Fairy Tale Fashion
January 15 - April 16, 2016

Exhibition Webpage | Interactive Experience

 

“The Paris openings have really opened something. They have opened a desire in the feminine heart for more beauty, more elegance, and more luxury. They have suddenly awakened the Sleeping Beauty slumbering in all of us, turning every woman into a fairy-tale princess. It is so easy to imagine what such a princess would do!”

Vogue, October 1, 1933

The term “fairy tale” is often used to describe clothing that is especially lavish, beautiful, and seemingly unattainable. Yet in spite of its ubiquity within the fashion lexicon, connections are rarely made between our perception of a “fairy tale” gown in fashion editorials or on the runways, and the texts of classic fairy tales. The significance of Cinderella’s glass slippers is widely known, but they represent only a fraction of the references to clothing in these stories. Each of the 15 tales included in Fairy Tale Fashion—based on the work of prominent writers such as Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Lewis Carroll—was selected for its direct references to clothing or its mention of important recurring motifs, such as blonde hair or red roses.

Since fairy tales are rarely set in a specific time period or place, the stories in the exhibition are illustrated using garments and accessories that date from the 18th century to the present—with particular emphasis on extraordinary 21st-century fashions by designers from around the world.

While fairy tales have a long history within fashion, the arts, and popular culture, they have proven in recent years to be more pervasive than ever. In her 2014 publication Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale, the mythographer Marina Warner wrote that people of various professions, including couturiers, performance artists, photographers, and even therapists “are losing themselves in the forest of fairy tale in order to come back with baskets of strawberries picked in the snow.” But why is this? And why have fairy tales been so important to fashion in particular? Some theorists believe that designers are creating fantastical and escapist clothing in an attempt to counteract an increasing emphasis on technology, functionalism, and globalization.

Not all the imaginative designs in Fairy Tale Fashion were inspired directly by the tales they represent, but they can be easily linked to the stories’ texts. A pristine, white fur cape by J. Mendel is used to fashion “The Snow Queen,” Dolce and Gabbana’s lavish ball gown with hand-painted roses illustrates “Snow White and Rose Red,” and a pair of Christian Louboutin stilettos, crafted in the shape of a bear’s paw, signifies “Beauty and the Beast.” This is an imaginative and subjective approach to organizing an exhibition, but it mirrors our experience of fairy tales. Beyond its basic written description, the appearance of clothing in fairy tales is entirely up to our imaginations. Perrault’s Cinderella wears a gold and silver dress, dotted with jewels, but we will all envision this dress differently. Even Little Red Riding Hood’s cloak—seemingly the most straightforward of all fairy tale fashions—has been subjected to countless variations. Observing the myriad ways in which illustrators have drawn fairy tales over the centuries underscores that fairy tale characters, and the clothes they wear, need not be defined by a single image.

Depictions of sartorial splendor serve to enhance the sense of wonder and fantasy that is integral to the fairy tale genre, but fashion within these tales often holds a deeper meaning. It can be symbolic of a character’s vanity, power, privilege, or transformation. In real life, we are frequently encouraged to believe that with the acquisition of the right wardrobe, we will lead better lives—a “fairy tale”–like existence. We hope that a change in the way we dress can act as a means to reinvent and reimagine ourselves, as it works in fairy tales. Perhaps we can truly fashion our happily ever after.

Colleen Hill, curator
[Brochure Text]

Publication

Fairy Tale Fashion by Colleen Hill, Yale University Press, 2016.