For such a long time I had watched MET gala live streams, bought the accompanying exhibition catalogs and had longed for visiting the Costume Institute at the MET to see one of the much acclaimed exhibition live. Knowing that I am going to be in NYC during the time of the MET fashion exhibition and hearing that the 2014 summer show is going to be about Charles James, a designer I had never heard about, was a little disappointing for me at first. Sure I had hoped for something, like Prada and Schiaparelli, Punk or McQueen. Despite of the first disappointment I started to gather some information on the designer and realized that he is a quite interesting person with a design approach not so different from Azzedine Alaia. As a consequence I forced my husband to visit “Charles James beyond fashion” at our first day in New York.
Charles James beyond fashion the whole city is full of advertisement – Here the window displays at Rockefeller Center!
Charles James – organization of the exhibition
Although I hate to talk a lot about formal organization issues when it comes to exhibitions I feel that its important to do so when it comes to MET fashion exhibitions: Upon arrival at the MET we asked for tickets for “Charles James beyond fashion”. However, the cashier told us that its only possible to buy a ticket for the whole museum, which includes the “Anna Wintour Costume Center” and the special exhibitions gallery, which hold the fashion exhibition! A little disappointing as we were under some time pressure due to a business appointment my husband had in the afternoon. That said he told us a fixed price of 25 Dollar for each but we could choose to pay less if we want. As we intended only to visit the fashion exhibition we said 15 Dollar for each, which is the admission to Arts Décoratifs fashion exhibitions.
Outside view at the MET
Equipped with a museum floor plan we started to navigate bravely through endless rooms with Egyptian, Medival antiquities until we finally reached the stairs leading down to the newly opened Anna Wintour Costume Center.
The newly opened Anna Wintour Costume Center.
After we had finished our visit of the two rooms that made up the Anna Wintour Costume Center my husband gave up and chose to have lunch, while I started a new search for the special exhibitions gallery holding the second part of the exhibition!
Charles James – the exhibition
Besides, those organizational aspects that can make a tour a little unpleasant for a first time visitor I have to admit that I was captivated by the incredible curatorial approach of the exhibition. I had seen Alaia at Musée Galliera at the end of 2013 and can’t help to constantly draw lines between James and him.
The jersey lobster dress by Charles James and the Houpette by Alaia share some construction similarities, photo met museum.org, style.com
If you only take the lobster jersey dress by James with its upward tucks attached to a central spine (beige dress in the above photo). It has such a similar visual effect to Alaias 1994 “Houpette” (powder puff) dress.
Similar to Alaia at Musée Galliera “Charles James beyond fashion” is arranged into signature elements of the designers work, which include wraps, folds, tunic cut, anatomical cut and of course ball gowns. In contrast to Alaia, where a lot of attention is payed to put the dresses into a socio-cultural background by citing famous wearers like Tina Turner or Grace Jones at the Charles James exhibition only a view documents of former wearers from the New York society are gathered in one room. The main focus of the exhibition is to show a more technical side of the dresses. Thus shifting the focus from a dress as something to be worn to something that has to be constructed prior to be worn. Animated films give a detailed inside into how each dress is made – from pattern cutting until assembly of the final piece. For me this was the first time that I could really imagine what it takes to make Couture gowns! I definitely left with a much deeper insight into how the fashion industry works and what really makes the difference between a high end piece and a mass produced item!
Charles James – my tip for planning your visit
Plan a full day! Plan not only to visit “Charles James beyond fashion” but also some of the other exhibitions. This can easily be done ahead with the help of the online museum map. For all with a particular interest in fashion there are guided tours entitled “Fashion in Art” or an audio guide narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker “Costume: The Art of Dress” that might make your visit easier. And of course don’t forget to visit the MET shops (Sadly I had no time for that…)!
“Charles James beyond fashion” runs at the MET until August 10th 2014!!!
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