Curatorial strategies for the fashion future: mediating fashion knowledges, place and material identities

Fashion exhibitions continue as one of the major trends in museum engagement internationally. In Australasia, the success and popularity of these spectacular and immersive fashion experiences is reflected in record visitor numbers, and proliferation across varied museums and independent venues. While fashion exhibitions are nothing new, much is changing in the way these exhibitions are increasingly sourced internationally, independently curated from private collections, or presented in collaboration with fashion houses and promoters. How can museums embrace these trends and at the same time champion their own exhibitions, collections and community by building value and visitor relevance through knowledge, place and material identities? The recent mediatic turn emphasises knowledge and access, and provides a framework to consider these changes. Through select Australasian case studies reflecting New Zealand, Australian and Pacific audiences, this paper seeks to consider how museums might draw on local, global and pacific possibilities when facing the museum-fashion future.