Creative Fashion Forum

  • About
  • Costume Design
  • Curation
  • Exhibitions
  • Collecting
  • Contact

The Vulgar at The Barbican

11.08.2016 by Susan Bishop //

Body parts for The Vulgar at the Barbican, 2016. Photograph by Susan Bishop
Body parts for The Vulgar at the Barbican, 2016. Photograph by Susan Bishop

My role working on The Vulgar exhibition was to make arms and body parts for padding-out the body forms for historic dress.

Archived dress objects need careful handling for preservation, and modern mannequins are the wrong shape to achieve period silhouettes.

Garments need to be moulded and styled to the body form, using various types of padding.

Working with paper patterns, the arms were cut from one layer of Calico and one of Cotton Lawn, and then stuffed with wadding. Arms were sewn onto the body form, and styled to suit the narrative. Breast and tummy pads helped to bring the forms to life.

It was a valuable experience and got me in touch with my sewing skills.

The Vulgar exhibition, at The Barbican, showcases flamboyant dress and what has been thought of as distasteful.

People’s views about what is offensive change over time, so it’s interesting to reflect on the changing attitudes to fashionable dress.

Categories // Exhibitions Tags // Barbican, The Vulgar

About Us

The Creative Fashion Forum

Susan Bishop developed the Creative Fashion Forum to showcase her work in fashion, costume design and fashion curation, which also includes guest film and exhibition reviews. Read more

Talks

The Creative Fashion Forum

Susan is an accredited Arts Society and WI speaker and regularly gives talks across the country for various organisations. Latest Talks

Connect

  • E-mail
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Recent Posts

  • Ethical and Sustainable Fashion
  • Susan’s Vintage Tour
  • The Spectacle of Fashion at Barkers Department Store 1928-1930
  • Fashion Curation – Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL)
  • Fashioned from Nature – V&A
  • Historic Embroidery Techniques – School of Historical Dress
  • Motivations for Collecting Vintage Jewellery–Old Bangles and Beads
  • Modernist Plastic Jewellery – Bakelite, Celluloid and Lucite

About

Susan Bishop developed the Creative Fashion Forum to showcase her work in fashion, costume design and fashion curation, which also includes guest film and exhibition reviews.

Latest Articles

  • Ethical and Sustainable Fashion
  • Susan’s Vintage Tour
  • The Spectacle of Fashion at Barkers Department Store 1928-1930

Connect

  • E-mail
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2023 Creative Fashion Forum

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT