It’s always exciting when a museum puts on a carefully selected exhibition from its own collection, featuring works that have never been shown to the public before. And exciting is the perfect word to sum up the Denver Art Museum’s new “Conversation Pieces: Stories from the Fashion Archives.”
I wouldn’t call this an ambitious event. Very few shows are created from in-house objects. These are a quick, easy, and certainly inexpensive way to fill up your art gallery.
Because the materials are already on site, the museum saves on transportation and insurance costs. The curatorial choices are less about building experiences around grand concepts or documenting important moments in art history, and more about showing what’s in the storeroom, or in this case, the closet.
Still, these efforts are critical to both museums and the patrons who support them. Without these, some important objects may remain hidden forever. It’s a waste of human effort and money, and much of its sponsorship cash comes from taxpayer dollars and the generous contributions of donors who trust the museum to share its collections with the community.
Equally important, these shows allow art fans to appreciate the work curators are doing on their behalf. Are museums making the right choices with their limited acquisition funds? Are they in good taste?
The good news is that “Conversation Pieces” is packed with great taste and great examples of work from some of the most popular high fashion designers of the past 100 years. The exhibition’s energy comes from the star-studded list of creators displayed on 60 mannequins on the sixth floor of DAM’s Martin Building.
Fashion lovers can’t help but be dazzled by this 1926 outfit worn by Coco Chanel, the famous inventor of the little black dress (and, of course, more). The pieces on display are eye-catching with their low, wide necklines and fringes that extend from the shoulders and hems. This sign informs the viewer that it is made of silk chiffon and embroidered with bugle beads.
And the garment is displayed next to an updated version of Yves Saint Laurent’s 1982 style. This one has beads as well as rhinestones and chantilly lace. It is also famous for being worn by actress Catherine Deneuve.
This display features many more premium brand names. Wool dress by Geoffrey Beene and Pierre Cardin. Elsa Schiaparelli velvet coat dress. Evening dress adorned with faux pearls by Christian Dior. Coordination of jacket, shirt, and pants by Yohji Yamamoto. Another coat dress by Rei Kawakubo.
The manufacturer’s clothes bring everything up to date with more contemporary trends, such as printed synthetic knit dresses by American designer Vivian Tam. Dresses and shawls by Peruvian designer Ani Alvarez Calderon. Metallic gold frock by Mexican designer Carla Fernandez. A printed silk party dress by Alexander McQueen, a British designer who passed away in 2010.
And some pieces are fun to look at, even if the designer is not well known to many people. Rick Owens pleated ball gown. A lustrous debutante dress by Anne Lowe adorned with silk flowers.
That may sound like a huge list of objects, but this is actually how “Conversation Pieces” unfolds as a show. When it comes to style and era, it’s all over the place, but DAM’s textile team, led by curator Gil D’Alessandro, tries to make sense of things by grouping dresses with similar personalities, made in the same era, or with complementary techniques and colors. This greatly helps visitors understand the background and high fashion history of these particular pieces at the same time.
Although the production has global roots, the show adds a local flair. It pays homage to Neusteters, the family-owned department store that brought the world of fashion to Denver until it closed in 1986.
Remarkably, several dresses still exist that were worn by socialites from a bygone era when Denver was a booming metropolis enriched by mining and the westward expansion of American culture. Among them is a luxurious 1935 silk velvet evening wrap by Italian designer Maria Monachi Galenga that, as the exhibition text tells visitors, was “worn by Mrs. Thomas Patterson Campbell of the Rocky Mountain News.”
Colorado has never been considered a fashion capital (unless you count ski wear, but that’s an exaggeration), but these objects remind exhibit-goers that clothing has always played the same role here as it does anywhere else. Clothes are a legitimate means of artistic and self-expression, as well as a way for people of different social and economic classes to separate themselves from each other.
The show largely avoids the politics swirling around the design industry, especially at a time when critics are preoccupied with the environmental toll of fast fashion and the shortcomings of an industry known for exploiting labor around the world. There is no major theme other than the idea of giving people a glimpse of what Denver has collected since the museum acquired its first collection of women’s clothing in 1942.
But this kind of showing off can be fun and exciting. This is a collection of lovely dresses, culled from a collection that fans and supporters of DAM can easily admire. If the goal is to build a bit of pride for the local museum and provide an unexpected treat for visitors while doing so on a modest budget, then mission accomplished.
If you go
“Conversation Pieces” will be on view at the Denver Art Museum, 100 14th Street, Denver, through February 7, 2027. Information: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.
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