Bodies on Display
McCord Museum
Montreal, QC

November 7 and 8, 2008

A two-day colloquium organized by the McCord Museum of Canadian History in
collaboration with the Costume Society of America, Northeastern Region in
conjunction with the McCord Museum exhibition Reveal or Conceal?

Fashion is inextricably linked to the bodies that wear it. Bodies give
shape and meaning to clothing, while dress makes bodies social and
fashionable (or unfashionable). How do we address the body in researching
and interpreting the history of dress and fashion? How do we address its
absence in studying the material culture of clothing?

In the light of the growing scholarly interest in addressing the body in
many academic disciplines, this colloquium aims to foster a dialogue among
those in the academic setting who study the body as it relates to dress
and fashion, and dress as an embodied practice, with those who approach it
from the museum, material culture, living history, and design perspectives.

Themes:
Abstracts for papers are sought on the following themes, in historic or
contemporary, Western or non-Western perspectives. Research incorporating
or intersecting with material culture is encouraged.

Uncovering modesty: Issues in the historical and contemporary perceptions
of acceptable body covering, regulating dress and modesty, the interplay
between modesty and eroticism in dress.

Shifting standards: Key changes in constructions of physical comfort in
dress, notions of public and private in fashion and the body, and
gendering and the dressed body.

Fashionable immodesty: The power of the partially dressed body, marketing
the body, readdressing theories such as the ?shifting erogenous zone?

Wearing the body: methods of shaping the body from corsetry to fitness,
embellishment and modifications of the exposed body, issues surrounding
appropriate public presentation of the body.

Putting bodies on display: aspects of museum or living history
presentation of dressed bodies, such as the creation of mannequins and
supports for bodies, clothing for bodies to be displayed in unusual ways.
Practical demonstrations are welcome.

Languages
English and French

Submission of Abstracts
Abstracts for papers should not exceed 600 words in length and should be
sent via e-mail to symposiummccord.mcgill.ca with a short biography for
use in the program or publicity (about 200 words). A separate page must
indicate the authors? names, addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers,
and email addresses, and to whom all communications should be directed.
Students (Masters and PhD) are encouraged to submit, and should also
indicate their degree status and school and program in which they are
enrolled. All contributions must be received no later than June 13, 2008.
Notices of acceptance will be sent out by July 11, 2008. Speakers will not
pay registration fees at the colloquium.

Cynthia Cooper
McCord Museum of Canadian History
Montreal, QC
H3A 1E9
514-398-7100 ext. 288.
Email: cynthia.coopermccord.mcgill.ca

Visit the website at http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/activities/colloquia/