Alexander Vasiliev in Cologne. Sex and fashion

Cologne will host a lecture by fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev entitled "Sex and Fashion: From the Diaghilev Era to the Madonna Era" - a large-scale cultural event for anyone interested in the history of style, the aesthetics of the twentieth century and the transformation of gender roles.

The program is devoted to how the perception of sexuality changed and how these changes were reflected in the fashion of the XX century. From the decadence and avant-garde of the early century to pop culture and the sexual revolution, the audience will trace the evolution of the canons of male and female beauty, as well as the hidden and explicit tools of seduction in clothing.

The lecture will address the key questions:

• what visual and symbolic techniques are used in costume to attract the attention of the opposite sex;

• how religion, philosophy and cultural revolutions have influenced the formation of fashion trends;

• how feminism and machoism have transformed ideas of masculinity and femininity;

• whether fashion is an instrument of seduction, a social strategy or a reflection of social mores.

Alexander Vasiliev offers an analytical and historically accurate view of fashion as a mirror of an era in which eroticism, power, aesthetics and ideology are intertwined. The lecture in Cologne will be an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between sexuality, culture and the development of 20th century fashion.