Mickey Boardman, PAPER magazine, Abecedarium Presentation on the Muumuu and Caftan

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From the course by The Museum of Modern Art

Fashion as Design

401 ratings

The Museum of Modern Art

Fashion as Design

401 ratings

Among all objects of design, our clothes are the most universal and intimate. Like other kinds of design, fashion thrives on productive tensions between form and function, automation and craftsmanship, standardization and customization, universality and self-expression, and pragmatism and utopian vision. It exists in the service of others, and it can have profound consequences—social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental. Fashion as Design focuses on a selection of more than 70 garments and accessories from around the world, ranging from kente cloth to jeans to 3D-printed dresses. Through these garments, we’re going to look closely at what we wear, why we wear it, how it’s made, and what it means. You’ll hear directly from a range of designers, makers, historians, and others working with clothing every day—and, in some cases, reinventing it for the future. Studio visits, interviews, and other resources introduce the history and development of each garment and their changing uses, meanings, and impact over time. Course Learning Objectives: Develop critical tools to appreciate and contextualize fashion design—from everyday clothing to couture garments—through many different perspectives. Trace the history, development, and impact of garments over time, and explore how they may be reinvented. Investigate garments through multiple lenses including politics, identity, and economics. Understand more about the lifecycle of clothing, from its design and production to its marketing, distribution, and consumption. Better comprehend the choices you make about fashion with respect to the visual language of dress, individual and collective identities, and issues such as labor practices, sustainability, and body politics.

From the lesson

Silhouettes

When we put on clothes, we change the shape and outline of our bodies—sometimes profoundly. The silhouettes we adopt are determined by everything from shifting trends in fashion to what looks and feels good. This week, we explore how clothes shape the body and how cultural constructions of the body shape clothes.

Mickey Boardman, PAPER magazine, Abecedarium Presentation on the Muumuu and Caftan7:05

Meet the Instructors

Paola Antonelli
Senior Curator, Department of Architecture & Design, and Director, Department of Research & Development
Department of Architecture & Design
Michelle Millar Fisher
Curatorial Assistant
Department of Architecture and Design
Stephanie Kramer
Research Assistant
Department of Architecture & Design
Anna Burckhardt
Curatorial Assistant
Department of Architecture & Design

The muumuu I mean just to say it, muumuu, close your eyes when I say it,

we're at MoMA talking about the muumuu.

You're either about to squeal with delight or flee in a panic.

And I'm about to do both.

This is a picture of me in a muumuu, I apologize that it's not full length,

but this is a vintage muumuu that I have that was green and navy blue, and

I would wear tucked over pants.

I would wear a tie.

The design, I wore it like 1,000 different ways.

I don't know where it is today.

And I don't know where I am today.

So there's a lot of consistency in this presentation.

>> [LAUGH] >> So just a little historical stuff about

muumuu, which thank you to Michelle and everyone at MoMA who was so

wonderful helpful with supportive, factual information about the muumuu.

When missionaries arrived in Hawaii, not only I was surprised to find out that

the local Polynesian women were thrilled with how the missionaries dressed,

which was sort of a very slim-sleeved kind of tight on top kind of what's the word?

Not flashy kind of a way, discreet, demure, demure, yes.

Whereas the large Polynesian ladies were basically just in layers of towels and

whatnot.

So anyway, that's how the holoku or the muumuu was born.

And you can see it sort of devolved into this,

which of course, I'm completely delighted with.

And holoku, there are two different versions of the story, holo means run and

ku means stand, because it was an outfit that then these women could run and stand,

and they swam in it, they I'm sure had sex in it, they could do everything in it.

It was super super modern, and I think it looks great, and

it's sort of the grandmother of the current muumuu.

Now this, to me, the muumuu at its peak, was always symbolized by my friend Beth,

who was a flight attendant for United Airlines.

And when she worked first-class from Chicago to Honolulu, for

the dinner service, she changed into this muumuu.

That's not her, that's a mannequin, if you're wondering why she looks so pasty.

I have a very bad picture of myself in her muumuu, but unfortunately,

was unable to find it.

So anyway, to me it said, you're going to Hawaii you're getting special service,

you're in first class, that deserves a muumuu.

So that's the muumuu at its peak, because the muumuu has known high highs and

devastating lows.

This was a high high for me depending on who,

this is Agnes Moorehead who played Andorra on Bewitched.

Do we have any Endora fans out there?

>> [APPLAUSE] >> So we do have a few gays out there.

