Inside Out: Structures and Secrets
Fashionable dress is designed to be worn “right side out.” Prints and patterns, adornments, and perfectly precise stitches are often reserved for the exterior surface of garments. This “right side” reflects the public life of garments, including how they circulate in the media and the role they play in our daily lives. In contrast, the inside represents the private life of garments. It contains hidden traces of construction in the form of labels, hems, and sometimes-rushed sewing. The inside also records the bodily imprint of the wearer. Sweat, blood, and threadbare or mended areas are signs of the bodies that once inhabited the garment.
The interior of a garment holds important evidence about both the maker and the wearer. Researchers and curators rely on these clues to further understand the life and meaning of a garment. Yet, the public rarely has an opportunity to view and contemplate the inside of garments held in museum collections. While there is knowledge to be gained from looking at any historical garment inside out, the pieces in this exhibition were selected because their condition can withstand being reversed for the duration of the exhibition.
Three pieces included in the exhibition were displayed in the Avenir Museum as a preview and announcement of Inside Out: Structures and Secrets. Visitors and students were asked to provide observations about the garment interiors. These comments have been incorporated into the exhibition to demonstrate the depth and variety of details hidden inside garments.
As you move through the exhibition, you are invited to share your observations and impressions. What details do you see? What stories do the garments tell? Where, on a given garment, is the threshold between the private interior and the public exterior?
