Matthew Yokobosky is the senior curator of fashion and material culture at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. On January 18, this Francophile was named Knight in the National Order of Merit. A distinction awarded for the various exhibitions honoring French fashion designers that he has organized over the years. Matthew Yokobosky takes us on a journey through his passion for French fashion: “Throughout my childhood, fashion was omnipresent at home.”
Can you tell us about your job as a “senior curator” of fashion and material culture?
A senior conservator can have many duties. Over the years, my career has fluctuated between designing exhibitions for museums and serving as an exhibition curator. I think a lot of people don’t know that there is a difference between the two, whereas in a large museum they are very distinct tasks. As a senior curator of fashion and material culture, I’m the person who brings in a traveling exhibition, or creates a new exhibition from scratch. So curating is about choosing the artworks that are part of an exhibition and then creating the narrative and order in which you see those artworks. Typically, a curator works with an exhibition designer to determine whether these two paintings should be displayed on the same wall or whether they should be placed in a glass case.
Matthew Yokobosky receiving the title of Knight in the National Order of Merit
Where does this passion for art and the desire to do this job come from?
I was lucky to have a mother who was very interested in fashion. Throughout my childhood, fashion was everywhere at home. I also had two older sisters who, when I was little, were already teenagers and winning beauty prizes. Growing up, my sisters did their makeup and hair to get ready to go out, my job was to change the vinyls. They wanted to make sure they always had good music while they got ready. I was like the DJ at a fashion show (laughs).
I also grew up in a small town called Republic in southwest Pennsylvania where there were tailors, florists, and shoemakers. After school, I would walk down the street, enter stores and observe shopkeepers sewing clothes, hemming, making shoes… This certainly sparked my interest in fashion.
“I didn’t tell myself that everything I loved came from France, but that’s ultimately the case.”
What attracted you to French fashion?
Growing up, I learned a lot about fashion from movies and magazines. I remember the time when I started seeing Pierre Cardin, in the 70s. At Christmas, someone bought me his perfume which was shaped like a keyhole, but in three dimensions. It was on my desk and I saw it every day. I wore Pierre Cardin, a name I got to know very early on. Later, I became very interested in designers like Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Claude Montana. I studied film at university where I decided to focus on design and costume design.
When I moved to New York, I started designing costumes in the evenings at an experimental theater called “At my mom”. I was very interested in the work of Claude, Jean-Paul and Thierry since they had more historical references in their creations. When we create costumes, for example for the theater, they are generally set in an era. Their work was part of both history and the future, with new techniques, thus freeing my vision of design. Because of this, I won a first prize in the Bessie Award for costume design.
How did you experience your arrival at the Brooklyn Museum?
Before my arrival at Brooklyn Museum, I worked at Whitney Museum of American Art, in the film and video department. Right after I won the Bessie Award for costume design, they asked me if I had ever considered designing an exhibition. At that point, I hadn’t really considered doing it. But, soon after, I designed exhibitions for Joseph Stella, a great American artist. I also did projects with Yoko Ono and designed part of the Whitney Biennial.
In 1999, the director of the Brooklyn Museum called me: “I’m not very interested in film and video, but I like your exhibition design. Would you consider coming to Brooklyn?” So I changed careers somewhat and focused on staging and decorating exhibitions. A lot of them were talking about fashion. I worked on exhibitions dedicated to rock’n’roll photography and fashion photographers like Annie Leibovitz. With my wonderful collaborator, Lisa Small, we work together on a series of projects, including those on Jean-Paul Gaultier or the exhibition entitled Killer Heels, the art of high heel shoes. We also organized an exhibition called Sneaker Culture, which focused on the history of sports shoes, and which was very popular. We had one of the youngest audiences we’ve ever had for an exhibition!
“I think next semester I’m going to take art and design,” then I heard the phone drop.
Were you surprised to be named Knight of the National Order of Merit by France?
I was totally caught off guard because I have always been a real enthusiast, if there is something that interests me or attracts me then I go for it. I always wanted to support artists that I loved, that I admired and that I found very creative. I didn’t tell myself that everything I loved came from France, but that’s ultimately the case. When I got the phone call saying they liked my work with Dior, Cardin and Gaultier, I was very surprised. I still have butterflies in my stomach and I am extremely grateful to them.
What does it mean to you to receive this title?
I have worked in museums for almost 40 years. So I started very early, and today I am truly at a peak in my long career. When I was in college, I started studying medicine, and after a year and a half, I called my mom and said, “I think next semester I’m going to take art and design classes.” then I heard the phone drop. After thinking about it, the main thing was to do what I love to succeed. I probably took a bigger risk in deciding to follow my passion. My mother is now 92 years old and when I told her about this distinction, she told me, “Oh, Matt, you made so many good decisions. I hope I didn’t stop you from doing it.” It was a very beautiful moment. When I moved to New York, my mother thought I needed angels, so she gave me two in the form of gold brooches. So I wore these two golden angels to the award ceremony.
2024-01-30 17:14:50
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