A Walk in the Wardrobe

Photo from Poireton

"A Walk in the Wardrobe" is a suggestive exhibit recently organized by the MA in Fashion Curation at the London College of Fashion. (The group that put it together goes by the name Glasscasecuration.) The exhibit, which was unfortunately up for only a week, at the Ada Street gallery, explored the intimate relationship between fashion and memory. Trying to go beyond the visual, it set out to trigger lost and forgotten memories through the sense of sound and smell. A soundscape comprised of muffled noises—of what seemed to be people walking and rummaging through closets—was paired with bygone scents (the smell of moth and lilac) reminiscent of one’s grandmother’s wardrobe. The exhibit is comprised of two rooms: One is dedicated to the "masculine" wardrobe, with walls lined by black top hats. The other is dedicated to the "feminine" one, featuring a number of white dresses from different eras hung from the ceiling through a system of fishing wires. The color of the dresses, combined with the eerie and ghostly quality that empty clothes evoke, seem to perfectly illustrate Peter Stallybrass’s perceptive assessment that: "There is, indeed, a close connection between the magic of lost clothes and the fact that ghosts often step out of closets and wardrobes to appall us, haunt us, perhaps even console us."

Francesca