Clothes Call

Did you ever stop to wonder exactly when it was that folks began to wrap themselves in animal skins? My guess is that it first happened when some hairless missing link got cold. After that, clothes became a cornerstone of civilization: cover-ups for the modest, gilding for lilies and just about everything in between. It’s not hard, then, to wax on the art — or artlessness — of body coverings, or even on the social complexities of fashion and style, because they’ve become so intrinsic to our own self-images. We are what we wear, no doubt.

Mull on all of that for a few secs, and it won’t be hard to see the point of Dress Code, a new three-artist exhibit in the mezzanine gallery of the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, 201 South College Avenue in Fort Collins. Exploring the phenomenon of clothing from the very different points of view of digital artist Deborah Oropallo, painter Haley Hasler and fiber artist Kate Kretz, the show touches on issues of sexual stereotyping, gender roles and the psychology of fashion in ways both funny and compelling.

Dress Code remains on view through April 11. Museum admission is $2; for more information, go to www.fcmoca.org or call 1-970-482-2787.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Jan. 16. Continues through April 11, 2009