The model is an intriuging mix of things: it can be a rudimetary sketch, an idea, a miniature, a set of instructions or a prototype. Only in fashion is the model a living, breathing human bing. This talk explores the origins of fashion models in the nineteenth century and their uncanny confusion with mannequins in the twentieth, teasing out the contraditions between the model dress and the model woman.
Caroline Evans is Professor of Fashion History and Theory at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (University of the Arts, London) where she teaches and writes on twentieth-century and comtemporary fashion. She is currently working on a history of early fashion shows and modernism.