M&OTHERS, FASHION & MOTHERHOOD 
Modemuseum Hasselt
June 14, 2024 – January 06, 2025

“After pioneering exhibitions like ‘Wonder Women’, Modemuseum Hasselt is once again at the forefront with a current fashion topic that has yet to be explored in an exhibition. ‘M&Others’ centres on mother figures in all their forms,” says Nele Kelchtermans, the alderwoman of culture.

Historical Maternity Clothing?
Today, flaunting a baby bump is a symbol of female empowerment. But how was it in the past? Belgian women now become mothers for the first time at 29.5 years old on average, having about 1.5 children. In the past, women were pregnant for a large portion of their lives. Until the late nineteenth century, it was common to have four to five children, and teenage mothers were more the rule than the exception. While a large brood may have been a status symbol, there was no such thing as naked bellies, mum fashion lines or maternity clothing. What kind of garments did women wear then? How did they adapt their clothing to these significant bodily changes while navigating prevailing fashion norms? Thorough detective work in our museum collection unearthed remarkable pieces, such as a nineteenth-century nursing corset, which are showcased in the exhibition. Visitors can even feel and try on a remake.

Inspiring Personal Stories
Motherhood is a physically and emotionally profound, life-changing experience. The exhibition shares this overwhelming experience not only sartorially but also through personal and heart-wrenchingly honest testimonies from (inter)national designers and celebrities such as Thebe Magugu, Simon Porte Jacquemus, Ann Demeulemeester, Tim Van Steenbergen, Meryll Rogge, Bernadette and Charlotte de Geyter, Hannelore Knuts, Leen Dendievel, and Elodie Ouédraogo. Did you know Jacquemus started designing clothes for his mother Valérie at the age of seven? Or that Ann Demeulemeester’s son Victor always accompanied her to shows? Or that Leen Dendievel’s mother despite not having children? These and many other stories resonate and create a lasting impact.

The Other Mothers
“Motherhood and mothering were long regarded as exclusively women’s issues that were discussed behind the closed doors of the most intimate spaces. Around the turn of the last century, spurred by the feminist movement, they were deemed topics worthy of academic research,” says Karolien De Clippel, director of Modemuseum Hasselt. “Over the last decade, new questions were asked, and motherhood evolved in directions that were inconceivable until recently and which are also addressed in the exhibition, such as chosen families, mentoring, artistic affiliation, and other forms of mothering.” South African designer Thebe Magugu, whose work features prominently in the exhibition, puts it this way: “My mother was my mother, the mother of my neighbour’s children, but also of the child living down the street.” The collaboration with the Brussels-based collective For All Queens! foregrounds an interpretation of motherhood akin to Magugu’s lived experience. FAQ!’s multisensory installation explores a multitude of experiences of and perspectives on motherhood through an artistic lens. It interprets motherhood as a complex and layered experience, full of emotions, memories, and challenges. It contrasts a Sub-Saharan diaspora perspective with Western norms, showing how in Black communities, ‘other mothers’ such as grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and ballroom mothers play crucial roles in child care.

The exhibition’s focus stretches beyond the boundaries of biological motherhood, as exemplified by the unique story of ‘fashion mother’ Madeleine Vionnet. This French designer, known as the ‘architect of fashion’ and liberator of the female body during the interwar period, ran her fashion house like a true matriarch. She provided daycare, paid maternity leave, a dentist, a canteen, and a medical office for approximately 1,200 employees. To pass on her knowledge, she distributed her archives across various museums, ensuring her mentorship for generations of designers to come. The exhibition in Modemuseum Hasselt visually demonstrates this impact through an impressive installation that positions Vionnet as the central figure connecting contemporaries and later designers inspired by her groundbreaking bias cuts, such as Jacques Griffe, Azzedine Alaïa, and Olivier Theyskens.

Spectacular Loans
The exhibition brings together over one hundred and fifty unique pieces, offering a nuanced view of fashion and motherhood’s interplay. Curators Eve Demoen and Karen Van Godtsenhoven secured numerous amazing loans, including original sketches by Jeanne Lanvin, photos and personal notes from Sonia Rykiel and her daughter Nathalie, and a mannequin doll with fourteen paper garments created by Yves Saint Laurent in his teenage years by cutting up fashion magazines that he had bought with his mother Lucienne. Belgian fashion designer Meryll Rogge lent a never-before-seen series of family portraits that offer insight into her early motherhood. Additionally, an ensemble by Comme des Garçons (Spring-Summer 2019) from the collection of Palais Galliera from which artist Katerina Jebb created a poetic portrait on commission of the museum, will be on display. Two sixteenth-century Madonna depictions from the Phoebus Foundation connect to the spiritual mother of Western visual culture.

The ‘M&Others’ Book
To accompany the ‘M&Others’ exhibition, an eponymous book will be published in collaboration with Lannoo (Tielt, Belgium). This publication offers the first in-depth exploration of fashion and motherhood’s fascinating interplay. Mirroring the exhibition, it delves into five key themes that further investigate the topic at hand: Mother Cult, Mothering, Mother as Muse, Affiliative Fashion, and Monsters. Contributions from the exhibition’s curators and (inter)national experts throw new light on historical maternity dress, the significance of designer’s mothers for their creative work, mothers as designers, and much more. The book also includes moving testimonies of leading fashion designers such as Ann Demeulemeester (and her son Victor Robyn), Thebe Magugu, Meryll Rogge, and Simon Porte Jacquemus. It is richly illustrated with historical prints, stunning photos by Juergen Teller and Paolo Roversi, and striking images by artist Katerina Jebb, which enhance and enrich the content. The publication is at press and scheduled to appear in August.

more. www.modemuseumhasselt.be