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Carole Mikita ReportingYou've heard the expression 'you are what you eat', some believe that phrase can be turned into 'you are what you wear'. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts currently has a exhibit on the history of fashion.
The exhibit looks at women's fashions in the 20th century; all of the pieces are from Utah. The idea is to make visitors who come here see that as society changed, so too, did clothing.
From the tightly corseted waistline and protruding bustle to a creation considerably more comfortable comes this 20th century retrospective, an exhibit of fashions by decades, one dress for each decade. The hats, dresses, shoes and jewelry come from the museum's collection, all donated by prominent Utahns. Many of them are designer creations--Christian Dior, Geoffrey Beene, Emilio Pucci.
Margot Shott, Guest Curator: "How they responded to the various social and economic forces that were happening, which, of course, were major, looking at things historically."
Women getting the vote, two world wars, the turbulent 60s -- times changed and so did our clothes. Margot Shott, who worked in the fashion industry for many years, is the show's curator.
The idea of putting costumes in this fashion exhibit is not only to show you styles of the time period but also a reminder that the performers moved in these creations.
Designers at the Utah Shakespearean Company based a creation for 'Born Yesterday' on an ensemble actress Judy Holliday wore in the film. Pioneer Theatre Company's designer copied a suit worn by Eva Peron for the production of 'Evita', from the Utah Opera, two elaborate creations for 'RosalInda'.
'Streamlines: Fashioning the Appearance of the Modern Woman' will be here through June 30th. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is on the University of Utah campus.
