The Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s next fashionable venture has been revealed — and this time, it’s focused on female empowerment.
Announced today, the museum’s fall 2023 Costume Institute exhibit, “Women Designing Women,” will celebrate the accomplishments and creativity of female fashion designers. Held from Dec. 7 through March 3, the new display is organized by associate curator Mellissa Huber and guest co-curator Karen Van Godtsenhoven in the building’s Anna Wintour Costume Center, as well as the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch and Carl and Iris Barrel Apfel Galleries.
“Women have been instrumental to the success of The Costume Institute since its inception—its founding members include several inspiring women—and the department remains dedicated to recognizing the artistic, technical, and social achievements of women,” said Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s Wendy Yu curator in charge, in a statement. “We look forward to this opportunity to honor many of the designers, donors, and scholars who have contributed to shaping The Costume Institute and, more broadly, the history of fashion.”
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The exhibit itself highlights four themes — anonymity, visibility, agency and absence — to examine how women’s presence in society has transformed through fashion, as well as the expansion of female designers’ roles in the industry. With contributions by Morgan Stanley, the final exhibition will include approximately 80 pieces showing established and lesser-known womenswear designers from the 1900s to the present day, including Miuccia Prada, Comme des Garcons’ Rei Kawakubo, Vivienne Westwood, Ann Lowe and Gabriela Hearst, among numerous others.
“Our fall exhibition will provide an opportunity to engage with the critical histories of innovative women designers, all of whom played pivotal roles in the conception of fashion as we know it today,” Huber said in a statement. “In recognizing that the contributions of women to fashion are unquantifiable, our intention with this show is to celebrate and acknowledge through a focus on The Costume Institute’s permanent collection, which represents a rich timeline of Western fashion history. We hope that this exhibition will foster impactful conversations between our visitors and across the designers’ larger bodies of work, highlighting the plurality and diversity of women’s important contributions to the field.”
Within the exhibit, pieces on display will chart the transformation of women designers in Paris’ couture houses in the early 20th century to the politicization of fashion in the 1960s, ending with the revived recognition of anonymous designers and rising stars in the field today. The garments shown will include historic pieces by Adèle Henriette Nigrin Fortuny and Anne Lowe, groundbreaking designs by Gabrielle Chanel and Sarah Burton, and pieces from the Met’s extensive collection by Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli, among numerous others.
The future of fashion will also be shown with contemporary pieces by designers including Iris Van Herpen, Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour, Simone Rocha and Marine Serre.
No programs or events related to the exhibit have been announced at this time, including the potential for a second 2023 Met Gala. However, the museum did state that information on exhibition-related occasions will be shared later this year.
About the Author:
Aaron Royce is the Digital Editor for Footwear News, where he writes stories on celebrity style, brand collaborations and in-depth profile interviews. Prior to joining Footwear News, Aaron wrote and interned for publications including PAPER, Grazia and the Daily Front Row. He currently holds a B.S. in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University.
