Where the Fabric of Life Becomes Art
Exploring the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
By Holly Beretto
Everyone knows that old saw that clothes make the man, so it’s not too much of a stretch to see how clothes make a society. Every stitch in time demonstrates some new endeavor across the history of humankind: the use of new fabrics, the employment of new technologies, the fascination with new styles.
With its collection of more than 35,000 pieces, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a timeline of nearly five centuries of human development, seen through our clothes and accessories. What began in 1937 as an independent entity known as the Museum of Costume Art today is one of the foremost collections of costumes and accessories from around the world. The institute became a permanent part of the Met in 1959 and its 5,000 square feet of gallery space annually host two special exhibits.
The Institute is ever-evolving and last year took another huge step forward in further cementing its reputation as a leader in costume art and artifacts.
. The Brooklyn Museum transferred their renowned costume collection, amassed during more than a century of collecting, to The Costume Institute, where it is known as the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This summer, the Institute launched the first exhibit drawn entirely from The Brooklyn Museum’s holdings
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, the first drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. The exhibition, on through August 15, 2010, explores developing perceptions of the modern American woman from the 1890s to the 1940s, and how they have affected the way American women are seen today.
The 80-piece exhibit is a true multi-media, multi-dimensional experience, walking visitors through a timeline of femininity. Periods are evoked by hand-painted panoramas animated by music, video, and lighting. You begin in the drawing room of “The Heiress,” which captures Old New York’s gilded age with a display of ball gown by Charles Frederick Worth. The journey continues with images of the classic Gibson Girl, dotted with bathing and cycling costumes; The "Suffragist" and "Patriot" depiction of the 1920s, with backdrops of archival film footage revealing the gradual political emancipation of women after World War I; as well as “Flappers” and “Screen Sirens,” both showcasing the classic looks of those eras, complete with heavily beaded evening gowns and 1930s glamour.
Much more than a treasure trove of old clothes, the Costume Institute shows us how clothes really do make us. Past exhibits have showcased glamour and pop culture, but the focus has always been on how the clothing is an integral tapestry of the age. The recent Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years – Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum demonstrated how one woman’s wardrobe gave voice to age of transition, turmoil and triumph. Merchandise from the beloved “Shoes” exhibit still abounds at the Met and online, the fun and flirty frolic through history that captured the imagination of shoe lovers and art lovers alike. Exhibitions dedicated to Dior and Chanel remind us that the personalities behind the everlasting styles were explosive and passionate, and used fabric as their canvas, giving us enduring haute couture.
What the Costume Institute has always done so well is to showcase the clothing within the context of its times. The current American Woman exhibit is intriguing because it allows visitors to not only view the costumes, but to see and hear the eras from which they came. This helps us to see the soul behind the art, to understand a shared history and to realize that we all share common threads.
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