Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities

Chambers of wonder (the translation from the German Wunderkammer) - more popularly known as cabinets of curiosity - have become a popular visual trope within the creative industries. Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities is the first project to explore the role of dress within the cabinets and, how the conceits and ideas underpinning them have inspired fashion designers. Whilst the cabinet aesthetic is highly compelling, their histories are deeply problematic. This enchanting and deeply thought-provoking exhibition, curated by Dr Colleen Hill, actively engages with this.

Cabinets of curiosity are often described as the precursor of the modern museum and many of the items they contained later formed the basis of early museum collections in the nineteenth century. They comprised a piece of furniture, a room or series of rooms within a private residence and, were the preserve of white male, mostly European, royalty, aristocrats and, wealthy scholars. Many were formed during the 16th to 18th centuries, a time of great fascination for science and travel.

The objects they contained can be loosely divided into two categories; naturalia (items such as shells, fossils, bones) and artificialia (human-made objects including religious relics), with the latter including items of dress. These were classified and represented as specimens that were displayed with the utmost pride for the collector’s own pleasure and to share with invited guests. Some cabinet owners collected personally and there existed a highly competitive and lucrative market for ‘souvenirs’ - objects of awe and wonder - acquired by ‘discoverers.’

Like the cabinets, fashion exhibitions combine objects, ideas and mise-en-scène. The first gallery of this exhibition is painted black, evoking a sense of drama and discovery. Here, we are introduced to the history of the cabinets and their links with colonialism, the portrayal of communities as ‘other’ and the theft of cultural artefacts. A large reproduction of a 1655 engraving shows the cabinet (a room) of the collection of Ole Worm, a Danish physician, with clearly labelled objects, which include a cluster of garments - a Greenlandic fish gut parka, shoes and boots from Central Asia and a leopard skin coat. Displayed alongside is a leopard skin coat designed by Christian Dior some 300 years later, also an object of wealth, power and status. For many years, museums would not display fur for fear of animal rights reprisals. But, as with other contentious objects, including a c.1950 hat bedecked with a full taxidermy bird, there is a curatorial shift to engaging with, rather than censoring, such items.

Here, we are also introduced to the core theme of the show via a series of juxtapositions of fashion objects from the museum’s collection with images that convey ideas, themes and objects pertaining to the cabinets. Jean Paul Gaultier’s silk slip dress with a Greek statue print from S/S 99 (purchased for the show) is shown alongside an image of the Statue of Euterpe by François-Anne David dating from 1787. The commodification of nature - so popular today - is, of course, centuries old. Animate ‘specimens’ were also collected and proudly displayed to guests, with, what Europeans named, ‘birds of paradise,’ native to New Guinea, being especially prestigious. An Alexander McQueen (the fashion designer most associated with cabinets of curiosity), polychrome printed chiffon dress from S/S 03 is paired with a rendering by Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt of a scarlet macaw from the collection of Emperor Rudolf ll, 1596-1610.

In the main exhibition gallery, the bird theme is amplified in the form of a gigantic aviary housing feathered fans, opera cloaks and other fashions and, a be-feathered table from the 1960s made by photographer Bill Cunningham, who had started his career as a milliner.

The show is organised into ten themes which include `Vanitas’, ‘Illusions’, ‘Reflections and Refractions’, ‘What is it?’ and Artisanship.’ Hill states that, 'The fashion that survives within museums often memorialises vanities and desires from the past. Much like the vanitas, historic clothing reminds viewers of the progression of time.'

Optical instruments such as telescopes, camera obscuras and mirrors form another category. Objects of illusion trick the eye and were intended to amuse privileged visitors who were invited to handle them. Objects of deception, such as gloves with the cuffs sewn together to negate their function, or composite taxonomies made to resemble macabre creatures and mermaids, were highly sought after. Other objects were represented. For example, narwal tusks were described as unicorn horns.

The cabinets also helped expand knowledge of the human body. Some contained human bones and/or wax that had been sculpted and painted to resemble human anatomy as closely as possible. In turn, fashion designers work with the body, take inspiration from bones, organs and musculature and, take delight in the surrealist love of illusion, interior and exterior. This aspect is presented in a display called ‘The Anatomical Theatre.’ A cabinet-like vitrine titled ‘Vanitas Specimens,’ contains a stone-coloured Fortuny pleated silk dress (c.1930) which is coiled to resemble a mollusc or an ammonite, an Elsa Peretti bag (c.1971) is formed like an oyster shell and, an 1870s fan is decorated with a butterfly design that resembles a pinned specimen. A wall of near-extinct fashion objects invites the visitor to ask ‘What is it?’ with the answers concealed under wooden flaps. Items include a calash bonnet, lorgnette and a flower holder.

This is a visually stunning, exquisitely well-lit, and intellectually provocative show which invites active participation from visitors, who are asked questions, can open drawers and are invited to make their own journey of discovery. Curator Colleen Hill told me that, 'The cabinets were about education but also entertainment, which is what I have tried to do here.’ Her thought-provoking and awe-inspiring exhibition has achieved precisely that.

Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities is open to the public at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, until 20 April, 2025.