“Dressing the Body” reflects on the manipulation of the human body throughout the history of fashion and illustrates the standardizing of silhouette and body shape from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. The exhibition is organized in a chronological fashion and occupies the entire 3rd floor of the museum, some 655 m2. A large collection of shaping, supporting and deforming undergarments opens the exhibition and introduces the theme of the reshaping the body. This central installation divides the historical (-1900) and a contemporary part (-2015) of the itinerary.

A series of spacious showcases offer dynamic visuals of mannequins grouped and set in relation to each other. A cluster of 4 figures illustrate the structural manipulation of each chapter and describe the type of prosthesis that was used to comply with the ideal body of the time. A luminous background with subtle changes in color and tone sharply outline the silhouettes altered to perfection. In front of the showcases a large graphic band of text, drawings and images links the different chapters and runs as a time and guideline throughout the exhibition space. The contemporary fashion collection is presented in a full length showcase along the museums atrium space. Its backdrop, a wall to wall projection in motion, reinforces the theatrical setting and its architectural scale.

Project: Permanent exhibition "Dressing the body"
Location: Design Museum Barcelona
Date: 2014

Author: Julia Schulz-Dornburg
Collaborators: Eugenia Troncoso, Pat Castillo (technical arch.); Oscar Frago (structure)

Client: ICUB, Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Director: Pilar Vélez
Curator: Teresa Bastardes, Silvia Ventosa
Coordination: Angela Cuenca, Eugenio Civera
Construction: UTE Grop-Lavola
Lighting design: Toni Rueda
Graphic design: AAAA. Pere Canals

Photography: Xavier Padrós