1994
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
Dress
Autumn/winter 1994–95
Vivienne Westwood, British, born 1941
Dress of black silk-synthetic tulle undergarment of black silk net and red silk satin
Purchase, Gould Family Foundation Gift, in memory of Jo Copeland, 2015 (2015.65a, b)
1986
GEORGINA GODLEY
Dress
Autumn/winter 1986–87, edition 2019
Georgina Godley, British, born 1955
Dress of black synthetic jersey; undergarment of black cotton-Lycra jersey padded with synthetic foam, batting, and cotton domet
Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2019 (2019.433a, b)
Since the 1970s Vivienne Westwood has combined a love of history with an irreverent sense of humor to create fashions that challenge contemporary standards of beauty and taste. Her autumn/winter 1994–95 “On Liberty” collection was inspired by the padded underpinnings of the late nineteenth-century bustle. Rather than obscure the pads under draped fabric, Westwood exposed them under transparent layers, micro-length skirts, and jacket peplums. The red pad at the back of this dress exaggerates the silhouette in a provocative reference to the feminine ideal of the 1890s.
Georgina Godley’s autumn/winter 1986–87 “Bump and Lump” collection featured silhouettes that hovered between the beautiful and the grotesque. “Everyone had the perfect body,” Godley observed of the 1980s. “My work was all about challenging the perspective of what could be beautiful. It was all the things we learned to consider ugly.” The collection comprised stretch synthetic jersey dresses worn over padded undergarments that augmented areas of the female body, such as the hips, stomach, and buttocks. The ample rear of this dress challenged fashionable standards, and its allusion to the 1880s bustle pointed to changing concepts of feminine beauty.
Georgina Godley’s autumn/winter 1986–87 “Bump and Lump” collection featured silhouettes that hovered between the beautiful and the grotesque. “Everyone had the perfect body,” Godley observed of the 1980s. “My work was all about challenging the perspective of what could be beautiful. It was all the things we learned to consider ugly.” The collection comprised stretch synthetic jersey dresses worn over padded undergarments that augmented areas of the female body, such as the hips, stomach, and buttocks. The ample rear of this dress challenged fashionable standards, and its allusion to the 1880s bustle pointed to changing concepts of feminine beauty.