Bodice
1997 {autumn-winter 1997}
- Medium
- linen, cotton (lining), metal (fastenings)
- Measurements
- 77.0 cm (centre back) 27.0 cm (waist, flat)
- Place/s of Execution
- Italy
- Inscription
- stamped in ink u.c.: 42
stamped in ink l.c: SEMI COUTURE / PARIS / BREVETE S.G.E.G / 35059 - Accession Number
- 2018.30
- Department
- International Fashion and Textiles
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased NGV Foundation, 2018
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest - Gallery location
- Level 3, NGV International
- About this work
-
In its brand messaging, Maison Martin Margiela often plays on the iconography of the tailors’ atelier. Much like the traditional dressmaker form, Margiela’s linen bodice is numbered and lettered. Printed at the bottom are the words ‘semi couture’, reminding us of the hands involved in the stitching and tailoring of any garment. Margiela dresses the woman in the shape of fetishised femininity, thereby showing the artificiality of gender as constructed by fashion.
