Conceptual Clothing Revisited by Fran Cottell and Marian Schoettle, KT Press. 2025

I am so excited to say that this book is now available.

To order: https://nparadoxa.co.uk/book/conceptual-clothing-revisited/

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Fran Cottell and I have spent the past year reflecting on our collaboration that culminated in the touring exhibition Conceptual Clothing during the mid-1980s in the UK. This project brought together a diverse group of artists—including sculptors, painters, textile artists, performers, craftspeople, photographers, and dancers—united by their engagement with what we termed “Conceptual Clothing.” The exhibition challenged many boundaries at the time: from material choices to notions of representation.

In a conversational format, Fran and I discuss our motivation to create a context for this sort of work that has to do with clothing, and how we advocated for the topic and found others who were also looking. By giving a name to our inquiry Conceptual Clothing we drew others into the project, which energized and enriched the project. Metaphor, abstraction, and vehicle: clothing comes between us as and the outer world and provides a rich liminal space for artistic and sociological exploration. We include excerpts from recent conversations with the artists and gallerists , offering insights into the cultural landscape of the mid-1980s.

Accompanying this is a curated selection of 15 texts related to Conceptual Clothing, compiled by feminist art critic, editor, and independent press publisher Katy Deepwell, who asked us to write this book, there-by providing additional depth and context to the subject.

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Texts by:
Monica Bohm-Duchen ‘Clothing as a subject for art’ (1986);
Aline Dallier-Popper (1974) ‘Le Soft Art et les femmes’;
Anne-Marie Sauzeau-Boetti (1976) ‘Negative Capability as Practice in Women’s Art’;
Carrie Rickey (1979) ‘Art of Whole Cloth’;
Maureen Connor (1979) ‘Form Follows Fashion’;
Carter Ratcliff (1982) ‘Forms in Fabric’;
Marysia Lewandowska (1983) ‘Textile Performance’;
Janis Jefferies (1983) ‘Fiber Art’;
Fran Cottell ‘(1988) ‘A Year in Performance’;
Julie Schafler Dale (1990) ‘Wearables: Developments and Trends’;
Mieke Mekkink (1992) ‘A world without shadow’;
Nina Felshin (1993) ‘Empty Dress: Clothing as Surrogate in Recent Art’;
Patricia C. Phillips (1994) ‘Beverly Semmes’;
Paula Marincola (1995) ‘Fabric as Fine Art: Thinking Across the Divide’;
Renee Baert (1998) ‘Three Dresses: Tailored to the Times’.

‘Conceptual clothing consists of the abstract or generic ideas generalized from particular investigations of that which covers, conceals , and defines us.’ (From our original statement for the Conceptual Clothing exhibition, 1986-88 U.K.)

Artists in the 1986-88 exhibition: Rasheed Araeen, Bridget Bailey, Caroline Broadhead, Sarah Brooker, Sokari Douglas Camp, Mikey Cuddihy, Susie Freeman, Rose Garrard, Mona Hatoum, Susanna Heron, Susan Hiller, Cas Holmes, Steve Johnson, Mary Kelly, Richard Layzell, Marian Schoettle, Sebastiane, Yolande Snaith, Deb Thomas, David Ward, Jenny Wiggins and Lois Williams.

to order: https://nparadoxa.co.uk/book/conceptual-clothing-revisited/

This is the catalog for the original exhibition 1986-1988.