The Dirt
An art form, a supremely consumer industry, and a scene where sinners often trumps saint—welcome to the fashion world. In an industry where appearance comes first, it’s easy for the superficial to overpower the artistic. However, fashion is like any other art form, with the widespread appreciation a long time in the making and deviations form the norm often misunderstood. However, maternal multi-tasking models (read: Kate Moss and Heidi Klum) are just one example that fashion isn’t always what it seems. In spring 2009, a number of American museums will spotlight fashion industry icons and emerging trends. Here are a few picks.

Down south in Florida, the Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History prepares for its 10th anniversary in March, when Palm Beach County will celebrate its 100th anniversary and Barbie will turn 50. As such, the museum will unveil its Barbie: The Golden Anniversary in March with a collection of borrowed dolls.

In New York, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, ushers in spring with a March through September exhibit entitled Fashioning Felt, focusing on modern designs using felt, from fashion products and home accessories to product design and architectural pieces. The textile exhibit demonstrates the use of the material as a sustainable element, speaks to its wool source and showcases a number of inventive applications, such as an LED carpet made of felt. The program is explained in a 160-page color catalog.

Finally, down the street from Cooper-Hewitt at arguably the heart of New York City’s museum mile is the Museum of Metropolitan Art, whose Costume Institute will host a bold name-backed spring 2009 exhibit dubbed The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion. Running from May 6 through August 6, the exhibit is supported by glossy publisher Conde Nast, chaired by famed runway designer Marc Jacobs, with Kate Moss, Anna Wintour and Justin Timberlake serving as co-chairs. The exhibit, which opens two days after the 2009 Costume Institute gala benefit, features 70 haute couture and ready-to-wear pieces from fashion editorials and runway shows, to advertising shots and fashion and rock videos. Running from before models in the 19th century to the 21st century of it-girls and model moguls, the exhibit touches on industry innovators, including Twiggy, Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen, Versace and Yohji Yamamoto, with images by popular photographers including Steven Meisel, Bruce Weber and Richard Avedon. The program will be featured in an accompanying book, The Model as Muse, to be published by the museum and distributed by Yale University Press.

Where:
For more information on the Barbie exhibit, visit the MLFH website. For more information on the Felt exhibit, visit the Cooper-Hewitt website. For more information on The Model as Muse exhibit, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

The Dirt:
Fashion is to the art world what celebrity magazines are to publishing: the perceived fluff. However each one has merit in their work and their appeal to the masses. From October through March, a number of American museums are opening exhibits spotlighting the art of fashion, with a few accompanied by books and events commemorating the exhibits and those behind the showcased works. Here are our picks.

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco just opened a retrospective on the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent at the de Young museum, through April 2009. The exhibit is broken into four themes: pencil strokes, the revolution or YSL’s signature garments, the palette or his use of bright colors, and lyrical sources, focusing on his reference to historical figures, including literary and art icons. The museum is hosting a symposium on the artist and his influences the afternoon of Nov. 1 ($30) and will feature a number of speakers, including Vogue European Editor-at-large Hamish Bowles.

For a downtown-meets-uptown event, check out Soul on Skin on November 8 at the SoHo Dance Center. The Foundation for Open Creation is behind this event celebrating and benefiting breast cancer survivors, many of which have chosen to use tattoo art to beautify the skin where scars remain. The cocktail hour even will feature music by Semi Precious Weapons, belly dancing, a fashion show by Anie Rexe and a silent auction.

For fashion and its erotic nature, trust in the abilities of the students, staff and faculty of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, which will be home to the Seduction exhibit from December 9 through June 16. The exhibit will cover sexuality in fashion over the years, running the middle of the 18th century to the present, focusing on how fashion can aid an individual in becoming more attractive, powerful and classy. Among the designers represented, some include Jean-Paul Gaultier, Costume National and Peter Som.

In keeping with the fashion design tribute, the quaint southern city of Charlotte, North Carolina, hosts a couture exhibit via its Mint Museum. The museum opened the The Art of Affluence: Haute Couture and Luxury Fashions 1947-2007 in its costume gallery in July and will keep it open through May 2010. The exhibit celebrates the fashion designer’s appreciation for fine materials, craftsmanship and attention to detail, as well as custom designs, which it traces back to the 19th century designer Charles Frederick Worth. The exhibit, which also focuses on luxury designs, focuses on a number of household names, including Chanel, Balenciaga, Valentino, Patou, Louboutin and Ralph Rucci.

Where:
For more information on the YSL exhibit, visit the de Young website. For more information on the Soul on Skin event ($150/ticket), visit the Open Creation website. For more information on the FIT exhibit, visit the FIT website.
For more information on the Mint Museum and the fashion exhibit, visit the Mint Museum website.

Stay tuned for the second set of exhibits, featured in the next culture installment.

]]>