Shining Light on Museum Fashion Spectacle

Light, sound, and theatrical elements have transformed displays of fashion into immersive exhibitions of spectacle. Installation spectacle frames the roles of the artifacts as actors and museum visitors as audience: museum as theatre. Yet museums pose unique design challenges in that they must adhere to practices and preservation standards that limit light exposure, while at the same time designing aesthetically pleasing exhibition light levels. This paper investigates the application of theatrical lighting design to create enchanting spectacles of fashion within a museum space.