Dress Up, Dress Down

Celebrity dress up time at the Warhol exhibition
Photo: Lucy Chenhalls

One of the things I learned during the run of the Warhol show was that I was not the only one who got a kick out of exploring identity through clothing, fashion, and "dressing up/dressing down."

Whenever given the chance, tons of people showed up in droves and spontaneously waited in lines to get their pictures taken in photo booths, dressed up in drag, posed on the red carpet for digital cameras, made screen test videos, recorded stories, and were "Warholized" on laptop computer screens.

The urge to try on a new garment is like trying on a new persona: "I would never wear that," but don't you wonder what it might be like, just once?! If no one ever saw you, would you try it out as an imagined or possible new self? What does it mean when we say "these shoes are so ME" —How does that translate and what are we really saying about ourselves in what we choose to wear? Take that a step further and connect it to something we may desire or want to change or enhance. That the point of our Project Fashion Show workshop on May 9-10 (Mother's Day weekend).

The workshop, designed by Nancy Kangas, is a chance to exercise your clothes sense, creatively. Come thrift store shopping with us, and your own favorite intergenerational group of any all genders, then work together to craft and try on expressive garb. We'll ask ourselves about the kind of self-portraits we generate by the clothes we wear, and we'll explore who we are with garments and accessories—and on paper with short prose poems and character studies.

Who knows what you'll want to try.... Feeling a little bit lousy and need to create a superhero persona inside of your purse to help you through your day? Boots to ground you? Sunglasses that cry so you don't have to? Or how about a particular hat for those moments when you are craving chocolate, just to let everyone around you know, so they'll pass you some?