Utopian Bodies: Fashion and Resistance

This catalogue accompanied the fashion exhibition 'Utopian Bodies: Fashion Looks Forward' in Liljevalchs, Stockholm, Sweden, 25 September 2015 - 7 February 2016.

This was one of a range of essays commissioned to explore the idea of utopia in fashion. Here, I trace the subversive uses of fashion: from dress reform to subcultures, from the carnivalesque in high fashion to the spectacle of protest. In the discussion, I consider how body adornment has been deployed in the struggle for free expression.

The exhibition 'Utopian Bodies: Fashion Looks Forward' mapped out imaginable futures for the adorned body, focusing on the positive aspects of fashion: How can fashion be harnessed to create a better future? How does fashion relate to the human body, to us as individuals and groups, and the world around us?

• Organisation