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Vishal Khairnar
इस खबर को सुनने के लिये प्ले बटन को दबाएं।
Can what we wear reveal more than just taste? A daring new exhibition at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York, suggests exactly that. Titled Dress, Dreams & Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis, the showcase draws unexpected yet fascinating links between Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and the world of fashion.
Curated by Valerie Steele, the exhibition gathers nearly 100 garments spanning decades and designers, framing clothes as reflections of desire, fantasy, protection, and the unconscious mind. “Despite all the problems with psychoanalysis, it provides clues to the power and allure of fashion,” Steele noted during the preview.
Among the striking highlights is Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1938 Hall of Mirrors jacket, with gold and silver trompe l’oeil panels, connected to psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s “mirror stage” theory. The narrative continues with Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic cone-bra corset dress—immortalised by Madonna—as well as daring designs that explore themes of fetish, identity, and sexuality.
Fashion’s flirtation with Freud is not new. Marc Jacobs once debuted the cheeky Freudian Slip dress, while John Galliano explored fantasy and fetishism in Dior’s Freud or Fetish collection. Even Prada toyed with psychoanalysis in Roman Polanski’s Cannes short film A Therapy.
Visitors can also revisit unforgettable cultural moments, like Jennifer Lopez’s green Versace gown from the 2000 Grammys—an enduring example of how the “naked dress” balances allure, taboo, and exposure.
From Issey Miyake’s red leather bustier to Rei Kawakubo’s architectural silhouettes, the exhibition’s final rooms explore fashion as a second skin—protective yet exposing, sensual yet suffocating. As psychoanalyst Pascale Navarri remarks, “Fashion exposes, simultaneously, our vulnerability about being seen and not being seen.”
Running until January 4, 2026, Dress, Dreams & Desire challenges viewers to see clothing not just as fabric and form, but as a profound dialogue between psyche and style.
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