peculiarities of a costume in a collection can be analysed only in the context of the
fashion show concept. The viewer “consumes” the costume to the extent he/she can, in
his/her own imagination, creates an image of himself/herself that is associated with the
processes of self-identification and socialization. The runway walk as a dynamic form
of representations is not only a demonstration of a costume on an individual, but also
of an individual in a costume.
Lately thematic displays of costumes in museums have become relevant. It is a
static form of representations, based on the regularities of the exhibition design.
Museum exposition is a closed space and an artificially formed object-spatial
environment that fills it. They have special lighting and exposition equipment. The
costume demonstration uses mannequins, which is the main difference from the
runway walk. The costume exposition in museums, first of all, gives a possibility of
the most close and detailed look, often from all the sides. There is a transformation of
a costume – an art object in the art space in the form of installations. It is important that
the museum display is long-term, influenced by the location in general, by peculiarities
of the architecture in particular. The revealed variants of the costume display in the
museum’s space make it possible to classify such expositions as representative
practices. In various conceptual expositions, their organizers actualize different in
content and significance sociocultural and social issues. The range of problems of the
exhibition determines the context of representations, the dominant place in which
belongs to a mannequin as a simulator of the living wearer of a costume. If the purpose
of the exposition is solely in the demonstration of the costume forms, their changes and
designs, the mannequins, as a rule, are “neutral,” “faceless,” and are the basic filling of
clothing forms and costume structures. They do not attract attention and do not have a
decisive influence on the impression from cultural animation.
If the purpose of the exhibition is to show a costume in the reconstructed socio-
cultural environment, the mannequins are made specifically, in accordance with the
parameters of the historical costume, with preservation of the forms, proportions,
typical features of the costume wearer of the corresponding period. However, in
neutral, restrained colour shades, in order not to create a disharmony of perception of
the general display. Quite often historical costumes are shown on mannequins without
heads. In such cases, documentary photographs are used that capture the image of the
wearer of the historical period so that the viewer could simulate it in his/her
imagination.
Contemporary conceptual costumes exhibitions use the same conceptual
mannequins, for example from transparent or black plastic or plastic of bright vivid
colours. In this case the styling of the mannequin body – torso, limbs, and especially
the shape of the head and facial features, is already a product of contemporary art. In
exposition, such stylized mannequins, as a rule, can “take” non-standard poses in order
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