When fashion become more than a fashion statement: Fashion in Museums symposium unpacks fashion histories in museum archives

By Tonderai Chiyindiko

The Fashion in Museums symposium convened by the African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) recently held at Museum Africa in Johannesburg brought together local and international designers, academics, curators, fashion design students and researchers to debate, exchange notes and engage in robust discussion on methodologies and strategies of curating fashion in museums.

For researcher and PhD candidate Pierre-Antoine Vetterello whose approaches include using oral history, family portraits and newspapers as sites of meaning and knowledge to “decentre the discourse on museums”, this platform was important and necessary for many reasons chief among them being that such conversations are not happening in Europe. He argued that since museums are not neutral spaces but institutions which are a direct product of the colonial project and thus carry within them histories of enslavement, subjugation and erasure, it is important that engagements such as the Fashion in Museums Symposium take place so they bring to focus difficult conversations around fashion curatorial practice.

“It’s great to have conversations about museums, furthermore about fashion in the museums, and what it entails to show fashion because fashion itself is a colonial construct and museums are colonial constructs”, says Vetterello

In his presentation entitled Black Yarns : Unveiling Perspectives through Press archives, Family Photography and a Decolonial Lens, Veterello posited that the understanding of one’s identity and place within society must start from the personal histories contained in items such as family photo albums, and other accessible ‘archives’ including oral stories which from an African context contain more than their face value meanings.

Fashions designer and researcher Wanda Lephoto facilitated a session entitled Fashioning New Archival Registers and Resonance where he was in conversation with sustainable textile designer and researcher Sindiso Khumalo and Ncumisa ‘Mimi’ Duma, a storyteller and stylist whose primary medium is hair.

For Professor Khaya Mchunu and Kiara Gounder, whose presentation entitled Handling and doing with care: A reflection on the Martin Molefe Memory Project, their work on uncovering the life and work of the man affectionately known as the “Prince of African Fashion”, a project which allowed them to traverse places where the little-know maestro of fashion had worked. Part of these discoveries included how Martin Molefe is credited with designing 13 dresses for contestants of the Miss South Africa pageant in 1952 and designing 18 bridesmaid dresses for the Lesotho Royal Wedding in 1962.

Other activities around the Fashion in Museums Symposium included a curator-led walkabout of the Fashion Accounts in Museum Africa exhibition as well as paper presentations, roundtable discussions and a film screening.