Andrew Bolton: 2020 Show to Highlight Met’s Permanent Collection
LONDON — The permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will be the primary source of looks for next year’s fashion exhibition, marking the institution’s 150th anniversary.
Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, revealed the news during a talk at Sarabande, The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation in London.
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“The idea behind it is to tie it in with what’s happening with fashion at the moment. I am still trying to figure it out,” said the curator at the fashion institute of the museum during a talk on Wednesday night.
The theme will be announced later this year.
The permanent collection at the Institute has more than 35,000 costumes and accessories, representing “five continents and seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present,” according to the museum.
In 2009, the Brooklyn Museum transferred its costume collection to the Costume Institute, which includes the definitive collection of Charles James material, as well as American fashion from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. “The combined collections now constitute the largest and most comprehensive costume collection in the world,” said the museum.
Craig Green, Molly Goddard and Cozette McCreery attended the talk along with editors and fashion students.
Bolton also shared his experiences and anecdotes about curating the current show “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” which runs until Sept. 8. He also talked about his personal take on Susan Sontag’s essay on the theme.
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