"American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity" @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hats from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection include, from left, a 1920 example in black plush with ostrich trim, an 1805 velvet bonnet and Balenciaga’s 1948 patent-leather “padre” design. Photographs from the Brooklyn Museum

(New York, September 8, 2009) – The spring 2010 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, the first drawn exclusively from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. The exhibition, on view from May 5 through August 15, 2010 (preceded on May 3 by The Costume Institute Gala Benefit), will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940, and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls" and "Screen Sirens" laid the foundation for today's American woman – a theme that will be explored in a video installation.

The exhibition is made possible by Gap.

Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.

To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, the Museum's Costume Institute Gala Benefit will take place on Monday, May 3, 2010. The evening's Co-Chairs will be Oprah Winfrey; Patrick Robinson, designer for Gap; and Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue. This fundraising event is The Costume Institute's main source of annual funding for exhibitions, operations, and capital improvements.

"The ideal of the American woman evolved from a dependence on European, Old World ideas of elegance into an independent New World sensibility that reflected freedoms still associated with American women today," said Andrew Bolton, Curator of The Costume Institute. "The show will look at fashion's role in defining how American women have been represented historically, and how fashion costumes women into archetypes that still persist in varying degrees of relevance."

Arnold L. Lehman, the director of the Brooklyn Museum, with 20th-century dresses by Mme. Grès, left, and Charles James. photo Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Exhibition Overview
The exhibition will feature approximately 75 examples of haute couture and high fashion from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was transferred to the Met from the Brooklyn Museum in January 2009. Many of the pieces have not been seen by the public in more than 30 years.

Visitors will walk through time as they enter circular galleries that reflect the milieu of each feminine archetype. Period clothing will be brought to life with panoramas animated by music, video, and lighting. The first gallery will evoke the ballroom of the "Heiress" (1890s), filled with ball gowns by Charles Frederick Worth. Scenes of the great outdoors will showcase the athleticism and physical independence of the "Gibson Girl" (1890s) as characterized by bathing costumes, riding ensembles, and cycling suits.

Picture galleries in connecting corridors will put faces to the archetypes and demonstrate how the gradual emancipation of the American woman was reflected in the media of the day. The "Heiress," embodied by Consuelo Vanderbilt and others, will be seen in oil paintings; the "Gibson Girl" in fashion illustrations; the art-collecting "Bohemian" (early 1900s) in photographs of Rita Lydig; and the "Suffragist" (1910s) in poster art showing Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and others.

Photographs of "Flappers" (1920s) such as Clara Bow and Louise Brooks will precede galleries showing beaded chemise dresses by Lanvin and Molyneux, among others. Filmic representations of the "Screen Siren" (1930s) will herald a nightclub scene that will include body-cleaving, second-skin bias-cut gowns, including the Siren dress designed by Charles James and worn by Gypsy Rose Lee. In the final gallery, a video installation will demonstrate the significance of contemporary archetypes and the media's role in sustaining them despite the multi-dimensionality of the modern American woman.

Designers in the exhibition will include Travis Banton, Gabrielle Chanel, Callot Soeurs, Madame Eta, Elizabeth Hawes, Madame Grès, Charles James, Jeanne Lanvin, Liberty & Company, Edward Molyneux, Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jessie Franklin Turner, Valentina, Madeleine Vionnet, Weeks, Charles Frederick Worth, and Jean-Philippe Worth, among others.

A simultaneous exhibition of masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection will be presented at the Brooklyn Museum from May 7 – August 1, 2010. American Style: Fashioning a National Collection will take a look at historic designs of the 19th and 20th century by designers including Charles James, Norman Norell, Jeanne Paquin, and Elsa Schiaparelli collected by prominent women including Dominique de Menil, Millicent Rogers, and Lauren Bacall. Many of the objects have never been previously exhibited. This exhibition will be organized by Jan Glier Reeder, Consulting Curator of the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Metropolitan Museum exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator, with the support of Harold Koda, Curator in Charge, both of the Met's Costume Institute. Nathan Crowley, a production designer of films including The Prestige, The Dark Knight, and Public Enemies will serve as the exhibition's creative consultant, as he did for the 2008 exhibition Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy.

