ASU FIDM Museum (formerly FIDM Museum) is unveiling a new exhibition, “Fashion Statements,” on September 5, 2024 in Los Angeles with the help of the rich local fashion and style community.

Drawn from ASU FIDM Museum’s extensive fashion collection, “Fashion Statements” features more than 70 works dating from the 18th century to the present selected by a diverse group of guest contributors, including Yuka Izutsu of Atelier Delphine. These leading experts in fashion, art and culture will offer personal interpretations and perspectives on style and creativity.

The ASU FIDM Museum, established in 1978, has a collection of more than 15,000 items, reflecting 400 years of history in fashion and costume design. “The works in the ASU FIDM archives represent centuries of craftsmanship and creative expression in the fashion arts - the fashion statements of their time,” said Dennita Sewell, founding director and professor of practice for ASU FIDM. “We have invited experienced tastemakers, community pillars and fashion lovers to participate as guest contributors, and their selections offer a sampling of designs and ideas that reflect the modern zeitgeist and demonstrate how contemporary audiences perceive the history of fashion. Through these perspectives, we aim to illustrate how the valuable resources available in our archives and library support the thriving Los Angeles fashion industry.”

“Seeing the collection through the lens of the community offers refreshed perspectives on the archival works and opens up its vast potential for creative inspiration and education,” added ASU FIDM Museum senior curator Christina Johnson. “ASU FIDM Museum exhibitions expand fashion narratives, inspire new generations of designers and celebrate the self-expression and joy that fashion brings to people.”

I was honored to be chosen to participate as a guest contributor, and worked closely with the museum team in choosing pieces for this exhibit - details on the pieces below, as well as a conversation with Christina Johnson, senior curator for ASU FIDM Museum.

Yuka Izutsu: This piece would resonate with a lot of people I think, because of the well-mixed cultures of East and West.

People have always speculated / dreamt about each others’ fashion and culture, and this is one piece where it visually becomes true. It is not about the competition, or which one is which but I see a lot of respect for each others' cultures in this piece. 

Yuka Izutsu: This is something I intuitively love. My classic love for fashion is this piece, and it is because the cut lines / paneling is to explore towards the next phase and beyond -

Getting out of corset body lines (formality) but going beyond and exploring how human body can embrace its body and seek freedom and creativity, without giving up the elegance and integrity. 

Yuka Izutsu: Hi Christina! You have been in the art history industry for a long time. Could you share a bit about your career history and background?

Christina Johnson: As a child, I was innately drawn to the beautiful historic ball gowns in my fairy tale books. Soon, I had checked out all the fashion and cultural history books at the Santa Monica Library where I grew up. I realized the main downtown Los Angeles Library had even more books—so my father drove me there on the weekends to check those out (remember—this was during pre-internet days, so the only way to learn about fashion history was in hard-copy publications!). In high school, I discovered my grandmother had trunks filled with antique family photos. I loved sitting with Grandma to pour over the fascinating nineteenth-century daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and cabinet cards to see the changing styles. 

I attended UCLA for Art History and then went to NYU for their MA in Visual Culture: Costume Studies. The MA program prepared people for work with museum fashion collections. Most of my classes were held at The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I cherish the time I spent there with my graduate school friends. Along the way, I completed a few internships with the intention of trying out a variety of positions to see if I enjoyed them or not. I conducted research on female home sewers at the New-York Historical Society, dressed mannequins for the Costume Institute’s Blithe Spirit exhibition, inventoried the swimwear collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and identified the historic photography collection at the Merchant House Museum in New York. Along the way,  I relished moments of quiet research, contemplation, creation, and writing. 

I’ve worked at ASU FIDM Museum (previously the FIDM Museum) for twenty-one years now, and time has flown by! I began my career as Collections Manager, which means I cared for the museum’s objects in storage and prepared places for incoming objects. I made sure the collection was organized, secure, archived, and accessible to staff and researchers. I found purpose in creating a peaceful environment in storage for people to view and examine the collection, and I liked seeing the research and creativity that ensued. After a decade of being a collections manager, I asked for the opportunity to co-curate an exhibition. I told myself that if I enjoyed that work and excelled at it, I would pursue the role full-time, and here I am—a curator!

