En klädsam historia : om konventioner i modeutställningar och deras narrativ
(2023) ABMM74 20231Division of ALM and Digital Cultures
- Abstract
- The aim of this master thesis is to analyze how conventions emerge and spread through fashion exhibitions and their narratives. This is a relevant topic both for museology and fashion studies considering the popularity of fashion exhibitions and their presence in different kinds of museums. Two different exhibitions are examined, “Kläder & Couture” at Textilmuseet in Borås, and “Nordens Paris” at Nordiska museet in Stockholm, through an exhibition analysis on three levels where I look at 1). what kind of objects the exhibition consists of, 2). how the exhibition speaks to the visitor and 3). how the different texts in the exhibition relate to one another. Two separate interviews are also conducted, with three individuals holding key roles... (More)
- The aim of this master thesis is to analyze how conventions emerge and spread through fashion exhibitions and their narratives. This is a relevant topic both for museology and fashion studies considering the popularity of fashion exhibitions and their presence in different kinds of museums. Two different exhibitions are examined, “Kläder & Couture” at Textilmuseet in Borås, and “Nordens Paris” at Nordiska museet in Stockholm, through an exhibition analysis on three levels where I look at 1). what kind of objects the exhibition consists of, 2). how the exhibition speaks to the visitor and 3). how the different texts in the exhibition relate to one another. Two separate interviews are also conducted, with three individuals holding key roles in the creation of the exhibitions to get a better understanding of the practical work “behind the scenes”. The material is analyzed using new institutionalism as the theoretical framework. The concept of different kinds of isomorphism is predominantly applied to the material – coercive isomorphism, mimetic isomorphism and normative isomorphism.
The thesis concludes that there is an established timeline over fashion history museums have to abide by, where developments in the silhouettes are connected to societal events and phenomena. Old conventions about showing a spotless version of fashion history are partially challenged, creating a new convention in exhibiting a more nuanced version of history. How this fashion history is exhibited is affected by practicalities such as pre-existing spatial conditions and the quality and attributes of the fashion objects. The analysis also show that the museum visitor can be seen as an isomorphic power that can affect how the museums design their fashion exhibitions, since the museums want to meet the perceived wishes of the visitor. Conventions are therefore mutable and changing over time. This thesis also conclude that the main convention prevailing in fashion exhibitions today is that the exhibition should be a visual experience, where the visitor should be able to “read” the exhibition and absorb knowledge using objects only. This poses a challenge for the museum field, where the expertise in fashion museology hasn’t increased at the same pace as the popularity of the fashion exhibition. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9119502
- author
- Sigfridsson, Beatrice LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- ABMM74 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- convention, fashion exhibition, fashion museology, isomorphism, visual experience
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9119502
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-20 13:28:17
- date last changed
- 2023-06-20 13:28:17
@misc{9119502,
abstract = {{The aim of this master thesis is to analyze how conventions emerge and spread through fashion exhibitions and their narratives. This is a relevant topic both for museology and fashion studies considering the popularity of fashion exhibitions and their presence in different kinds of museums. Two different exhibitions are examined, “Kläder & Couture” at Textilmuseet in Borås, and “Nordens Paris” at Nordiska museet in Stockholm, through an exhibition analysis on three levels where I look at 1). what kind of objects the exhibition consists of, 2). how the exhibition speaks to the visitor and 3). how the different texts in the exhibition relate to one another. Two separate interviews are also conducted, with three individuals holding key roles in the creation of the exhibitions to get a better understanding of the practical work “behind the scenes”. The material is analyzed using new institutionalism as the theoretical framework. The concept of different kinds of isomorphism is predominantly applied to the material – coercive isomorphism, mimetic isomorphism and normative isomorphism.
The thesis concludes that there is an established timeline over fashion history museums have to abide by, where developments in the silhouettes are connected to societal events and phenomena. Old conventions about showing a spotless version of fashion history are partially challenged, creating a new convention in exhibiting a more nuanced version of history. How this fashion history is exhibited is affected by practicalities such as pre-existing spatial conditions and the quality and attributes of the fashion objects. The analysis also show that the museum visitor can be seen as an isomorphic power that can affect how the museums design their fashion exhibitions, since the museums want to meet the perceived wishes of the visitor. Conventions are therefore mutable and changing over time. This thesis also conclude that the main convention prevailing in fashion exhibitions today is that the exhibition should be a visual experience, where the visitor should be able to “read” the exhibition and absorb knowledge using objects only. This poses a challenge for the museum field, where the expertise in fashion museology hasn’t increased at the same pace as the popularity of the fashion exhibition.}},
author = {{Sigfridsson, Beatrice}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{En klädsam historia : om konventioner i modeutställningar och deras narrativ}},
year = {{2023}},
}