Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Costume Institute’s new exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, reactivates the sensory capacities of masterworks in the Museum’s collection through first-hand research, conservation analysis, and diverse technologies—from cutting-edge tools of artificial intelligence and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection, and soundscapes.
Image: Gallery View, Reseda Luteola. Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image above: Dress, Jun Takahashi (Japanese, born 1969) for Undercover (Japanese, founded 1990), spring/summer 2024; Courtesy Undercover. Photography © Nick Knight, 2024. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
When an item of clothing enters the Costume Institute collection, its status is changed forever. What was once a vital part of a person’s life is now a motionless ‘artwork’ that can no longer be worn or heard, touched, or smelled. This exhibition reanimates these objects, helping us experience them as they were originally intended—with vibrancy, dynamism, and life.
Want to read more of this article?
We are proud to be a subscriber-funded publication with members in 185 countries. We know our readership is passionate about textiles, so we invite you to help us preserve and promote the stories, memories, and histories that fabric holds. Your support allows us to publish our magazine, and also ‘what's on’ information, and subscription interviews, reviews, and long-read articles in our online blog.
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CONTENT
