Fifteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Fashion and dress exhibitions have largely been excluded from the contemporary discourse on colonial implications within the museum sector. Fashion, as an emerging academic study has a unique opportunity to challenge the ways in which museums are moving towards the decolonial process. This project aims to understand how fashion curators are challenging colonial narratives in their own practice. This research is imperative to the museum sector as it is no longer acceptable to be neutral within curatorial practice. Curatorial neutrality has perpetuated the Eurocentric ideals while erasing histories and experiences of people and groups who were 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, collaboration of multiple voices and stories and the inclusion of multiple global contexts are identified. Curators have the ability to challenge the ways in which museum visitors engage with colonization though fashion and dress history.