The objects, images and garments on view in the exhibition “Cut from a Different Cloth: Fashion Selections from Tulane Special Collections” track the importance of apparel through many levels of the New Orleans community, from grand society dames and Carnival royalty to Black Masking Indians, college students and titans of world couture.
“New Orleans is not one of the great fashion capitals of the world, like we think of New York or Paris,” said co-curator Faye Daigle. “Clothing is still as essential as food, as our culinary culture, as our music.”
Exhibit sections are organized by “Society and Carnival,” “Campus Style,” “Sewing: Dressmaking and Textile Art,” “Shopping,” and displays dedicated to drag and LGBT material culture.
On the title wall, text advises that the exhibit “does not reflect a comprehensive material history of New Orleans fashion,” but rather that history as reflected in Tulane’s holdings and a few items loaned for the exhibit.
According to co-curator Kevin Williams, the holdings of the Special Collections – which entail the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, the Louisiana Research Collection, the Southeastern Architectural Archive, University Archives and Rare Books — would stretch, if organized end-to-end, 7½ linear miles.
Print and podcast coverage of the exhibit are here and here. Photos are below.
