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Amid the hustle and bustle of Chelsea, where moving fast is a requirement, the Museum at FIT invites us to slow down and peek into its gigantic cabinet of curiosities.
“Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities,” now on view through April 20, is a new exhibit that features more than 200 garments and accessories inspired by the many objects you might have found within these encyclopedic collections, typically owned by the wealthy. The influence of colonialism on early collections and the misattribution of items from around the world is made clear, setting the stage for a nuanced look at the way objects from around the world have been collected, admired and (mis)understood—through the lens of fashion. Some of the objects on view are being showcased for the very first time. All of them are meant to pique curiosity through their rarity, beauty or originality, according to the museum.
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What is a cabinet of curiosity?
A sort of precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet of curiosity or “wonder-room” (wunderkammern in German,) is a collection of natural specimens or human-made artifacts that inspired a sense of awe (much like you’d find inside the American Museum of Natural History: seashells, taxidermied animals, dried butterfly specimens, paintings, weapons, tools, gemstones, etc.), held within a piece of furniture or contained with a room. You’d typically be invited to see one personally in the home of a wealthy collector between the 16th and 18th centuries.
“One of the things that really fascinated me in my research is that fashion objects were often part of these collections,” the exhibit’s curator Dr. Colleen Hill, senior curator of Costume, tells me. “[Fashion] is usually not the kind of thing that other scholars have focused on. Clearly, they're not fashion-obsessed like I am.”
Hill says she referenced illustrations, images and catalogs of the items in these cabinets and paired them with similar, fashion-related objects to “give a little sense of the breadth” to the kinds of things collected and to interpret the theme in her own way and evoke that same sense of wonder.
It’s important to note that these curiosity cabinets were based in Europe and collected by white Europeans during exploration when they “discovered” other places, so addressing the colonialism in the room was imperative, according to Hill. She did this within the exhibit’s text and through its objects, like the bird of paradise, for example. This bird was a popular item to showcase in early cabinets and was also used in fashion across time. There’s a hat from 1950 that features this bird feathers on display to illustrate this. It was hunted so much for these collections and fashion items that some of its species became endangered.
What kinds of objects are on display in the exhibit?
The show is actually sectioned into several sections—Vanitas, Illusions, Kunstkammer (chamber of art/wonder), Specimens, Aviary, Anatomical Theatre, Reflections and Refractions, Artisanship, What is it? and The Senses—which you snake around like you’re exploring a maze of oddities and wonders.
When I visited with Hill, we started at Illusions, which showcases accessories that look like something other than what they actually are, like boots that look like bare legs and a makeup case that looks like a camera. This section was inspired by a cabinet Hill saw in Sweden that contained something called “illusion gloves,” which were a once-popular gag that people would pull on each other during the Renaissance. (You couldn’t actually get your hand past the stitched opening.) Other pieces in this collection feature cool pieces of clothing that look like one thing and through either embellishment or printing/design look like something else. Lights click on and off here to make you linger a bit longer to figure out what’s real.
Kunstkammer showcases how cabinets of curiosity also contained artworks by displaying fashion and accessories that somehow incorporate masterpieces in their designs like Comme des Garçons’ adaptation of Arcimboldo’s work, “Vertumnus,” on a voluminous dress.
The Senses section allows you to hear and touch the items on display through audio projection and model replication of what they’d sound and feel like in your hands, because when you were invited into a cabinet of curiosity, it was different than the hands-off museum experience. You’d likely be able to handle the curiosities yourself. “The idea is that over time, this [dress] will deteriorate, it will get dirty, and that's very much part of the point—to underscore why fashion objects in particular tend to be very fragile, and why we have things behind Plexi, but also to kind of let people experience things a little bit differently.”
What is it? is the most interactive part of the show as it displays several historic fashion accessories that have largely become obscure or obsolete and each item’s name and description are hidden behind a panel that you only flip up once you’ve guessed what it is. I only got two right and I won’t tell you which.
Anatomical Theatre takes its cues from the real body or wax anatomical specimens collectors used to showcase, featuring apparel that is inspired by bones, organs and musculature. On display is a Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble featuring a muscle-and-vein-like print that reminds Hill of early wax anatomical specimens that were made to safely learn about the human body.
Reflections and Refractions features designs that shift and bounce light or create depth and movement in their patterns. This section is meant to represent collected items that tricked, enhanced or challenged the eye like prisms, camera obscuras, telescopes and mirrors.
Artisanship showcases beautiful designs made by skilled hands, like the silk and velvet “Samurai armor” ensemble by Armani—much like cabinets of curiosity would by displaying ecclesiastical garments, maps, and yes, armor.
The most visually arresting section, Aviary, in the center of the exhibit is a large “bird cage,” housing a variety of feathered objects to represent the menageries of live animals, including unusual birds that were collected. On view for the first time is a table adorned with feathers by milliner-turned-photographer Bill Cunningham.
Finally, Specimens is full of accessories and designs that look like animal and object from the natural world that people usually associate with these kind of curiosity collections. On view are a variety of earrings in clear bottles, from makers like Kai-Yin Lo, Ted Muehling to Tiffany’s. Around the corner, a fall 2013 gown by Tom Ford, intricately beaded in a zebra pattern, features a horsehair “mane” that runs down the center back of the garment.
Time Out Tip
Take your time and really think about the idea of “collecting,” Hill says.
“One of the things I really want people to think about is what piques their own curiosity,” she says. “So this is a show that is intended for exploration. It's also a show that even though everything is explained and clearly, I've thought very carefully about which objects go, where I really want people to make their own connections, it's not a didactic show. It's one where I encourage you to look at things closely, to see how we've juxtaposed things, and to really think about why these objects are so fascinating and why similar objects were so fascinating 300 years ago.”
See “Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities” for free between noon and 8pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, or 10am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays at the Museum at FIT located at 227 West 27th Street through April 20, 2025. There will be a corresponding symposium on March 28, 2025.