~*2 Elephants & a Mannequin*~

The most talked about ensembles in high fashion are draped right below the Manhattan skyline. Two fake elephants and a simply dressed mannequin at the front of the installation guard the braids, silk, and tulle cuts that have been imported from the catwalks of Europe and beyond. The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s and Marc Jacob’s Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion display presents masterpieces of the twentieth century crafted by the world’s most innovative fashionistas. The Upper West Side gallery is currently exhibiting ornate and metaphorical fashion pieces, photographs, runway video footage, and old magazine covers until mid August.

Leading the line of elegant ensembles is the “Gift of Chanel,” put together by Karl Lagerfield. This piece is a vampy dress with white cotton on the top and black silky tulle strewn from the bottom edges. The ensemble is finished off with an orange and black braided belt and matching charm bracelet. Charles James’ models were dressed gracefully in red velvet and taffeta. Another piece astounding to the eye is Versace’s “Evening Dress,” completed in 1991 with multi-colored embroidered human faces. The Met depicts the dress as a “silk crepe” in a caption under the mannequin. Model As Muse loves the colors gold and ivory, as seen in the Charles James Wedding gown made in the late 1940’s and the Madame Grès evening gown made in the 50’s. The “Youth-quake” part of the presentation displays the colorful and non-conformist themes of the 1960’s on the dresses and jumpers created by Yves Saint Laurent. YSL’s always-enchanting designs were also made of wooden beads and unrefined neutrals that decorated his 60’s style laced boots and petite trench coats. Some “muses” were draped from the walls in the Italian mesh of Giorgio di Saint’Angelo, while others were balancing on transparent glass floors and dressed up in Scandinavian-style layers of fox fur and wool arranged by Miuccia Prada. One more striking scene at the Model As Muse is Anna Sui’s “Ensemble” collection, showing a blackboard of the classic model names in graffiti adjacent to mannequins posing in bohemian head-scarves, twill skirts, and crocheted florals. The minimalist, yet “rebel chic” (metmuseum.org) 90’s collection features designers such as Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and young, up-and-coming Belgian and British designers.

The Met’s dazzling fashion kingdom is the home of the theatrical and royal, the exotic and the classic. Colors and prints did not dissolve into a signature theme, rather styles merged dramatically and contrastingly by the hands and eyes of masterminds. According to the UK’s Telegraph, experts in fashion think that models must “assume their former roles” as Hollywood celebrities enter the high fashion world as designers of luxury brands. The supermodel is like an artist’s palette, a centerpiece of beauty, with proportions and colors often transforming.

images from http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?