Curatorial Practices Challenging Colonial Narratives in Fashion and Dress Exhibition

Abstract

Fashion and dress exhibitions are often excluded from the contemporary discourse on colonial implications within the museum sector. As an emerging field of study, fashion provides a unique opportunity to challenge how museums are moving towards decolonial processes. Curators can challenge the ways in which museum visitors engage with the effects of colonization through fashion and dress history. This project aims to understand how fashion curators challenge colonial narratives in their practice, as it is no longer acceptable to be neutral within curatorial practice. Curatorial neutrality has perpetuated Western ideals while erasing the histories and experiences of people and groups negatively affected by colonization. This project combines curatorial interviews and case studies to investigate how fashion and dress exhibitions challenge colonial narratives in the museum sector. Through the preliminary stages of this research, themes of identity, the collaboration of multiple voices and stories, and the inclusion of numerous global contexts prove beneficial.