The design for the 2010 Costume Institute Gala Benefit will be created by Nathan Crowley with Raul Avila.

And from The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art :

Dress, Evening, 1945–1950. Travis Banton, Designer. American. Gift of Lilly Daché, 1974 (1974.306.1a, b). (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Suit, 1938. House of Chanel (French, founded 1913), Design House; Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (French, 1883–1971), Designer
French; Made Paris, France. silk; (a) Length at CB: 22 in. (55.9 cm) (b) Length at CB: 29 in. (73.7 cm) Gift of Diana Vreeland, 1954 (C.I.54.16.1a, b)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, ca. 1924. Callot Soeurs (French, active 1895–1937), Design House. French; Made Paris, France; wool, silk, metallic thread; Length at CB: 41 1/2 in. (105.4 cm) Gift of Julia B. Henry, 1978 (1978.288.7a, b)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Dinner, ca. 1935. Elizabeth Hawes (American, 1903 - 1971), Designer, American; silk; Length: 63 in. (160 cm) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III, 1977 (1977.158.2a, b)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Evening, 1958. Madame Grès (Alix Barton) (French, 1903–1993), Designer. French; Made Paris, France. silk; Length at CB: 54 in. (137.2 cm) Gift of Mrs. Leon L. Roos, 1973 (1973.104.2a, b)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Four-Leaf Clover", Dress, Evening, 1953. Charles James (American, born Great Britain, 1906–1978), Designer. American; silk; Length at CB: 47 1/2 in. (120.7 cm) Gift of Elizabeth Fairall, 1953 (C.I.53.73)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, ca. 1924. House of Lanvin (French, founded 1890), Design House; Jeanne Lanvin (French, 1867–1946), Designer,
French; silk, wool; Length at CB (a): 42 1/4 in. (107.3 cm) Gift of Mrs. Carter Marshall Braxton, 1980 (1980.92.1a–c)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Coat, 1920s. Liberty of London (British, founded 1875), Design House; Liberty of London (British, founded 1875), Department Store. French; silk; Gift of Mrs. R.H. Trott, 1974 (1974.92)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Evening, 1926–1927. Edward Molyneux (French, born Britain, 1891 - 1974), Designer, French, silk; Length at CB: 30 in. (76.2 cm) Gift of Mrs. Adam Gimbel, 1942 (C.I.42.33.3) (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Costume (Fancy Dress), 1911. Paul Poiret (French, 1879–1944), Designer, French, metal, silk, cotton; Length (a): 50 1/4 in. (127.6 cm) Diameter (b): 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm) Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Trust Gift, 1983 (1983.8a, b) (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Apollo of Versailles, Cape, 1938. Elsa Schiaparelli (Italian, 1890–1973), Designer, French; Made Paris, France; Length at CB: 40 in. (101.6 cm) Gift of Estate of Lady Mendl, 1951 (C.I.51.83)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, 1926–1927. Miss Jessie Franklin Turner, Designer. American, silk; Gift of Aline Bernstein, 1945 (C.I.45.103.1)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Evening, ca. 1934. Valentina (American, born Russia, 1899-1989), Designer, American; Made New York, New York, United States; silk; Length at CB: 61 in. (154.9 cm) Gift of Igor Kamlukin, 1995 (1995.245.1)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Evening, spring/summer 1938. Madeleine Vionnet (French, 1876–1975), Designer. French; rayon; Length at CB: 55 in. (139.7 cm) Gift of Madame Madeleine Vionnet, 1952 (C.I.52.18.4)  (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Evening, ca. 1911. Weeks (French), Designer. French; Made Paris, France; silk, metal, glass; Length at Side Seam: 64 in. (162.6 cm) Gift of Mrs. C. Phillip Miller, 1957 (C.I.57.17.3) (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress (Ball Gown), ca. 1892. House of Worth (French (1858–1956)), Design House; Jean-Phillipe Worth, Designer. French. silk, crystal; Length at CB (a): 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm) Length at CB (b): 60 in. (152.4 cm). Gift of Orme Wilson and R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of their mother, Mrs. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Wilson, 1949 (49.3.25a, b) (c) The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art