Chic! Tassel, Tissue & Tatoo

As the Corona mask illustrates, personal adornment is a basic human need. After the introduction of face coverings in 2020, it wasn’t long before colourful homesewn masks and expensive designer models followed. A medical necessity became a fashion accessory.

For as long as humans have existed, they have adorned their bodies and crafted personal ornaments. They wear these embellishments openly or concealed, encoded or comprehensible to everyone. People thereby seek to increase their attractiveness, display their power, conform to norms or indeed protest against them. And some individuals are even prepared to suffer pain in order to embody a given society’s ideals of beauty.

For personal adornment, people use all materials available: from seashells to diamonds. The body
itself is modified to suit the ideals of the age. Fashion trends, social conventions and price determine the choices made. As our starting point we originally had chosen a very special find complex, a burial preserved in the permafrost of Siberia. It would have shown that the desire for personal adornment was a basic need even over 2300 years ago. Due to the war in Ukraine, the body cannot make its long-planned journey from Novosibirsk to Chemnitz.

Visiting the exhibition is worth every minute though.