Since the emergence of cinema in the late-19th century, the role of costume, fabrics and fashion has been crucial in conveying an aesthetic dimension and establishing a new sensorial and emotional relationship with viewers. Through the interaction of fashion, costume and film it is possible to gauge a deeper understanding of the cinematic, its complex history, and the mechanisms underlying modernity, the construction of gender, urban transformations, consumption, technological and aesthetic experimentation. 
 

Moderator:  Amy Herzog / Respondent: Jerry Carlson

Speakers: Jody Sperling − Loïe Fuller and Early Cinema

About Sperling's Talk: In a period when movies were coming into being, the art of Loie Fuller and her many imitators, or "serpentine dancers," captured the essence of motion pictures. Instead of moving the "picture," they fanned their ample skirts to fashion dynamic, mobile screens. Appropriately, many of the earliest performers captured on film are serpentine dancers and Fuller look-a-likes. The presentation features slide-show of dozens of Fuller images, screenings of rare historical footage and select video clips from Sperling's recreations.