About Time: Fashion and Duration
Coming late October of this year, the Met Costume Institute’s new collection, About Time: Fashion and Duration will showcase a history of fashion tracing back to 1870 (the year of the opening of the Met). The main concept is la durée, or the continuity of time, and highlights Virginia Woolf as the ‘ghost narrator.’ Louis Vuitton is the main presenter of this exhibition, which marks 150 years for the Museum. A major concept on display is how trends repeat themselves and how fashion is largely cyclical. The promotional video shows many dresses from modern day that look strikingly similar to dresses from previous centuries. Woolf’s novel, Orlando, was the main inspiration for this collection, as it follows a character who lives through many centuries and historical highlights.
Andrew Bolton, a curator for the collection, states that fashion “represents the spirit of the times,” as well as being a “sensitive and accurate timepiece.” The Met’s 2020 Collections Initiative is sure to bring in extremely valuable pieces for this collection, as the Met Gala was cancelled this year, effectively wiping out the institute’s main method of funding.
The collection is broken down into a timeline, showcasing 60 minutes on a clock face with one minute representing two garments. The two garments shown include an avant-garde piece from fashion’s history, and a similar piece from a different time period, showing the cyclicality of fashion. Every piece showcased will be black, except for the finale of a Viktor & Rolf haute couture gown. This final piece is a gown that is made of sustainable materials and is highlighted to promote a future rooted in collaboration. Notable designers with pieces in the collection include Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Tom Ford, Hubert de Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Helmut Lang, Vivienne Westwood, Gianni Versace, and many more.
There is no doubt that the looks at the cancelled 2020 Met Gala would have been show-stopping, but thankfully we can still get a look inside the collection, even if New York is far from you. Vogue published an online preview of the collection, which can be seen here.
Strike Out,
Writer: Annie McGrath
Boca Raton