UNT exhibition to display traditional Asian garments

12 Dec '12

3 min read

A wedding outfit of shimmering ikat silk from Uzbekistan and a decorated Indian saree glittering with gold embroidery and crystals will be among the items on display at ‘The Joy Losee Collection: Art And Dress Along The Silk Road’, an exhibition of traditional cultural garments from the Texas Fashion Collection (TFC) at the University of North Texas (UNT).

Dawn Figueroa, assistant curator of TFC, told fibre2fashion, “A fashion exhibition ‘The Joy Losee Collection: Art And Dress Along The Silk Road’ presented by the University of North Texas, College of Visual Arts and Design as part of the ‘UNT Collections, Cultures and Collaboration Series’ will be on display from January 15, 2013 to February 9, 2013.”

“The ‘UNT Collections, Cultures and Collaboration Series’ is a project that engages with graduate students in art history and art education to conduct original research on contemporary artworks,” she adds.

According to Dawn Figueroa, under the series students get opportunities to visit with artists and arts professionals as they conduct original scholarly research.

She says, “The fashion exhibition is the sixth installment of the project which will display the Uzbekistan wedding garment and accompanying festival costume.”

“The collections are intricately designed with dyed and woven silk as well as lush embroidery,” she continues.

She further says, “It is clear that they are for a very special occasion yet they are so different from what we are used to seeing in western clothing.”

The TFC assistant curator informs, “Students in a graduate-level art history course studied the garments in this exhibition first hand through visits to the Texas Fashion Collection. They developed teaching tools and scholarly methods of examining the works throughout the fall 2012 semester.”

“Excerpts from their research are shared in extended label texts throughout the exhibition, and will be presented by students in a series of Noon Gallery Talks during the show,” she mentions.

Talking about Joy Losee, the former Pan Am flight attendant and collector of Asian costumes, she says, “Ms. Losee’s gift has greatly expanded the global rankings of the TFC, giving students and researchers an opportunity to gain an understanding of the style and lives of women abroad.”

“One of the unique and significant features of Ms. Losee’s collection is that she had the foresight to collect entire outfits including the accompanying accessories,” she mentions.

Ms. Figueroa adds, “Her collections includes items from the Americas, Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific, the exhibition will feature a selection of items from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Thailand, the Philippines and other countries as well as cultures along the Silk Road.”

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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