The Paper Fashion exhibition took place from March till August ’09 at the MoMu Museum in Antwerp and is the outcome of an investigation on paper clothing, a long-forgotten but very popular phenomenon in the United States at the end of the ’60s .
The fad can be traced back to 1966 when manufacturing company Scott Paper Company used the paper dress to promote their toilet paper and paper tissues. In exchange of $1.25, happy housewives would be mailed a paisley or pop-art ‘Paper Caper’ dress and some coupons to buy napkins and toilet rolls. Demand exceeded the 500,000 garments produced and other manufacturers soon followed with designs to promote their own goods.
It didn’t take long for designers to grab the idea and launch a proper ‘Paper Fashion’. In pure ’60s Pop culture, you could find one-off paper dresses adorned with portraits of the Presidential candidates and flower-power paper bikinis.
Disposable clothing had a very futuristic, ‘space age’ appeal. As one textile designer stated for Life Magazine, “Who is going to do laundry in space?”
The exhibition has already been to Athens and it will tour to the Design Museum in London from 10/2009 until 01/2010.
Tags: momu museum, paper fashion
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