PowePoint Presentation component for Museum Exhibition Senior Seminar project at the Fashion Institute of Technology

1. Rock & Royal
Rock & Royal focuses on he costumes of the European monarchy and
aristocracy and their influence on rock and roll and pop culture. Using photos,
videos, and authentic costumes, the exhibition highlights some of the most
notable looks in the history of popular music. The objects in Rock & Royal
address social changes while reinventing their original meanings about gender
roles and sexuality, politics, etiquette and behavior, social class, and notions of
identity in the latter half of the 20th century and early 21st century. Rock & Royal
hopes to acknowledge the works that play an immeasurable role in creating the
dramatic look that has made rock and roll an exciting and crucial force in popular
culture and society as a whole.
The exhibition is designed as a group show with loose organizing
principles. Booths might be installed by artist, historical theme, or chronological
order, but encourages visitors to create their own paths throughout the space.
One goal of the exhibition is to create a sense of freedom for visitors and
encourage them to roam around freely, as if they were at a music festival where
they can see and be seen.

2. Rationale
Only in recent years has the study of fashion and popular
music been taken seriously by academics. Most stage designers,
including costumers, have remained largely anonymous despite the
immense craftsmanship and attention to detail that goes into
producing these types of outfits. However, Rock & Royal is designed
to be fun and interactive, and aims to break the stereotype of the
“serious” and intimidating museum experience. Everyone is a member
of the intended audience because of its wide appeal and shared
experiences.

3. “A pop star is like a film star, taking on many parts but retaining an essential 'personality' that is common to all
of them and is the basis of their popular appeal.”—critic Simon Frith
Madonna “Vogue”
1990 MTV Video Music Awards
Costume Designer: James Acheson
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTaXtWWR16A
At the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna performed "Vogue" in a dress
previously worn by Glenn Close in Stephen Frears' 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons. Costume designer
James Acheson won an Academy Award for the film's 18th century period clothing.
Madonna's routine is an excellent example of the importance of costume for an
entertainer. The costumes and accessories, along with the choreography, subvert ideas of
conventional behavior and sexuality and help heighten the drama and theatricality of the
performance. The song explicitly references movie stars associated with classic Hollywood
glamour, and the aristocratic style of the costumes intensify the song's effect by elevating these
stars' iconic status—Madonna's included—into something divine.

4. Commedia dell’arte can be traced to court jesters and other entertainers
who performed for royalty. The plots, characters, and costumes from the commedia
dell’arte served as prototypes for the fledgling fields of opera and ballet. Opera was
the favorite form of court entertainment for Louis XIV, as he felt its lavish scenery
and costumes reaffirmed his beliefs in the high authority of his court and divine right
to rule. While these supposed “high” modes of performance seem to have little in
common with rock and roll, performers such as Queen’s Freddie Mercury and David
Bowie have adapted these styles not only in their music, but in their stage costumes as
well. The Harlequin and Pierrot characters from the commedia dell’arte tradition
perform a number of roles, including the trickster and the heroic lover. Such
characters are subversive and defiant, much like rock and roll.

5. Mercury was influenced by the elegant movements of Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in
his own performances, and Léon Bakst’s designs for the 1910 Ballets Russes production
Carnival inspired this black and white checkered unitard. In 2012, Mercury’s outfit was
sold at auction for £22,500 ($37,889 U.S.)
Freddie Mercury
V-neck unitard,
1970s, private
collection

6. Natasha Korniloff, Pierrot (or "Blue
Clown") costume, 1980
Used in the video “Ashes to Ashes” and the
album cover for Scary Monsters (and Super
Creeps).
Exhibited in David Bowie Is at the V&A
Museum in London, 2013
David Bowie wearing Korniloff’s Pierrot design
Bowie had theatre and pantomime training
before pursuing music. This costume builds upon
both his alien alter ego Ziggy Stardust and the
conventional Pierrot design.

7. “The Ballad of Maxwell Demon”
Velvet Goldmine (1998)
Director: Todd Haynes
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
URL: http://vimeo.com/69393516
“The Ballad of Maxwell Demon” is a music video within a feature-length film. In
Velvet Goldmine, the fictional rock star Brian Slade (played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) creates an
alter ego named “Maxwell Demon,” a character similar to David Bowie’s alien Ziggy Stardust.
The costume’s style borrows heavily from the Rococo period associated with Louis XV but is
still identifiable as a glam rock outfit from the early 1970s. Glam rock took some of its cues
from Hollywood’s Golden Era, as well as the era before the French Revolution. During this
time, men wore lace, cosmetics, heels, and other items now considered inappropriate for men.
The cut of the suit allows for ease of movement as he gestures with his entire body during
the song. The outfit, makeup, and accessories have androgynous qualities associated with the
glam rock look, and such cues allow young fans to identify with this particular subculture. The
costume also helps form the Maxwell Demon persona by creating an origin story and
mythology for the character, as if he were not only extraterrestrial, but has a noble birthright
as well.

8. The Resnick Pavilion at LACMA

9. The Resnick Pavilion
The Resnick Pavilion was built as part of LACMA’s Transformation project. Along
with the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, LACMA has added a total of 100,000 square feet to
its campus. Designed by Renzo Piano, the pavilion is 45,000 square feet and designed for major
exhibitions. It is the largest purpose-built, naturally lit, open-plan museum space in the world.
The museum is the largest in the Western United States, and LACMA is the largest in LA. It
actively seeks diverse and multicultural audiences and works. Los Angeles is also the capital of
the American entertainment industry, making it the perfect location for a blockbuster exhibition
about music and fashion.

10. LACMA Curators
Sharon Takeda, Senior Curator and Head of Costume and Textiles Department
Kaye Spilker, Curator, Costumes and Textiles Department
Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915
Breaking the Mode: Contemporary Fashion From the Permanent Collection
Fashioning Fashion, October 2nd,
2010—March 27th, 2011
One of the first exhibitions
shown at the Resnick Pavilion
when it opened in October
2010

11. Guest Curators
Andrew Bolton from the Met’s Costume Institute has curated the
exhibitions Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, PUNK: Chaos to Couture,
AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression British Fashion, and Dangerous Liaisons:
Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century.
Several curators from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum would
also be able to contribute to Rock & Royal. 2013 saw two blockbuster
exhibitions, David Bowie Is and Hollywood Costume. David Bowie Is had the
highest number of presale tickets in the museum’s history. The curators
responsible for the show are part of the V&A Theatre and Performance
Department, Head of Exhibitions Victoria Broackes and Department
Director Geoffrey Marsh. The V&A brought in costume designer Deborah
Nadoolman Landis as a guest curator for Hollywood Costume. In 2013, the
V&A also staged Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian
Tsars, curated by Tessa Murdoch.