{"id":656553,"date":"2026-10-25T10:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T10:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/656553\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T10:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T10:40:39","slug":"costume-art-is-a-bad-look-for-the-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/656553\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCostume Art\u201d Is a Bad Look for The Met"},"content":{"rendered":"

Art Review<\/a><\/p>\n

The exhibition shapes a fashion canon based less on historical relevance than on the interests of those in charge. <\/p>\n


\n \"Natalie
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\u201cCostume
\n Left to right: Yves Saint Laurent, \u201c\u2018Irises\u2019 ensemble\u201d (spring\/summer 1988); Vincent van Gogh, \u201cIrises\u201d (1890); Loewe by Jonathan Anderson, \u201cEnsemble\u201d (spring\/summer 2025) (all photos Natalie Haddad\/Hyperallergic)<\/p>\n

For an exhibition with such a simple title, Costume Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is awfully confusing. It\u2019s also fairly problematic, but let\u2019s start with the confusing parts. The show pairs garments and art objects to accomplish the radical task of \u201creveal[ing] the inherent relationship between clothing and the body,\u201d as the website concisely explains. The artworks are meant to demonstrate the clothed body\u2019s presence across The Met\u2019s collection, evidently establishing the Costume Institute as the museum\u2019s beating heart.<\/p>\n

So clothing and the body are related, a fact to which The Met\u2019s artworks attest. This ridiculously broad proclamation is organized into body typologies, starting with \u201cNaked and Nude Body.\u201d Other sections include \u201cAnatomical Body,\u201d \u201cAbstract Body,\u201d \u201cAging Body,\u201d \u201cMortal Body,\u201d and \u201cEpidermal Body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With around 200 garments filling the Costume Institute\u2019s nearly 12,000-square-foot, Grand Hall-adjacent new Cond\u00e9 M. Nast Galleries, certain pairings do enable visitors to experience the objects \u201cthrough the lens of fashion, so the art becomes embodied,\u201d as the Costume Institute\u2019s Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton told the Art Newspaper<\/a> \u2014 diaphanous Grecian-style gowns coupled with ancient Greek vessels, for instance.<\/p>\n

\"\"Left to right: Chet Lo, \u201c\u2018Spiky Boatneck\u2019 gown\u201d (spring\/summer 2025); Pablo Picasso, \u201cThe Blind Man\u2019s Meal\u201d (1903); Chet Lo, \u201c\u2018Mini Spike Checked\u2019 gown\u201d (spring\/summer 2025)<\/p>\n

Many other correspondences come across as forced, superficial, or questionable. For example, clothing by Chet Lo, who offered fabric swatches and audio descriptions<\/a> to people with blindness and vision disabilities for his Spring 2025 collection, is juxtaposed with Picasso\u2019s painting \u201cThe Blind Man\u2019s Meal\u201d (1903), while a limestone votive ear with the inscription \u201cI belong to a deaf person\u201d (4th\u20133rd century BCE) accompanies a \u201cDeaf Dysmorphia\u201d ensemble (2023) by designer Justin Dougan-Leblanc, who is deaf. If inclusiveness is a priority, why not feature artists living with blindness and deafness \u2014 for instance, Emilie Louise Gossiaux and Christine Sun Kim? Could the constant selfies at the Lo-Picasso display be the answer? This space was once a gift shop..<\/p>\n

Likewise, a section titled \u201cPregnant Body\u201d includes several works by (cis) men, as does \u201cReclaimed Body.\u201d The latter couples Michaela Stark\u2019s body-binding outfit \u201cTwisted\u201d (2026) with a photograph by Hans Bellmer of one of his faceless, limbless poup\u00e9e (doll) sculptures.<\/p>\n

\"\"Xander Zhou, \u201cEnsemble\u201d (spring\/summer 2019, left); Hiroko Okada, \u201cFuture Plan #2\u201d (2003, right)<\/p>\n

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