The Museum of Vancouver is having a problem with nipples. Somehow, it has to get rid of them. Big breasts arent welcome either. Tiny waists are fine as long as they dont lead to curvy hips.
Its an interesting dilemma to be in as the curatorial staff prepares for the museums next exhibit, Art Deco Chic Extravagant Glamour Between the Wars.
The exquisite dresses and beaded fashions will be displayed on dozens of mannequins. But todays mannequins suit todays image of the ideal woman six feet of skinniness on legs, pert breasts, lots of cleavage and Size 2 waist.
The fashions of the 1920s may have liberated women from corsets and allowed them to kick up their heels to do the Charleston, but there was also a desire for a return to innocence after the horrors of the First World War. A womans sexuality had to disappear under the sack-like cut of the dresses. She was to appear androgynously childlike even as she broke free from social constraints.
As a result, the perfect mannequin for most of the Art Deco dresses is about 54, low-breasted (as opposed to small-breasted) and with a waistline that only hints at hips underneath.
We absolutely must make the mannequins nipples disappear, says Joan Seidl, the museums director of collections and the curator of the exhibit that opens March 8. Weve tried using bandages but it didnt work so were buying them padded bras.
Its more challenging to make the modern-day mannequins shorter. The 1930s ballroom gowns were meant to brush the floor like a feather. On a six-foot mannequin, the dresses stop at the shins.
Helping them out is Kevin Smith. The owner of An Arm and A Leg mannequin rentals is one of the shows sponsors. Hes donating 30 mannequins for the exhibit and he spent part of last week in the museums basement workshop helping the museums fabrication co-ordinator, Dave Winstanley, get them ready for the exhibit.
If it wasnt for the piece of sandpaper in his hand, you could say that Smith is lovingly caressing the disembodied mannequins leg that rises like a flagpole from the workshop table. But he is, however, treating the leg with respect as he prepares to give it an alabaster finish.
Mannequins are great story tellers, he says. When a mannequin is really working and talking to you, its super cool. It can transfix a six-year-old or a 66-year-old.
The bulk of the collection comes from the closets of Ivan Sayers and Claus Jahnke, whose knowledge of the eras fashions is matched by their insatiable love of the outstanding workmanship.
Art Deco Chic Extravagant Glamour Between the Wars runs from Mar. 8 to Sept. 23 at the Museum of Vancouver.
