Last week, I took a tour of the Heavy Metal: The Malleability of Fashion exhibit in the Human Ecology Building. The curator Samantha Stern received the Charlotte A. Jirousek Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the college in order to fund her collection. Stern wanted to look into the variabilities of metal within the world of fashion — the way metal was used as both a method to achieve an ideal shape and style, as well as a fashion choice.
Stern was attracted to the metal culture of the 1980s because of its animalistic tendencies. Metal as a music genre was meant to be a rebellion in and of itself; not only was the word “metal” representative of the material metal, but it reflected a hardcore attitude during the Cold War era.
One of the first pieces that we were shown was the dress she designed as part of the Barbara L. Kuhlman Scholars’ showcase. Her piece, called “Malevolent Empowerment,” was based on fashion from the 1920s “Flapper Era” made entirely out of metal. Stern described the dress as made to be stylish and easy to look at, but completely unwearable; the piece inevitably traps the wearer within its weight. “The weight of the garment itself is intrinsic to the struggle that I am trying to represent. The aged effect is as bright gold slowly becomes darker illustrates the many years of struggle that women have faced.”
“Malevolent Empowerment”
Stern also showed us a display titled “Invisible Metal,” showcasing many underwire bras, girdles, corsets, and other ways in which women have used metal throughout the 1860s and 1930s to achieve the perfect body shape. Throughout history, a perfect body was one that was considered to have an “S” shape — large in the front and large in the back. One of the pieces that caught my eye was what Stern called a maternity girdle. In the 1860s, pregnant women would use girdles to keep their ideal shape while they were pregnant. Stern highlighted through this case that even today, with the underwire bra, women still go to lengths to achieve their perfect body shape through clothing.
Examples of underwire bras and girdles used in the 1860s-1930s.
Another case I particularly found interesting was the Couture Case, where more ethnic and time period-sensitive dress made of metal were displayed. Stern explained that in the early 1900s, some of the more expensive and lavish dresses for the nobility were entirely made of gold — there were no means of making synthetic material for dresses, so designers would cut metal into fine, thin strips to make them malleable for dresses, which then felt like silk. Stern went into great lengths to describe each piece and its history, such as the Paul Poiret coat, insured for $60,000. There was also a metal-sequined bikini within this case. The bikini originally belonged to a Las Vegas showgirl who happened to be one of Frank Sinatra’s mistresses.
Metal bikini next to a Romanian wedding dress – the sequins for both were all metal and hand cut. For The wedding dress was considered to ward off evil spirits and show family’s wealth.
More gold dresses, featuring the Paul Poiret coat, center left.
Overall, I found this exhibit to be quite fascinating. I loved seeing how many different uses metal has had in the fashion industry and I especially liked seeing Stern’s enthusiasm for her work. Wishing her many successes for the future!