Par
AFP
Translated by
Clementine Martin
Published on
Dec 18 2023
The Metropolitan Museum in New York has just unveiled its new blockbuster exhibition, showcasing seamstresses who have mostly been forgotten until now.
AFP
One of the main pieces in the exhibition, titled “Women Dressing Women,” is a dress designed by African-American designer Ann Lowe, a pioneer in her field. Virtually ignored in his time, we owe him Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress in 1953. This chiffon dress features exquisitely delicate details, topped with silk roses and elegant taffeta.
Thirty years before Ann Lowe’s masterpiece for Jackie O, the French fashion house Premet, which has remained silent since, released a dress designed by Madame Charlotte and called “The flapper”. “This little black dress predates Chanel’s successful version by three years,” points out Mellissa Huber, associate curator at the Met’s Costume Institute.
Through 80 pieces by 70 designers, the exhibition also offers a vision of the art of women’s clothing from the 20th century to the present day and highlights designers committed to the environment, such as Gabriela Hearst and Hillary Taymour. “The real breakthrough of this exhibition is the celebration of the incredible and diverse range of female designers who have marked history and made very significant contributions to fashion,” claims Mellissa Huber. “We want to shatter the stereotypes that women are more practical than men, or that they create with only themselves in mind.”
For women, the story often began in the anonymity of sewing workshops, to which they were generally relegated. But several French designers nevertheless managed to establish themselves at the beginning of the 20th century, such as Madeleine Vionnet, Jeanne Lanvin and Gabrielle Chanel. Bringing together creations imagined by Elsa Schiaparelli, Nina Ricci and Vivienne Westwood, the Costume Institute has drawn from its rich collection of 33,000 pieces, sweeping across seven centuries of fashion history.
The exhibition should have taken place in 2020 on the occasion of the centenary of women’s suffrage in the United States. But the pandemic has reshuffled the cards. The bias is resolutely political, highlighting the absence of women in museum collections.
At the same time, preparations have already begun for the 2024 exhibition and the Met Gala, the most anticipated party in the fashion world every year. Their common theme will be: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”.
The Met Gala, which always attracts an impressive crowd of celebrities, will take place in Manhattan on May 6 for the opening of the exhibition. The public will be able to visit it from May 10 to September 2. Both events are sponsored by the viral video app TikTok.
The rich and immersive exhibition will present around 250 items of clothing and accessories retracing four centuries of history. Here again, the pieces will come from the impressive archives of the Costume Institute. Visitors will be able to admire an embroidered jacket from the 17th century, but also an Alexander McQueen gala dress made from shells for spring/summer 2001.
The Met Gala is the Costume Institute’s primary source of funding. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour took over the charity gala in the 1990s and turned it into one of the most high-profile parties of the year.
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2023-12-18 08:31:15
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