YI: Could you describe your job for readers not as familiar with Art History or curation? I know this job is about preserving and exhibiting - so a lot of planning, observing, exploring, sourcing, etc.

CJ: Essentially, a curator forms, researches, and exhibits a collection of objects. Whether purchased or donated, most of the museum’s acquisitions are project-driven, meaning we acquire for specific exhibitions. Finding objects of interest is only one part of the puzzle. The other part is researching for authentication, context, and relevancy. So many magazines, photos, and archives have been digitized that it becomes easier by the day to research with a quick keyword search online. It’s always fun to find a magazine editorial of a piece from the collection, or quotes from a designer or wearer. Dressing mannequins and preparing objects for exhibitions, publication photography, and online use is really satisfying for me. This also takes research because objects need to be interpreted with a balance of period aesthetics and contemporary visual consideration. And of course, the collections manager in me still adores organizing research in databases and making sure it’s accessible to our audience.

But a curator’s role not just about the objects—it’s about people, too. In my case, this means sharing the stories of people who designed, crafted, and wore the museum’s collection. Also, being a curator doesn’t happen in isolation. There’s a whole museum team to work with, and every person brings different skill sets, interests, and life experiences to the conversation. There are also donors, supporters, visitors, and university staff to connect with. For as much as we work with silent objects, it’s important for curators to genuinely connect with people, with their varying interests, life experiences, and communication styles. They don’t teach you that in school; it’s something I learned on the job! 

Being a curator is a profound responsibility. I’m responsible for forming and passing down the museum’s collection to the next generation of people who find meaning and purpose in fashion. It’s my hope that the museum forms a training ground for emerging curators, scholars, and designers. Ensuring people are trained to value fashion’s material culture is an important way to ensure collections like this one continue to exist. Seeing or handling a historic fashion or design object reveals the similarities of people across time and culture who have all hoped to appear beautiful, authentic, and intriguing--or design objects with those very same qualities.

YI: Professional work aside, what is your daily / weekly schedule like?

CJ: Ideally, I would have time for everything I’d like to do, but with a busy family life and job, that’s not the case right now! I would love to take a yoga class three times a week, prepare and savor beautiful meals with my spouse, view the latest museum exhibitions, spend time taking “parent-and-me” classes with my toddler, and keep up with all the wonderful fashion books being published. But realistically, I’m lucky if I can get 20 minutes of yoga in once a week; I eat standing up in my kitchen more than I’d like to admit; and rarely get to go to exhibitions (thank goodness most museums have ways to view exhibitions online). Early mornings and weekends are devoted to spending time with my family; we read, swim, and go to parks and botanical gardens. I admit, I do enjoy the 20 minutes or so of quiet time after I wake up when I’m with my two pups and scrolling on Instagram, coffee-in-hand, before everyone else starts their day!

YI: When I visited and worked with you on this exhibition, I was fascinated not only by how impeccably stored all the collections are in the museum (climate control, the attention put on the items, etc.) but also by how I was able to keep my senses to things beyond just the items - histories, craftsmanship, culture behind each piece, how it ends up in certain forms, and patina of course all came to my senses smoothly like serene water traveling through a body. I think it’s partially the power of facility but also the power of you as a person and curator. I just wanted to thank you for that. 

CJ: My intention is to bring joy to people through my work in fashion history. I believe that appreciating thoughtful, beautiful design among old and new friends is one of the best ways to spend our limited time in this world. I’m so glad you enjoyed your time at ASU FIDM Museum selecting objects for the upcoming “Fashion Statements” exhibition, and I can’t wait to share this special project with the public. 

Credits:

Corset: circa 1900; Le Merveilleux, Paris, France, FIDM Museum Purchase: Funds donated by Linda & Steven Plochocki; ASU FIDM Museum, 2020.5.73AB.

DRESSING GOWN & MADAME GRES: ASU FIDM Museum.

"Fashion Statements" contributors Mark Palmen with curator Christina JOHNSON in the ASU FIDM Museum Archive: COURTESY OF ASU FIDM MUSEUM/DERREN VERSOZA