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skin tone the mannequin project

foreward

In the early 1930s, Miss Henrietta Thompson, department head and apparel design faculty member in the Department of Clothing, Textiles, and Interior Design, began building a reference collection containing objects of dress to use in her design classes. Hugh M. Comer provided the funds in the 1940s to purchase a collection of European textiles from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With the addition of this important collection, Miss Thompson was able to officially establish a museum collection of dress and textile objects within the department.

Throughout the decades, this valuable collection has grown as faculty, students, alumni, and friends donated cherished and meaningful objects. Various faculty members of the Department of Clothing, Textiles, and Interior Design have managed this collection, known today as The Fashion Archive. Currently it contains thousands of objects of dress and textiles which are used for study, research, and exhibition. In early 2018, we implemented a restructuring plan to elevate the professional processes and procedures that better align with our new, more focused collections management policy.

The exhibition, skin tone: the mannequin project, showcases in a visible and positive way, one of the many exciting programs, opportunities, and events we are creating, developing, and implementing. The project illustrates our progress towards making more purposeful and impactful representational changes in how fashion is studied and exhibited, while demonstrating our renewed commitment to inclusivity in our collecting, outreach, and engagement activities.

We hope you enjoy this important exhibition.

Shirley P. Foster, Ph.D., Chair

the project

We hope this exhibition sparks visitors to engage in a new dialog that expands the narrative about how objects of fashion within a collection are studied, presented, and exhibited. And that it inspires new ways of examining how representational changes can be made to better include rather than exclude.

the process

In The Fashion Archive LAB, four individuals had their skin tone color measurements taken with a mobile spectrophotometer. The measurements were converted into a corresponding paint color, the paint was mixed, and the mannequins were painted.

Objects from the collection, yet to be photographed, were selected for each mannequin to adorn. The selection process was informed by 'personality boards' created by each of the individuals using images of previously photographed objects within The Fashion Archive collection.

The final step was to photograph and film each individual with their mannequin – painted in their true skin tone color.

The documentary video showcases the entire process of how four white mannequins were objectively, purposely, and meaningfully transformed to better represent humanity’s true colors.

Marcy L. Koontz, Ph.D., Curator, The Fashion Archive

maria hernandez-reif
han-a park
clo patton
jenny goddard
showcase
maria
donor: unknown
Late 1960s jumpsuit

label: young victorian by arpeja

han-a
donor: kathleen wu
Late 1950s cocktail dress

label: louis haftel / miami beach

clo
donor: nell marshall reid
Early 1940s bias-cut gown

label: none

jenny
donor: joan kirtchman mitchell
Late 1970s blouse & long skirt

label: victor costa

skin tone : the coloring book
download, color & share your creations on social media - #theskintoneprojectTFA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Participants

  • Jenny Goddard
  • Maria Hernandez-Reif
  • Han-A Park
  • Clo Patton
  • Micah Easterling
  • Michael Ehmke
  • Morece Cotton

The Supporters

  • Stuart Usdan, Dean, CHES
  • Collin Sewell, UA Facilities
  • Tyler Capell, UA Facilities
  • PPG Paint Store - 15th Street
THANK YOU

Marcy L. Koontz, Craig Graves & Shirley P. Foster