But soon the rush of passing garments will change.
Photographs of more than 50 clothing items are pinned to the wall.
Cloth buttons used to be constructed around bits of cotton wool to absorb and emanate drops of perfume.
NESTED INTERESTSElizabeth Debicki wears a dress from Marni’s spring 2024 collection. In his invitation to the runway show, the house’s creative director, Francesco Risso, described encountering a fragrance in Paris that he longed one day to smell again. “Sleeping Beauties” revels in such quests, recapturing the look, feel, sound, and even the scent of garments from The Costume Institute’s collection. Fashion Editor: Amanda Harlech.
On Christian Diors May dress from spring 1953, flowering grasses and wild clover are etched into organza.
Themes recurred: There were patterns of flowers, birds, butterflies.
And there were constant references, he noticed, to the elements of earth, air, and water.
BLOW, WINDS!All the clothes photographed on Debicki for this story—including an organza Iris van Herpen couture dress from spring 2020, seen here with Femme LA shoes—were later acquired by the Costume Institute for the show, except where noted.
All this would shape the formal organization of the show.
The exhibitions title refers to the ultra-fragile garments that Bolton has made the centerpiece of the show.
MAGIC TOUCHA fairy-tale-worthy Gucci cape and dress by Alessandro Michele for fall 2017.
On Christian Dior’s May dress from spring 1953, flowering grasses and wild clover are etched into organza.
We have dreams in it and live our lives through it.
A mystical-seeming House of Worth cape from 1889.
There are ball gownsyou could go to a dance in them, Knight explains.
IN BLOOMA splendid 2017 reimagining of the Junon dress from Christian Dior Haute Couture’s fall 1949 collection (courtesy of Dior).
The show will display the clothes, but it will also work to re-create the experience of encountering them.
Why would it be…exciting?
The studio resembles a laboratorybright, quiet, and filled with technical equipment.
MAGIC TOUCHA fairy-tale-worthy Gucci cape and dress by Alessandro Michele for fall 2017.
Shaefferattentive and soft-spokensorts the Mylar pieces on the table.
Right: A British waistcoat from 161520.
This is a full-scale model from which a dress can be sewn, she explains.
A mystical-seeming House of Worth cape from 1889.
But what would be the value of that?
(The team also used spectrophotographic analysis to pick out original color.)
Something has gone a little wrong here, Shaeffer notes, studying the colors on her screen.
TAKING SHAPELeft: Beholding this coat, dress, and crinoline from Olivier Theyskens’s fall 2000 collection, one can nearly hear the sumptuous sound of its silk moiré in motion—an auditory experience known among fashion conservators as scroop that’s also on display in the exhibition. Right: A British waistcoat from 1615–20.
She plays a draft of the animation that Knights team has sent, studying the motion of the dress.
Its a bit likeThe King and I, he says gently.
Shaeffer draws closer to the screen.
ABOUT FACEThe Upside-Down Rose hat from Philip Treacy’s spring 2000 haute couture collection, like so many of the pieces in “Sleeping Beauties,” channels the natural world.
I liked becoming a dog, she says.
FLOWER POWERAn anthurium-inspired bodice from Loewes spring 2023 collection.
Is it perfume from a dress / That makes me so digress?
GARDEN VARIETYClockwise from top: A 1957 Balenciaga hat, Deirdre Hawken’s Cauliflower Headpiece from 2013, a layered silk hat from the 1940s, and a 1942 Germaine Vittu hat.
Eliot wrote early in the 20th century.
At The Met, visitors will be able to encounter fragrance elements of that time.
One room, devoted to the floral theme, will feature an array of hats with floral motifs.
FLOWER POWERAn anthurium-inspired bodice from Loewe’s spring 2023 collection.
Another will be devoted to Millicent Rogers, the early-20th-century socialite and philanthropist.
The data of science and the sensory mysteries of art emerge from one another.
Im not perfuming spaces, she explains.
DARK MATTERA complete look from Rick Owens’s spring 2022 Fogachine collection (courtesy of Rick Owens).
Im highlighting or amplifying hidden information in the garments.
DARK MATTERA complete look from Rick Owenss spring 2022 Fogachine collection (courtesy of Rick Owens).
With time, the grass grows, creating a lush green pelt.
DREAM SCENARIOConstantin Brancusi’sSleeping Muse, 1910. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949.
(All the while, a time-lapse video of grass sprouting will play nearby.)
I love when clothing becomes sculptural, he explains.
You look at the form, in three dimensions, and see how it interacts with the body.
The greatest of the shows technological moments, meanwhile, is also the most daring.
Visitors will be able to text Natalie and get back specific answers.
Something I find a little bit frustrating in any show is how passive the objects are.
DREAM SCENARIOConstantin BrancusisSleeping Muse, 1910.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949.
Here in the exhibition halls, motion sets the mood.
The design of the exhibition is episodic: You progress from one room to another, Dominic Leong explains.
Many rooms center on glass cases reminiscent of bell jars, an icon of scientific objectivity.
A contemporary garment that the Worth dress helped to inspirean Alessandro Michele piece for Gucciwill be displayed nearby.
Its a very humbling show to work on, he says.
It makes you realize how little you are.
