vienna 1913 (part of the furnishings for the Café Schwarzenberg); left, vitrine with sketches and designs, Paris/Hollywood 1930-1936 by Ernst Deutsch-Dryden. The last image shows a crowd of visitors from the back while listening to the opening speech of MAK Director Christoph Thun-Hohenstein.


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