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Unpacking Fashion Exhibit at the Met's Costume Institute

Between its renowned exhibitions and star-studded Met Gala, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute is one of the most iconic and celebrated fashion collections in the world. Now, that famed collection and the strategy behind its acquisition is in the spotlight, thanks to the new exhibition Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion.

masterworks unpacking fashion

Left: Ensemble, Raf Simons (Belgian, born 1968) for House of Dior (French, founded 1947), autumn/winter 2014-15 haute couture; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Christian Dior Couture, in honor of Harold Koda, 2016 (2016.256) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Anna-Marie Kellen Right: Ensemble, John Galliano (British, born Gibraltar, 1960) for Maison Margiela (French, founded 1988), spring/summer 2015; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of the Costume Institute Gifts, 2015 (2015.541) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Anna-Marie Kellen

Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion celebrates highlights of the Costume Institute’s acquisitions over the past ten years, including pieces from the 1700s through the present day. Pieces on display include 19th-century haute couture, Versace’s famed safety pin little black dress, and a 1947 gown by Gilbert Adrian that features a textile designed by Salvador Dali, along with designs by Karl Lagerfeld (House of Chanel), Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and other icons of the fashion world.

The exhibition also pays tribute to former Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute Harold Koda, who retired in January 2016. The exhibition dedicates an entire room to Koda’s work and legacy, including designers’ tributes to Koda and displays of select pieces that were donated to the Institute in his honor.

Masterworks’ focus on the past ten years reflects a change in the Institute’s collecting strategy, which is now more focused on acquiring individual iconic pieces rather than a broad collection of works. “Our mission is to present fashion as a living art that interprets history, becomes part of the historical process, and inspires subsequent art,” said current Curator-in-Charge Andrew Bolton in a statement. “Over the seven decades since The Costume Institute became part of The Met in 1946, our collecting strategy has shifted from creating a collection of Western high fashion that is encyclopedic in breadth to one focused on acquiring a body of masterworks.”

About the exhibition, curator Jessica Regan said: “While fashion is often derided for its ephemerality, its quick responsiveness to change ensures that it is an immediate expression of the spirit of its time—a vivid reflection of social, cultural, and political circumstances, and of shifting ideals of beauty. The masterworks we’ve chosen to highlight are among many we have collected in the past decade that draw on forms, motifs, and themes of the past, reinterpreting fashion history in ways that resonate in the present.”

gallery view masterworks met unpacking

Gallery View, Early Twentieth Century © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The stunning aesthetics of the masterworks on display certainly make this exhibition one to see. But the true highlight of the exhibition is this commitment to explaining how fashion’s past informs its present. The masterworks on display represent a diverse range of eras, but the exhibition puts a strong emphasis on setting its works within the context of fashion history, describing how their designers were impacted and influenced by fashion trends that came before.

This is most obviously represented through the more recent works on display, such as a 2011 ensemble by Maison Margiela based on menswear from post-revolutionary France, or a distinctly modern dress covered in wood laminate by Yohji Yamamoto that draws on 18th-century forms. But while the collection’s more historical pieces largely give context and historical fashion background to what came later, even an 1820s British dinner dress drew inspiration from the past, reflecting a larger cultural nostalgia for the 16thcentury. These connections between past and present provide fascinating insights throughout the exhibition, and also make this disparate collection of individual pieces from different fashion eras feel like a collective whole.

Those accustomed to the Costume Institute’s more high-profile exhibitions will find this to be a much less elaborate affair, with only a few rooms dedicated to the exhibition. With such a variety of pieces on display, this makes the exhibition feel somewhat claustrophobic, particularly in the Costume Institute’s set-off downstairs space. Yet given the exhibition’s fascinating insights and beautiful pieces, it also feels like a shame that there aren’t even more pieces to enjoy. This is particularly true with the more historical pieces, which are so rarely celebrated in the Met’s more contemporary-focused major exhibitions, but here feel completely vital.

Though Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion is not one of the Institute’s most obviously spectacular exhibitions, those who want to understand the evolution of fashion and contemplate its history should consider this a must-see. 

Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion will be on display at The Met through February 5, 2017. For more information about the exhibition, visit metmuseum.org.

masterworks unpacking fashion

Dress, Sarah Burton (British, born 1974) for Alexander McQueen (British, founded 1992), spring/summer 2011; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2014 (2015.69) © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Anna-Marie Kellen

About the Author

Alison Durkee is a New York-based arts journalist and critic with a background in theatre and dance. She currently serves as the Features Editor of London theatre website Everything Theatre and also covers news and politics for Mic.com.

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