The new exhibition of the Costume Institute, which will open in the spring of 2024, will be entitled Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. Approximately 250 items from the museum's permanent collection - some of which are rarely seen in public - will be presented in a completely new way.
From 17th-century English fashion to contemporary designers such as Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney and Connor Eaves, the exhibition will cover 400 years of history. Unique designs by Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and many other canonical fashion creators will be presented.
Andrew Bolton, Curator of the Costume Institute, said: "Fashion is one of the most emotional art forms because of its connection to the body. It is imbued with memory and emotion. I hope this exhibition will evoke a lot of emotions."
Bolton said that the exhibition will also feature historically significant and aesthetically perfect pieces that are too fragile to ever be worn again. These are the "sleeping beauties" of the exhibition's title. Instead of fulfilling their original function, these items - such as an antique bodice and a silk satin dress from 1887 by American couturier Charles Frederick Worth - will be presented through a display.
Many of the outfits will be exhibited in tandem with contemporary fashion pieces that unwittingly echo their ancestors. An illusion technique known as Pepper's ghost will be used to restore some of the garments, while video animation, light projection, sound recordings, AI, CGI, and other forms of sensory stimulation will be used to create context around each piece. Bolton added that the exhibition will be organized around three main "zones" - land, sea and sky - as it traces the relationship to the natural world through fashion and the manipulation of natural materials to create clothing: "It's an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion."