>> [LAUGH] >> And some ladies, now, again,

much like black, this look, she was a witch.

She was evil but she was glamorous.

And I mean, I think, always the evil step-mother or

mother-in-law was always the most chicly dressed.

So I loved Endora and thought she looked great.

And there was Samantha also wearing sort of a black muumuu.

That was a special episode, I think that was in Salem for the witch trials.

>> [LAUGH] >> On Bewitched.

So now, there's a lot of confusion on my part, personally, about the muumuu.

Like, is it a muumuu?

Is it a kaftan?

Is it a djellaba?

because muumuu basically means anything that covers up your fat and

is in flashy, cheap-looking colors.

I've always found so.

>> [LAUGH] >> Basically, what a muumuu is is a loose,

brightly-colored dress, especially one traditionally worn in Hawaii.

A kaftan is a man's long belted tunic, worn in countries of the Near East.

And a djellaba is a loose hooded cloak, typically woolen,

of a kind traditionally worn by Arabs.

But I do still think that they all fit into the muumuu category when

they're meant to be a very forgiving yet festive kind of garment.

And that's the muumuu at its best.

For example, here is the queen of all muumuus, Elizabeth Taylor.

Now this I think is technically perhaps more of a kaftan, but how can you not,

do you not all think of a muumuu when you think of Elizabeth Taylor?

You either think of young Elizabeth in a riding outfit, or

you think of old Elizabeth in a muumuu, you do.

>> [LAUGH] >> She's gone up ten pounds,

she's a little drunk in the daytime, and

she's wearing a poochy muumuu in Marrakesh, am I wrong?

>> [LAUGH] >> May she rest in peace.

This one photographed by Henry Clark in 1967.

Here is the chic muumuu, which is perhaps technically a djellaba.

Bianca Jagger wearing a Zandra Rhodes ensemble in 1972.

Zandra Rhodes loves the muumuu, as well.

It's kind of just a big, shapeless, comfortable, easy-to-get-into,

easy-to-get-out of, easy-to-pass-out-in kind of ensemble.

>> [LAUGH] >> And how glamorous is Bianca?

Susan Hayward in Valley of the Dolls,

I'm breaking all gay stereotypes here in the muumuu presentation at MoMA.

She was the barracuda show business veteran who,

on stage wore sort of sexier, more contemporary outfits.

But when she was offstage, she was always in a muumuu with a martini,

giving sage advice and whatnot.

So she's, to me, the classic muumuu.

Shelley Winters in SOB.

A highly underappreciated film, SOB.

I don't know if they show it here at MoMA.

But, I just watched it the other day, as a matter of fact,

>> Yes, absolutely,

[LAUGH] every Friday they show SOB.

>> [LAUGH] >> Unfortunately poor Shelley Winters is

now deceased, so is unable to appear, but it's a story,

it's a Blake Edwards film, and Shelley Winters plays sort of a nasty,

power hungry agent of poor innocent Julie Andrews.

And she's always, because she's fat, she's always in a kaftan slash muumuu.

This one's very Chinese-y or to use the technical term.

And I think it's wonderful.

Here she is in the full-length version of it.

I mean, what a cast.

Look at that cast.

[LAUGH] Gotta have me back for a whole separate thing just on the cast of SOB.

There she is [INAUDIBLE] Now just when you thought we couldn't sink any lower slash

reach any higher.

Here at MoMO at the Bartos Theatre.

This is named after Celeste Bartos, this theater.

Celeste Bartos, Lord love her wherever she is.

I'm sure she has a muumuu or two.

Does any watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?

>> Of course!

>> [LAUGH] >> Too embarrassed, okay,

you can admit it after the show.

They went to Dubai, I understand, and Kyle Richards, aunt of Paris Hilton,

just to throw some more VIP names at you, always loves to wear a kaftan.

So the girls while they were in Dubai wore lots of kaftans, and lots of muumuus.

Here we are in some muumuus, Lisa Vanderpump and Kyle.

And I think also I felt like a little too hesitant,

Shahs of Sunset there's a woman on that show who has a line of muumuus but

I felt like the, the best, the lowest I could go was the Beverly Hills Housewives,

so anyway >> So

as you see the muumuu has a regal and sometimes sad history.

>> [LAUGH] >> It's beloved and reviled, but

it's always beloved by large, inebriated actresses and housewives.

>> [LAUGH] >> So I'm with them.

So I love the muumuu and I hope you do too.

Thank you very much.

[APPLAUSE]

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