Museums, dress and time

Authors

  • Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen University of Oslo Anno Museum

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.6345

Keywords:

museums, dress, folk dress, fashion, costume and multiple temporalities

Abstract

This article presents work on dress-related time perspectives in a number
of museums. First, a couple of Scandinavian museums are scrutinized. Catalogues,
research and exhibitions show how the issue of dress is handled along two parallel
lines. The understanding of folk connects dress to place, and the understanding of
fashion connects dress to temporality. Over the last few years, dress research has
challenged this paradigm. The exhibition Power of Fashion at Nordiska Museet
exemplifies how new ideas are transferred from research to exhibition. The second
part of this article presents some alternative discussions of museums, dress and
time, supported by the concept of multiple temporalities. Based on this discussion,
the article looks at exhibitions of historic dress in some European and American
museums. Finally, the article suggests how inspiration from fashion exhibitions
and the concepts of multiple temporalities can be useful when exhibiting historic
dress.

Author Biography

Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen, University of Oslo Anno Museum

IKOS - Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages

Centre for Museum Studies

Ph.D., Associate Proffesor

Senior Curator at Anno Museum

Issue

Section

Articles