M_others: Fashion and Motherhood

- The first-ever international book dedicated exclusively to motherhood in relation to fashion

- The use of iconic imagery enhances its visual appeal. Interviews with fashion designers offer valuable, contemporary insights on the subject

- From the Blessed Virgin, to contemporary fashion experiments that debunk stereotypes, to the testimonies of non-binary parents, surrogacy parents and adoptive parents, from Christian Dior’s New Look to the designs of Jacquemus and the regal women who carry of South African Thebe Magugu: the mother figure as a source of inspiration and creativity in fashion is back from... never having left?

- Published to accompany the exhibition M/OTHERS at the Fashion museum Hasselt, Belgium, from 14 June 2024 to 5 January 2025

This book offers an in-depth exploration of the relationship between fashion and motherhood, a topic that is explored in detail for the first time. Mothers, mother figures, mentors and family ties are intimately intertwined with fashion history. Many designers reach back to the style of their mother’s day, but mums themselves are also a big source of inspiration. Symbolic fashion mothers, such as Jeanne Lanvin, Madeleine Vionnet and Sonia Rykiel, made an artistic mark on the creations of their contemporaries and are still influencing present-day designers. From 1900 onward there was a growing appreciation of the cultural identity of mothers, both in fashion and in society. In 20th and 21st century fashion, this culminated in a veritable celebration of mothers and mother figures.

Karolien De Clippel is the director of the Fashion Museum Hasselt. Karen Van Godtsenhoven is a freelance curator, PhD researcher UGent. Dries Debackere is a doctoral researcher at UGent. Barbara Baert is a professor of medieval art, iconology and art history KULeuven, Lydia Kamitzisis a freelance curator. Leen Kelchtermans is researcher at The Phoebus Foundation. Pauline Devriese is a curator for Fashion Museum Hasselt, Tirza Westland is collection assistant Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Francesca Granata is senior lecturer at Parsons School of Design, New York, Thebe Magugu is a fashion designer, Eve Demoen is curator for Fashion Museum Hasselt.