Wer eine Jogginghose trägt, hat die Kontrolle über sein Leben verloren. (Sweat Pants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life.) – Karl Lagerfeld, Talkshow Markus Lanz, ZDF, 19. April 2012

Is it really true? Do you really lost control about yourself if you wear sweat pants? I know what Karl Lagerfeld means and in a way I agree, but fashion changes and sport fashion does, too. To know more about that change I attended the preview of a new exhibition in Hamburg yesterday. The new exhibition at MKG Hamburg is not as big than you might think. It’s only one room, divided into four chapters:

Before Sports

This chapter shows fashion from the 18th and 19th century, which restricted the freedom of movement. The silhouette of the human figure (especially the female one) is largely determined by the clothes people wore. The curator of the exhibition Angelika Riley told us, dresses and corsages were fitted in a way that the ladies were bleeding after doing sports in their dresses.

Sports

At the end of the 19th century clothing becomes functional, assimilates itself to the human body and, ideally, enhances sporting performance. I think you all know the sport label Speedo. They produced new functional sport dresses for swimmers, new records were set. Mrs. Riley described it as “technology-doping” – and the dresses are now forbidden. I didn’t knew it and I never wondered about it.

Sports?

Sports or fashion? Street Wear or functional dresses? This trend produces clothes, which are comfortable to wear and sets store by the positive kudos, which the sporting look brings. Today you get the opportunity to wear sport clothes which look very elegant. I love my sneakers, sometimes a casual shirt I also wear for sports.

Beyond Sports

This chapter examines alternative tendencies. An avant-garde movement among fashion designers is trying out unconventional materials and forms, without bothering over how the wearers might feel about it.

Different kind of dresses represent the era of sports, society and fashion. Sure, every chapter could be an exhibition by its own. And sometimes I wish the Museum of Kunst and Gewerbe had the opportunity to make larger exhibitions.

What are my favorite dresses?

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I enjoy the new exhibition in Hamburg and I think I will visit it again to read every single information board – by the way the museum is always worth a visit!

#museum | Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe

#exhibition | Sports / No Sports

#until | 20 August 2017