The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has unveiled its new home: a 12,000 square foot gallery space named the Condé Nast Galleries, located off the museum's Great Hall. This expansion triples the size of the institute's previous basement location, signaling the growing popularity of fashion exhibitions, which are among the Met's most visited shows. The new space places fashion in the same spotlight as ancient Egyptian artifacts, acknowledging its crowd-pleasing appeal.
Costume Art Exhibition
Titled Costume Art, the spring exhibition pairs 200 garments and accessories with 200 artworks from the Met's collection. Lead curator Andrew Bolton explained that the show invites visitors to 'reconsider longstanding hierarchies' by viewing art in the context of fashion, rather than the reverse. Inspired by the idea that 'the dressed body' is a common thread across the Met's vast collection, the exhibition explores 13 thematic body types.
Thematic Body Types
The show begins with the Naked and Nude body, featuring a Walter van Beirendonck spandex top and leggings with trompe l'oeil male musculature, paired with a Marcantonio Raimondi engraving of Adam and Eve. Next, the Abstracted Body section includes three Comme des Garçons dresses that distort the human silhouette, alongside sculptures by Max Weber, Jean Arp, and Henry Moore.
A section on the Corpulent Body showcases works by Australian designer Michaela Stark, whose corsets accentuate bulges of fat and flesh, paired with a Cycladic marble female figure from 4500-4000 BCE. The Disabled Body is represented by a mannequin styled after activist Sinéad Burke, wearing a Burberry trenchcoat modified by photographer Tim Walker. All mannequins in this section are placed on high podiums, deliberately 'pedestalised' to foreground diversity.
Strangeness and Surprise
While the exhibition includes beautiful pieces like an Yves Saint Laurent silk organza jacket decorated with Van Gogh's Irises paired with the 1889 painting, the overall emphasis is on strangeness and surprise. The Mortal Body section features dresses with embroidered anatomical parts and skeleton-like garments. The Aging Body includes a Batsheva jumper with the word 'Hag' next to George Luks' painting The Old Duchess, and a Vetements hoodie saying 'I'm retired' beside a Diane Arbus photograph.
Met Gala Controversy
The press preview preceded Monday's Met Gala, which has faced controversy due to sponsorship by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. Anna Wintour defended the event, emphasizing its economic ripple effect on New York businesses, including hairdressers. Sánchez Bezos attended the preview in a shimmering bronze dress, and Wintour described her as a 'force for joy and generosity.' Protesters have called for a boycott of the gala, but Wintour underlined the necessity of art funding for a successful city.
