In case you missed it, I wanted to share my thoughts and photos of the The Costume Institute’s spring 2017 exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you follow the annual themes of fashion’s big night, The MET Gala, then you already know that this past year’s Gala and exhibit celebrated Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. She founded the beloved fashion brand Comme des Garcons back in the 70s and has since kept the brand aesthetic raw, edgy, and playful—which is everything I love about it. The exhibit ran from May 4-September 4 and it was absolutely spectacular.
Art of the In-Between
The exhibit featured about 140 womenswear garments dating from the 80s to her most recent collection. The galleries displayed Kawakubo’s experiments in “in-betweenness.” The creative ensembles were organized into nine different categories: Absence/Presence, Design/Not Design, Fashion/Anti-Fashion, Model/Multiple, Then/Now, High/Low, Self/Other, Object/Subject, and Clothes/Not Clothes. It was truly an experience.
I was amazed by the amount of detail and originality in each and every garment I saw. The way each section was curated and juxtaposed was so brilliant. Surrounded by clean white walls, it was easy to allow the clothing to come to life. Most of the clothes were within an arm’s reach so you could really study the experimental fabric selections and skill of the construction. A few items were placed on platforms above your head. They were a little harder to see, but it added dimension to the exhibit and complimented the theme of “in-betweeness.” Whether it was weird or wild, every piece in the exhibit was wonderful and I’m so glad I was able to see it.
What was your favorite MET Gala theme so far?
xoxo, Kayla
