Heavy Fabric

Introduction

The exhibition Heavy Fabric: Women – Traditional Costume – Life Stories is based on the tales that women have to tell. Twenty wardrobes provide biographical access to the lives of Danube-Swabian women and girls from the 1880s to the 1980s. In seven chapters the twofold question is explored: What do women do with their clothes and what do clothes do to them? The stories told by the women were not always benign. Certain items of clothing could evoke stressful moments in their lives. Social constraints, parental pressure, marginalization, fleeing, violence and death were recounted by the women in the process of handing over their textile mementos to the museum. Like Herta Müller in her literary treatment, these women recounted their own experiences, going back decades to a moment that merged with a particular piece of clothing. Even a seemingly innocuous story can contain volatile material. This is seen in the “Einheitstracht”, or uniform costume, of an old lady whose memories of a village in present-day Croatia were awakened by this outfit introduced by National Socialists as an ethno-political instrument in the woman’s youth. The “Einheitstracht” is an example of the ideological utilization of the concept of traditional costume. As supposedly traditional and quintessentially German dress, it was intended to strengthen the community of Germans while at the same time creating a visible line of demarcation from others. In contrast to the attire of the Danube Swabians, this was not a historically evolved form of clothing but an invention intended to spread as widely as possible – a uniform in the style of a dirndl. So there are myriad contradictions and incongruities in these women’s stories about their clothes – heavy fabric.

Impressum
Copyright Page

Herausgeber | Editor
© Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum, Ulm

Texte | Texts
Henrike Hampe
unter Mitarbeit von | in collaboration with
Jeannine Engelhardt, Heinke Kalinke, Leni Perenčević

Lektorat | Editing
Amelie Bach, Jeannine Engelhardt, Hinrich Schaer, Tamás Szalay

Übersetzung | Translation
Kevin McAleer

Fotografie | Photographs
Martina Dach, Ulm (Upcycling-Porträts)
Oleg Kuchar, Ulm (Objektfotografie)

Illustrationen „Katharina Märcz“ und Upcycling-Mode |
Illustrations “Katharina Märcz” and Upcycling Fashions
Zentrum für Gestaltung, Freie, staatlich anerkannte Schulen Ulm

Restaurierung | Restorations
Müller & Schweizer GbR, Waiblingen
Theresia von Waldburg, Epfach

Gestaltung | Design
gwf-ausstellungen konzept & gestaltung, Hamburg

GRAFIK | GRAPHIC
Julia Werner, Nehms (Freie Mitarbeiterin von gwf-ausstellungen konzept & gestaltung)

Druck | Printer
Druckerei R. le Roux, Erbach
CIP-Titel
Henrike Hampe: Schwerer Stoff. Frauen – Trachten – Lebensgeschichten.
Begleitband zur Ausstellung.
Herausgegeben vom Donauschwäbischen Zentralmuseum, Ulm 2024
ISBN 978-3-00-079622-7