Purse
Franco Moschino's witty, ironic perspective on the fashion industry and consumerism suffuses his brand’s eclectic, postmodern designs, as in this handbag designed by Rosella Jardini. A Surrealistic subversion of one object (handbag) into another (iron), or the reverse, depending on how you look at it, is characteristic of the label’s play with words, with signifier and signified. A similar instance can be found in Moschino’s landmark design of spring/summer 1991, when a white shirt was emblazoned with the statement "too much irony" in the back, and iron stains in the front. The trope of the iron and the pun on the word irony continues in this iron-as-purse.
Artwork Details
- Title: Purse
- Design House: House of Moschino (Italian, founded 1983)
- Designer: Rossella Jardini (Italian, born 1952)
- Date: fall/winter 2000–2001
- Culture: Italian
- Medium: leather, metal
- Credit Line: Alfred Z. Solomon-Janet A. Sloane Endowment Fund, 2018
- Object Number: 2018.857
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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