A fascinating look at the unexpected juxtapositions between
twenty-first-century fashion design and historical garments.
Fashion Reimagined features fifty outstanding examples of fashionable
dress drawn entirely from the superb collection of the Mint Museum,
Charlotte, NC. Organized to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of the Mint's costume collection in 1972, the checklist
includes men's and women's fashions from 1760 to 2022. The book is
divided into three sections that reflect three aspects of historicism:
Minimalism, Pattern and Decoration, and The Body Reimagined. Each
catalogue entry addresses a theme and provides information and insights
about the individual designers, fabric and construction details, and
globalization that is embedded in both the textiles and fashions 1760 to
the present.
The Mint's fashion collection features a wide range of historical
garments, together with significant pieces by major contemporary
designers, including Oscar de la Renta, Gianni Versace, and Miuccia
Prada. Ranging from court suits to street wear, highlights include an
English eighteenth-century sack back dress, two English men's court
suits, early nineteenth-century printed cotton dresses, wedding dresses
from the mid and last quarter of the nineteenth century, as well as a
rare 1920s wedding ensemble by Roman fashion artist Maria Monaci
Gallenga, a very rare early twentieth-century Ispahan mantle by Paul
Poiret, an unusual mid twentieth century Black Narcissus dress by
American designer James Galanos, several examples of 1960s and 70s mod
and hippie chic style, and innovative contemporary fashions by Giorgio
Armani, Romeo Gigli, Zandra Rhodes, Anna Sui, Yoji Yamamoto, Walé
Oyéjidé for Ikiré Jones, Anamika Khanna, and Iris van Herpen, among
others.
