At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there is an entire room devoted to suits of armor. It is a firm and shiny reminder that there have been times when human beings felt it would be best for them to wear metal plates on their bodies. Steel garments may not be comfortable or flexible, but they shield the wearer from misfortune — just as a raincoat would, or a parka in the freezing cold, or a fiberglass helmet on the head of a bicyclist, or a visor on a scorching day. Before style, before sharpness, and before social capital, the first purpose of clothing is protective.
The vests, shirts and petticoats on display in “Touch Me: Feeling Fashion” — a brave, imaginative show that will be at The Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts at William Paterson University in Wayne until May 3 — appear avant-garde. They incorporate materials unlikely to show up on Uniqlo racks: thermoplastics, brass tacks from upholstery, mycelium from mushrooms, smashed Concord grapes and shattered eggshells. Many of these designs are meant to be interventions in the outsized ecological footprint left by the fashion industry. Others, like Ani Liu’s light-blasted, see-through silk suit designed for a pregnant man, are clever sociopolitical provocations.
