Statement Pieces: Fashioning the Self & Society

Statement Pieces: Fashioning the Self & Society explores how fashion and the visual arts influence understandings and representations of our identities. Juxtaposing works from the KIA’s collection with contemporary fashion from the Barrett Barrera Projects collection, this exhibition examines how self-presentation and identity have been shaped and reimagined over the last 200 years. Fashion and portraiture address more than appearance—they can present ideas, status, and even offer visibility. They can also become sites where identity— particularly the construction of the feminine—is staged, negotiated, and at times challenged.

Images of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century women in Statement Pieces reveal how femininity was expressed through posture, dress, and carefully composed surroundings. Contemporary fashions by Gucci and Molly Goddard echo and transform these earlier representations, offering vibrant colors, embellishment, and exaggerated silhouettes to signify status, fantasy, and the persistent performance of femininity. Through photographs by James Van Der Zee and Ernest Withers, who depict African American women as dancers, singers, and cultural icons, the exhibition also explores visibility as a form of authorship, claiming space via movement, glamour, and presence. This sense of self-determination finds parallels in the garments of Alexander McQueen and Dapper Dan, where clothing serves as both protection and declaration. Elsewhere, Statement Pieces offers a different perspective on selfhood. Works by Helen Frankenthaler, Catherine Hinkle, and Miriam Schapiro shift attention from outward appearance to emotion, structure, and materiality. Similarly, designers such as Bea Szenfeld and Vivienne Westwood use form and experimentation to push fashion beyond function and into the realm of conceptual art. Meanwhile, Hung Liu, Sheila Pree Bright, Cindy Sherman, and Rei Kawakubo further challenge conventional ideas of identity, representation, and the body. Overall, Statement Pieces: Fashioning the Self & Society invites visitors to consider how appearance and self-expression shape our understandings of ourselves and others—and how our identities remain dynamic, evolving constructions.

Organized in conjunction with Barrett Barrera Projects.

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