I’ve always associated food as a medium that tells stories of people’s cultures, family histories, and experiences, so I enjoyed how the exhibit Food and Fashion at the FIT Museum challenged my thinking by creating an unconventional relationship between food, gender, and sexualization. In the exhibit, clothing adorned with fruit, desserts, and other culinary items was a way to make a statement about social issues regarding the objectification and sexualization of women.
For example, the chocolate bar dress designed by Jeremy Scott emphasizes how eating and engaging in sexual behaviors is driven by the shared force of desire. I interpreted the dress as both a nod to the pursuit of women and aggressive consumerism because of the Hershey’s logo. Hershey’s is a household name, and it is a huge chocolate brand, catching people’s attention. Wrapping yourself in a Hershey’s wrapper would represent succumbing to consumerism but also being an object of desire. Also, the form-fitting design is meant to emphasize certain aspects of the female body that society tends to value.
It was also interesting how certain pieces were in conversation with each other, such as the package of “Candy’s Bikini,” which was placed next to a design of abbreviated swim trunks by Versace. The package of the edible bikini seemed to take the notion of direct sexualization to an extreme- saying “Now you can have yours and eat it too!” – almost placing responsibility on women to wear it and represent themselves as desirable, pleasant, and inviting. On the other hand, Versace countered this with short and tight swim trunks featuring motifs of fertility through flowers, butterflies, and fruits. Placing these pieces together diverts the viewer’s gaze and forces them to think about men with a consuming eye, ultimately questioning why men are perceived differently.
I really liked how you used the connection between bathing suits and candy to explain the sexualization of people. It allows people to think deeper about society and issues that are interwoven in fashion.
I like how you highlighted how wearing popular food brands on us is us “succumbing to consumerism but also being an object of desire.” I’ve never really thought of it in a sexualized way as it always seemed funny to be that someone was wearing food-branded clothing as most people wear it for fun.