Interviewed in 2004, designer duo Viktor and Rolf outlined their ambivalence towards fashion exhibitions suggesting that ‘somehow life is taken out of the subject’ (2008, cited in Teunissen, ‘Understanding Fashion through the Museum in Melchior, MR, 2014). Garments seeking spectator attention within the museum space are often perceived as static entities devoid of their original function as embodied artefacts. There is no denying an inert aura pervades listless materials that have supposedly lost their agency, now confined to the vaults of the museum-as-mausoleum. In their re-purposed role of performing as reminders of a life now departed, this article considers curatorial strategies that seek to revive a living presence in garment display with specific reference to the remodelling of Frida Kahlo in the V&A exhibition ‘Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up (2018)’. Addressing Dudley’s suggestion in Museum Objects: Experiencing the Properties of Things (2012: 19) that an artefact’s ‘fundamental material characteristics’ should be at the heart of contextual interpretation, the role that an object’s material properties can play in the re-materializing of embodiment is evaluated.

In the V&A exhibition, a narrative emerges on clothing as an agent that conceals vulnerable corporeality. Sartorial practices armoured Kahlo’s body and the role material entities can play in containing and preserving the illusion of corporeal substance will be investigated. Given this premise, it seems wholly appropriate to focus on the contribution that the mannequin can make to this conceptual framework. After all, it is an artefact with a central occupation of establishing bodily integrity in the display of clothing. Reiterating Clark’s suggestion in The Textile Reader (2012) that the mannequin contributes to the vocabulary of a curatorial brief, this article proposes that this artefact can interrogate the tensions that exist between Kahlo’s sartorial practices and her abject body. Substantiating Appadurai’s premise of material objects’ agency in The Social Life of Things (2001[1986]), the exhibition arguably employs the once humble tailor’s dummy in a significant role, thereby reconstructing its dominant function of embodying fabric in the museum.

设计师二人组Viktor和Rolf在2004年接受采访时，概述了他们对时装展览的矛盾态度，暗示“某种程度上，生活被夺走了主题”（2008年，Teunissen引用，“通过Melchior博物馆了解时尚，MR，2014年）”。在博物馆空间内寻求观众关注的服装通常被视为静止的实体，缺乏其作为体现的人工制品的原始功能。不可否认的是，惰性气氛充斥着无精打采的材料，这些材料据称已经失去了作用，现在仅限于陵墓博物馆的穹顶。在重新发挥其作用以提醒人们如今已经消失的生活中，本文考虑了策画策略，这些策略旨在复兴服装陈列中的生活品味，并特别提及V＆A展览“ Frida Kahlo”中Frida Kahlo的重塑：自我完善（2018）'。解决达德利的建议博物馆对象：体验物的属性（2012：19），人工制品的“基本材料特征”应作为上下文解释的核心，评估了对象的材料属性在重新体现具体化中所起的作用。

在V＆A展览中，服装的叙事出现了，作为掩饰弱势物质的媒介。将研究铠甲Kahlo身体的裁缝做法以及物质实体在控制和保留有毒物质的幻觉中可以发挥的作用。在此前提下，集中精力关注人体模型对这一概念框架的贡献似乎是完全适当的。毕竟，这是一件艺术品，主要工作是在服装展示中建立身体完整性。在《纺织品阅读器》中重申克拉克的建议（2012）人体模型有助于策展人简介的词汇，本文提出，这种人工制品可以质疑卡赫洛（Kahlo）的剪裁实践与她的屈从身体之间的紧张关系。该展览可以用阿帕杜赖在物质事物的代理机构中的前提（《社会生活》（2001 [1986]）为依据，可以说是利用曾经谦虚的裁缝的假人扮演重要角色，从而重建了其在博物馆中体现织物的主导功能。