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Feast of historic fashion style in Brooklyn display
May 23, 2010, Sunday
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NOT to be outdone by its Manhattan partner, the Brooklyn Museum in New York recently launched its own show, "American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection," a retrospective of roughly 85 pieces from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It is not to be confused with the Met's "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity," which also opened this month and includes more than 100 pieces from the Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum's combined collection.
The "American High Style" exhibit is just a slice of the holdings of the overall collection, which was established in January 2009 as a result of the transfer of about 23,500 objects - including a large stash of American fashion from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century - to the Costume Institute at the Met.
Running until August 1, the "American High Style" show displays wares from the mid-19th century through to the late 20th century, with a focus on dresses - from a whimsical cotton Elsa Schiaparelli butterfly-print number to a grand silk-and-linen Paul Poiret gown - and a smattering of accessories: pumps, elegant headdresses and jaunty caps.
"The Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum decided to do parallel exhibitions of the (collection) in order to mark the initiation of what we believe is an important and innovative collaboration in collection sharing," Kevin Stayton, the Brooklyn Museum's chief curator, explained of the decision to run the fashion exhibits around the same time.
While the Brooklyn Museum's show is smaller than its counterpart's, the pieces are no less glamorous: There are a series of Charles James dresses from the late 1940s, done in silk and wool, each with whippet-thin waists; Vionnets; Norells, and - in an ode to the 1970s - a Halston is also displayed.
It also highlights the dresses of very chic donors, some of whom were the designers' foremost benefactors, from Mrs Douglas Fairbanks Jr (a 1955 silk James) to Jane "Baby Jane" Holzer (a sexy black Chanel, circa 1965). One of the exhibit's most compelling sections is devoted to female designers from the earlier part of the 20th century, including Claire McCardell, Carolyn Schnurer and a milliner named Sally Victor, who did charming wool, cotton and straw hats.
There is a virtual element, too. The museum has partnered with Polyvore, the social networking site where members create and share collages of fashion pictures.
And for those eager to see more of the diverse holdings, which include both European majors such as Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent as well as American tastemakers including Scaasi and Beene, 4,000 of what Stayton calls "the most important of these" are available for viewing online at the ARTstor digital library.
It is not to be confused with the Met's "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity," which also opened this month and includes more than 100 pieces from the Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum's combined collection.
The "American High Style" exhibit is just a slice of the holdings of the overall collection, which was established in January 2009 as a result of the transfer of about 23,500 objects - including a large stash of American fashion from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century - to the Costume Institute at the Met.
Running until August 1, the "American High Style" show displays wares from the mid-19th century through to the late 20th century, with a focus on dresses - from a whimsical cotton Elsa Schiaparelli butterfly-print number to a grand silk-and-linen Paul Poiret gown - and a smattering of accessories: pumps, elegant headdresses and jaunty caps.
"The Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum decided to do parallel exhibitions of the (collection) in order to mark the initiation of what we believe is an important and innovative collaboration in collection sharing," Kevin Stayton, the Brooklyn Museum's chief curator, explained of the decision to run the fashion exhibits around the same time.
While the Brooklyn Museum's show is smaller than its counterpart's, the pieces are no less glamorous: There are a series of Charles James dresses from the late 1940s, done in silk and wool, each with whippet-thin waists; Vionnets; Norells, and - in an ode to the 1970s - a Halston is also displayed.
It also highlights the dresses of very chic donors, some of whom were the designers' foremost benefactors, from Mrs Douglas Fairbanks Jr (a 1955 silk James) to Jane "Baby Jane" Holzer (a sexy black Chanel, circa 1965). One of the exhibit's most compelling sections is devoted to female designers from the earlier part of the 20th century, including Claire McCardell, Carolyn Schnurer and a milliner named Sally Victor, who did charming wool, cotton and straw hats.
There is a virtual element, too. The museum has partnered with Polyvore, the social networking site where members create and share collages of fashion pictures.
And for those eager to see more of the diverse holdings, which include both European majors such as Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent as well as American tastemakers including Scaasi and Beene, 4,000 of what Stayton calls "the most important of these" are available for viewing online at the ARTstor digital library.
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