Phoenix Art Museum - Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): 

In terms of notable fashion events occurring in Downtown Phoenix, the offerings are quite narrow. However, just a few blocks from the Downtown Arizona State University campus, Phoenix houses a rare spectacle of consistently rotating fashion-related exhibits. Phoenix Art Museum is one of the few museums in the country that consistently showcases their collections of archival fashion pieces, and starting October 9th, refreshed the exhibit to display some of its most recent additions. This last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit The Art of Archiving Fashion exhibit, which more than exceeded my admittedly high expectations. Featuring looks from Fortuny to McQueen to Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel, this current rotation of looks was a time capsule to some of the most influential and significant fashion designers of the last century and beyond. 

Phoenix Art Museum is considerably small for the amount of art it offers. With exhibits from Modern to Contemporary and East to West-inspired paintings, not to mention the admittedly large installations occurring throughout many of the exhibits, it all amounts to a somewhat overwhelming feeling. The fashion exhibit, located in the back section of the second floor, is no stranger to such overpopulation. However, with consideration given to the amount they do with the space theyre given, the exhibit itself was nothing short of the excellence they promoted it as. Featuring looks from the 18th century to today, they seemed committed to giving the fashion enthusiasts of Phoenix more than enough to keep them entertained, effectively displaying a wide variety of known designers like Balenciaga and Dior, to names more aligned with those already educated on the history of fashion being displayed like Elsa Schiaparelli and Christiano Fortuny. This allowed them to achieve a genuine slideshow of evolving fashion, encapsulating the Roman-inspired drapings of Fortuny to the more avant-garde bespoke designs of Comme des Garçons. What aided this ‘slideshow’ effect, even more, was the organization of such garments, not only by the designers but also by time period, allowing the viewer to walk with the fashion as it morphed into more modern adaptations of the human body and aesthetics. Additionally, each look or showcase was paired with an artist statement, detailing how the garment(s) were acquired, where they came from regarding the time period and location of the original collection, as well as information about the designer, aiding even the less fashion-inclined viewers to have an understanding of what makes the significance of the pieces so significant. 

Despite an aesthetically ‘cluttered’ arrangement, the exhibit itself was truly impressive to witness. Phoenix is not necessarily known for its role in the fashion industry, as much as we are currently trying, so upon hearing of such an exhibit, I was mildly skeptical about whether or not it would feel like something I hadn't seen before. But upon visiting the museum itself, and seeing not only the fashion exhibit but all that the museum has to offer, I was more than impressed. Growing up in a place where Coach was still considered the epitome of fashion wealth and success, I still get that sense of ‘wow’ factor whenever I see a designer’s work up close, the only downside being that museums typically don’t enjoy their visitors to man-handle the garments as I often felt inclined to do just to see the craftsmanship in more detail.