New Day: Day 5

It’s the last day today so that means squeezing everything we haven’t done yet into a few hours…

First we went to the Flat Iron building on 175 5th Ave. Built in the early 20th century the building doesn’t fail to impress. Its triangular structure is unlike any other skyscraper in the city. When you’re stood at the base it seems too thin to even stand up right. It’s a beautiful, classical design and you can really imagine people in the early 1900’s scurrying around it.

Next stop was The Museum at FIT where we visited ‘The Body: Fashion and Physique’ exhibition. This exhibition was central around the ‘fashionable body’, how it has changed through time in the context of fashion and desirable assets. These ‘body politics’ are highlighted throughout the exhibition from the 18th century to present day. It made me realise this historically unhealthy notion of the female body being completely malleable and as consequence body types other than the desired are marginalised.

Bustles and corsets are perfect examples of the female body being modified in order to obtain the perfect figure for their era. Bustles were worn to give the impression of larger hips and derriere. A wire construction held up with fabric, the bustle went underneath dresses giving them fullness. Corsets were also worn during the 19th century varying from 18 to 30+ inch, corsets accentuated a small waist. However the written description stressed that there has been a misconception about corsets. Many believe that women squeezed into 18 inch corsets in an attempted to get a conical ribcage. ‘Advertisements of the time promoted corsets from 18 to 30 inches, and ready-made corsets were available in further sizes’ (FIT). The pink corset in my photo is 32-inches.

My favourite pre-modern dress was by Paul Poiret. Designed in the early 20th century his dress uses silk chiffon, satin, lace, fur, and velvet. Very gaudy in appearance, the dress has multiple elements to it making it a very busy piece to look at. It reminds me of the kind of dress you draw when you’re little; extremely lavish and feminine. I love the colour palette of the dress; muted and subtle, still it doesn’t tone down the extravagance of the garment.

In the afternoon we made our way to the Rockefeller Centre, got our tickets and got in the lift which had animations all the way up. We got to the top and I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold; being on the 70th floor the wind was crazy. We stayed up there until it started to get dark just so we could get some really nice photos. Being up there was incredible and humbling at the same time, you realise just how small you are in comparison. The view was amazing, especially when the sun started to set and the hues of orange and pink settled behind the view.

We then made our way back to the hotel (very quickly) and got on the coach to the airport…