Vienna museum unveils 400 years of fashion history
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
The Wien Museum in Vienna, Austria, recently installed a new exhibit called “Farbenspiel, Mode aus vier Jahrhunderten” (Play of Colors, Fashion from Four Centuries), displaying 111 garments and 300 accessories from its collection of 25,000 textiles.
Preparations for the exhibit lasted a year, with staff members spending months dressing mannequins.
The exhibit, which opens October 1st, does not present fashion chronologically, but instead organizes pieces by color, red, white, black, blue, green, and yellow, to explore the history and meaning of each hue. Curators Regina Karner and Michaela Lindinger explain that colors once considered undesirable, like yellow and green, are now associated with empowerment. Yellow was historically linked to social stigma, while green was once dangerously toxic due to arsenic used in its production.
The exhibition also reveals that black was once the traditional color for wedding dresses. Queen Victoria was one of the first women to wear white at her wedding in 1840, and Empress Elisabeth of Austria followed suit. The exhibit includes a ballgown worn by Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) from 1885/87, as well as pieces from contemporary designers like Gertrud Höchsmann.
A pair of stage trousers worn by the Austrian musician Falco is also on display, though they reportedly shrank after being used in a music video. A shimmering silver dress created around 1905 by the Schwestern Flöge fashion salon is a centerpiece of the exhibition. Textile restorer Britta Schwenck spent six months repairing the delicate dress before it could be exhibited. The exhibition runs until March 28, 2027, after which the garments will return to the museum’s storage.
