Zuzana Šidlíková
The exhibition project „In and Out – artificial fibers in the clothing industry since the mid 20th century up to the present“ – in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague was the last one prior to its closure due to the reconstruction. „In and Out“ has thus become a pointer to the wide range of possibilities of artificial fibers application. Although we think of the use of these fibers mainly in connection with the textiles that are part of clothes (i.e. from the outside), these textiles have made their way also inwards into the human body – they have become part of health care starting from bandages through orthoses to surgical threads. The new fibers had to fight certain prejudices at first, but they have been slowly integrated into the collections. The new fibers are presented in the exhibition by garnments from the 1950’s the 1960’s and the 1970’s. The present is shown on several models. The aim was to present everyday clothes. The onset of synthetic materials can be followed in the exhibition by exhibits such as nylon underwear, crimplene and diolen clothes, dederon shirts (synthetic polyamid made in eastern Germany), tesil trousers (polyester staple fibers) and clothes with metal fibers.