Exhibition View The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Barbican Centre, 2016 Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna

VIENNA - The exhibition The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined explores the challenging yet compelling territory of taste in fashion. Starting in March 2017 and showcasing over 120 objects spanning the Renaissance to the 21st century, the exhibition at Prince Eugene’s Winter Palace seeks to stimulate discussion around the definition of the word “vulgar.” Based on statements by Coco Chanel and Jonathan Swift, the underlying thesis of the exhibition organizers is that (good) taste is purely a matter of opinion.

Conceived by curator Judith Clark and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, the exhibition takes literary definitions of “the vulgar” as a starting point. Expanding on various categories, for example, by exploring the relationship between fashion and the human body, the exhibition illustrates that vulgarity is inherent in fashion.

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Dress, Autumn-Winter 2014 2015, Ready-to-wear. Courtesy Moschino.

Historic dress, couture, and ready-to-wear fashion are juxtaposed with textile samples, manuscripts, photography, and film, illustrating how taste is a mobile concept: what once was associated with vulgarity is reconjured by fashion designers to receive greater importance in the definition of “good taste.”

The exhibition opens at the London Barbican Center in October 2016 and draws from major public and private collections worldwide, with contributions from leading modern and contemporary designers and fashion houses such as Christian Dior, Jeanne Lanvin, Christian Lacroix, Louis Vuitton, and Vivienne Westwood.

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Ensemble, Autumn-Winter 2014 2015, Ready-to-wear. Courtesy Moschino.

The exhibition concept includes the newest research findings in psychology into the various interpretations and origins of “the vulgar.”

The publication to accompany the exhibition (Buchhandlung Walther König, publisher) includes illustrations and essays by the exhibition makers, as well as interviews with the designers in the exhibition such as Walter van Beirendonck, Christian Lacroix, and Zandra Rhodes.

Winterpalais -  3 March to 25 June 2017

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Pam Hogg, Cape, shorts and headdress, ‘Diamond Dogs and Demons’ Collection, Autumn-Winter 2015–2016, Ready-to-wear. Image by kind permission of SimonArmstrong.com

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Crown created by Stephen Jones, Autumn-Winter 2005–2006, Haute Couture © Guy Marineau

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Dior by John Galliano Haute Couture spring-summer 2009  © Guy Marineau

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined. Eighteenth Century Court Mantua (Robe and Petticoat). Courtesy Fashion Museum Bath

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined. Eighteenth Century Court Mantua (Robe and Petticoat), 1748–1750. Courtesy Fashion Museum Bath

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined. Dior by John Galliano Haute Couture spring-summer 2005 © Guy Marineau

The Vulgar : Fashion Redefined. Dior by John Galliano Haute Couture autumn-winter 1998 –1999 © Guy Marineau

 Exhibition View The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Barbican Centre, 2016 Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna

Exhibition View The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Barbican Centre, 2016 Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna

Exhibition View The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Barbican Centre, 2016 Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna.

Exhibition View The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Barbican Centre, 2016 Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna.

 Exhibition View The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined, Barbican Centre, 2016 Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna