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Vicky Pass

@visualsustenance

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Professor and researcher in fashion history, design history, and visual culture...and lover of cooking.

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Seeing all the robots on the runway this week I thought of a truly visionary use of robots on the runway from Alexander McQueen in Spring Summer 1999. As Y2K loomed, McQueen looked back on the Arts and Crafts movement, another moment when designers were facing down technologies that were radically changing their work and the idea of craftsmanship. In the second half of the 19th century William Morris, a committed socialist, argued that new machinery and divisions of labor were taking the joy and creativity out of the work of making things. They were stripping away the intellectual parts of that labor and leaving only repetitive physical tasks. He was concerned about a public that was more interested in cheap goods than quality, and environmental damage. McQueen used materials like wood, leather, lace, and straw to create clothes that combined soft and hard, structure and fluidity, high finish and unraveling. The work was deeply engaged with craft, including the stunning hand carved prosthetic legs worn by athlete Aimee Mullins who opened the show. Shalom Harlow famously closed the show alongside two robots rented from a car manufacturer which McQueen had programmed very specifically. As Harlow discribed, "I walked right up to it and stood on top of this circular platform and as soon as I gained my footing the circular platform started a slow, steady rotation. It was almost like the mechanical robots were stretching and moving their parts after an extended period of slumber. And as they sort of gained consciousness they recognised that there was another presence among them and that was myself. At some point, the curiosity switched and it became slightly more aggressive and frenetic and engaged on their part. And an agenda became solidified somehow. And my relationship with them shifted at that moment because I started to lose control over my own experience and they were taking over. So they began to spray and paint and create the futuristic design on this very simple dress. And when they were finished, they sort of receded and I walked, almost staggered, up to the audience and splayed myself in front of them with complete abandon and surrender." by @visualsustenance

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12 days ago

Happy #fatfriday y'all!! We made it to the weekend. Something about these gorgeous gals tells me that they are ready to spill some tea. Looks like they have an eagle eye out people watching. This 19th century drawing of two peasant women is by Constantin Guys, tha artist Charles Beaudelaire famously celebrated in his essay The Painter of Modern Life. Beaudelaire praised Guys for his attention to everyday modern life, particularly the fashions and poses of his subjects. This is a great example , full of details like hairstyles and jewelry as well as the poses of these women. One has her hands on her hips, the other has them in the pockets of her apron. #fatfashion #historyofplussizefashion by @visualsustenance

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17 days ago

Hi Baltimore and @marylandinstitutecollegeofart friends! I hope that some of you can make it out to this really exciting event I've been helping to plan to mark Constitution Day, Thursday September 17th at 7pm. @noliwerooks who is a fantastic scholar who works on this history of education and the impact of segregation will be talking about how she understands the current crisis in higher ed through the lens of history. I'm really excited that we are bringing her to MICA. You might also know Dr. Rooks from her work on the cultures of African American hair and early African American magazines. Please join us if you can! by @visualsustenance

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20 days ago

If you grew up watching reruns of the Carol Burnett show and compilation of Cher Show clips like me then Bob Mackie might have been your gateway to classical Hollywood. He was probably one of the last remaining connections to true classic Hollywood glamour. He got his start designing under Edith Head at Paramount. While some are crediting him with Marilyn Monroe's famous Happy Birthday Mr. President dress, Mackie's role there was only sketching the look working under designer Jean Louis. There is no need to add false luster to Mackie's incredible career. In fact he built on the nude illusion that Louis used in that 1962 gown for a dress worn by Mitzi Gaynor in 1966 using a flesh toned knit fabric called soufflé. What I think is remarkable about Mackie's work is that he so deeply understood the way that performers would use his clothes. His costumes for Carol Burnett enhanced her brilliant physical comedy and added to the humor of the sketches. As a kids who grew up going to the movies in the 1940s and 1950s he and Burnett shared the same vocabulary of references and he brought them hilariously to life spoofing Sunset Boulevard and Gone with the Wind (and really go watch the clips, they are so funny!!!). He could also make the most incredible 1910s and 20s costumes imagined by people like Erté come to brilliant life for Cher and Diana Ross, as well as nods to Josephine Baker. Mackie could design period costumes, but he could also make these looks so startlingly modern as in Cher's iconic 1986 Oscar's gown with it's punk headpiece. When Madonna wanted to lean into Hollywood glamour in the 1990s of course she called Mackie! He had the credentials to do it. And it's no wonder so many young celebrities have turned to vintage Mackie in recent years. We don't have artists who have the star power of Cher, Diana, Tina, or Dolly anymore. I think that these younger performers are trying to capture some of that magic that the sultan of sequins was so good at bestowing on his muses. I'd highly recommend watching the documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion (2024). It's an absolutely beautiful story of both Mackie's life and work. Rest in rhinestones and sequins Bob. by @visualsustenance

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21 days ago

Happy birthday to my forever favorite Schiaparelli. #strangeglamour forever. by @visualsustenance

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25 days ago

Some labor highlights from my summer travels for this Labor Day. One of my favorites, a great Marsden Hartley from the Wadsworth Athenaeum of fisherman in Maine, Down East Young Blades, c. 1940. I love the style of these men!

Marsden Hartley, Down East Young Blades, c. 1940.

Marsden Hartley, Down East Young Blades, c. 1940.

Winfred Rembert, Chain Gang Picking Cotton, 2010
Dye on carved and tooled leather
This work is so compelling, it feels like it's building on Jacob Lawrence
Wadsworth Athenaeum

War Production Board poster, 1943
Wadsworth Athenaeum

Some images of workers from the excellent museum in the Boott Mill at the Lowell National Historic Park.

Some images of workers from the excellent museum in the Boott Mill at the Lowell National Historic Park.

Some images of workers from the excellent museum in the Boott Mill at the Lowell National Historic Park.

Some images of workers from the excellent museum in the Boott Mill at the Lowell National Historic Park.

WPA mural at the Provincetown Town Hall by Ross Moffett, Spreading Nets, 1934

WPA mural at the Provincetown Town Hall by Ross Moffett, Spreading Nets, 1934

I love seeing a painting I have taught for years IRL, Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Young Sabot Maker, 1895 at the Nelson Atkins Museum

Peter Hurd, José Herrera, 1938; Tempera on panel
Nelson Atkins Museum by @visualsustenance

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a month ago

A wonderful night @mobtownballroom celebrating Dolly Parton. Nothing quite as magical as singing with a room full of strangers. The band was fantastic! They did I Will Always Love You second to last, but saved Light of a Clear Blue Morning for last. Singing that final chorus over and over with the crowd had me believing that "everything's gonna be alright. It's gonna be okay." Thanks @renetrevino @paulgfrey and @caraober !! by @visualsustenance

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a month ago

It just had to be the fabulous Miss Piggy for this #fatfriday because we lost two of her most significant co-stars, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. While Dolly never appeared on the Muppet show she invited Miss Piggy to appear on her variety show Dolly twice in 1987 and 1988. They sang together in both appearances, these clips are from 1988. The first photo is from Miss Piggy's Guide to Life (1981) in her section on the importance of hair. She writes, "I find this country-and-western coiffeur nicely expresses my rural roots and my simple philosophy personal loyalty--I Stand By My Frog." I believe all of these styles were by Calista Hendricks. In 1996 Miss Piggy starred opposite the great Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island. She played Benjamina Gunn. Kermit played Captain Smollett who left Benjamina at the altar. She rebounded with Curry's Long John Silver but he double crossed her. You have to watch the movie to find out what happened. The fabulous costumes with impressive period accuracy are by Polly Smith. You might have also heard that in a recent interview Tim Curry said that he had a fling with Miss Piggy during the filming and described her as the one that got away. I don't think it's an accident that both Tim and Dolly, both so beloved, had a strong connection to the Muppets. They will be deeply missed. by @visualsustenance

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a month ago

Fashioning Identity and Power: A Discussion of Clothing and Pattern in the Portraiture of Kira Nam Greene
Monday, September 14, 2026
12:00-1:00
Falvey Hall
Programming by MICA Exhibitions and the Painting Department along with the on-campus exhibition DEVOTED: 20 Years of The McMillan-Stewart Endowed Chair in Painting

Artist Kira Nam Greene and fashion historian Victoria Pass will be in conversation about the role of fashion, pattern, and art history in Greene’s portrait paintings. Greene’s work approaches fashion from a feminist perspective, understanding it as a tool for constructing identity and embodying power. Her background in political science and economy brings a unique perspective on the ways that global flows of goods and people have also always included textiles, patterns, and garments.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Kira Nam Greene lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Greene has shown her work widely at venues such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Sheldon Museum of Art, Gallery Korea, A.I.R. Gallery, and Jane Lombard Gallery. Greene’s portrait and still-life paintings combine contemporary socio-political discourse with the history and the tradition of painting. Kira was a McMillan Stewart Endowed Chair of Painting from 2017 - 2018.

Victoria Rose Pass is a specialist in Visual Culture, particularly in areas of design and fashion. Her research considers the history of fashion culture in the 20th century and focuses specifically on issues of gender and race. She is currently the Chair of the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture department at MICA.

This program was made possible by the generous support of The McMillan-Stewart Foundation

Image credit:
Kira Nam Greene, Room of Her Own (Saya) (2022), oil, watercolor, gouache, acrylic marker and colored pencil on canvas, 50” × 40” taken in Maryland Institute College of Art by @visualsustenance

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a month ago

Dolly Parton was just part of the pop culture landscape I was born into. Legend has it that when I was around three and my family was at the beach on vacation my parents and grandparents were watching her in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and I liked her so much that I put on my grandma's bedroom slippers that had little heels on them and pranced around pretending to be her. The legend says I put oranges down my shirt too but this seems like an embellishment... I think what I saw in Dolly as a little kid was someone who was so utterly comfortable in her own skin that she didn't care what anyone else thought about how she looked. She wore what she thought was beautiful and what brought her joy. To my kid eyes she was like a Barbie doll come to life. It would be easy to think of that beauty as conformity, but it never was. She was never saying all women should look like her, and she certainly wasn't styling herself in a way most people thought was "in good taste." Notably she barely shows up in Vogue or Harpers. Dolly styled herself in a way that most people thought was too much, trashy, or tacky. But as Dolly knew well those were judgements made to tear people down not celebrate their individuality and beauty. Dolly's style celebrated excess and fun, rhinestones, fringe, bright colors, plunging necklines, snatched waists, and big hair! She reveled it her ability to wear exactly what she pleased. Her style was never about playing it cool, or trying to look natural-whatever that is. She celebrated the fun and play of getting dressed. To me her approach to self styling reveals so much about what was so unique about her, she wasn't judgemental, genuinely celebrated difference, and was a kind, curious, and open hearted person. I think for me as a kid that was just so clear when you would see her wearing a fabulous sparkly outfit, anticipating every sexist joke that an interviewer would make about her looks and serving an even funnier joke back that turned the tables. She was fabulous and smart as a whip! She never apologized for being herself. I will miss you Dolly. Thank you for teaching me that important lesson when I was small. by @visualsustenance

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a month ago

So many more things from the summer to share including this unbelievable show on the artist Marcia Marcus (1928–2025) at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. I didn't know Marcus's work at all before but it's absolutely astonishing and I want to see more. Reading a bit more about her I'm not surprised to learn that she wanted to be a fashion designer. Her mother forced her to go to college so she went to NYU and got an art degree. Portraiture, and self portraiture in particular were significant genres for her and her careful attention to fashion is evident. In this 1959 self portrait for instance, Self-Portrait in Fur Jacket she pairs a stylish fur jacket with a wide lapel and puff sleeves with a pair of green tights and black pumps. The arresting look seems to predict Edie Sedgwick's iconic use of black tights, along with the fashion for colorful leg wear in the 1960s. It could be a citation of Titian's Girl in Fur, 1536-1538 where the artist showed off not only his ability to paint a stunning, woman but also the sensuous texture of fur against her beautiful skin. Perhaps Marcus is making a jab at this work the way that Manet did with Titian in the 19th century, showing the construction of this body for the male gaze of the painter. Marcus, to my mind, subverts the male gaze by posing with her arms at her side rather than stroking the fur and with a stark expression on her face. Rather than showing off her legs with tights that match her flesh tone as Judy Garland does here in the 1950 film Summer Stock, she makes them unnatural with this unusual shade of green. There is something angi-fashion but fashion about this look that also reminds me of Audrey Hepburn's beatnik look in Funny Face (1957). Marcus was not only a painter but also part of the early performance art scene in New York and right in the thick of the avant-garde. Clearly she thought a lot about expressing and performing identity in her self portraits. by @visualsustenance

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a month ago

Well this #fatfriday falls on the eve of the new semester so why not take some style inspiration from the grande dame herself, Miss Piggy. This is her fabulous mid-century collegiate look from her author photo for her 1981 book Miss Piggy's Guide to Life. The photograph was taken by John E. Barrett, styled and costumed by Calista Hendrickson. While it may not quite be sweata weatha yet on the East Coast, knit cardigans and sweaters have long been classic styles for both men and women in drafty classrooms and chilly libraries. Same as it ever was.... For reference photos of college women from the College of William and Mary in Cosmopolitan, September 1957; Clark University in Essence, August 1973; and for Sue Brett in Seventeen, August 1961. I love Miss Piggy's little signature necklace that echoes her nose. The perfect finishing touch.
#misspiggy #misspiggyfashion #sweataweatha #calistahendrickson by @visualsustenance

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a month ago