Clothing can pack a punch, as evidenced in the Museum at FIT’s new exhibition “Power Mode: The Force of Fashion.”
While big-shouldered Eighties-friendly power suits might immediately come to mind, that is only one of the emboldening styles that is on view in the Fashion & Textile History gallery through May 9. Visitors are meant to mull over the roles fashion plays in establishing, reinforcing, and challenging power dynamics within society. Many of the 50 objects from the museum’s permanent collection are being shown to the public for the first time, including an oversized Marc Jacobs-designed suit that Lady Gaga wore last year and a Thom Browne shrunken suit that’s similar to the style worn by LeBron James during last year’s NBA playoffs.
Set up as a curatorial exploration more than a comprehensive overview, “Power Mode” is broken down into five categories – military uniforms, suits, status, sex and resistance. Emma McClendon, associate curator of costume at The Museum at FIT, who organized the show, said, “Power gets used so much in relation to fashion and there are so many ways people think about power and fashion. There is no way that we can show every possible example of a garment that
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