A prime example is the two-part exhibition “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” (2021-22) and “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” (2022).
Since assuming his position in 2015, Bolton-who declined to comment on the Lagerfeld show for this story-has brought an intellectual edge to many of the Met’s fashion shows, opting for abstract, conceptual themes and formats. Courtesy The Museum at FITīeyond its well-known monographic masterworks like 2011’s “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” and 2014’s “Charles James: Beyond Fashion,” the Met has become an undeniable leader in avant-garde thematic shows, largely ushered by Andrew Bolton, curator of the museum’s Costume Institute. Installation view of “Black Fashion Designers” at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “We try to do exhibitions that somehow advance knowledge about fashion, and it is easier to do with thematic shows so that you could put designers in context.” Such commercial relationships are often viewed skeptically for the ways they can potentially skew objective storytelling to present brands in their best light. Steele also pointed out that these designers did not sponsor their exhibitions, as is common with major brand blockbusters like “A Line of Beauty,” which received support from Chanel, Fendi, and Karl Lagerfeld the label. “We tend not to do many shows about a single designer because they tend to be very hagiographic,” said Steele, who noted that exceptions at the Museum at FIT include shows on lesser-known designers such Isabel Toledo and Ralph Rucci. Associate Curator Elizabeth Way, for example, conceived the award-winning 2016-17 exhibition “Black Fashion Designers ,” which amplified the work of 60 talents, many of whom were sorely overlooked, while challenging the notion that they work in a single “Black style.” Steele cited a new generation of FIT curators for their eagerness to address topics such as sustainability and representation. “It’s certainly possible to just show the work, but sometimes we find that people demand more,” said Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. In addition to integrating more biographical information into fashion exhibitions, the 21st-century approach encourages making shows relevant to today’s evolving culture while providing an answer to the question: “Why should we care?” Installation view of “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “That’s not to say you can’t just admire the work, but it becomes more interesting to talk and think about when you know something about the artist.” “I find that personal information about the designer so often plays into what they’ve designed that it’s really hard to make a separation between the two,” Yokobosky said.
Matthew Yokobosky, senior curator of fashion and material culture at the Brooklyn Museum, called the idea of presenting “art as just an object, devoid of the artist” a “mid-20th-century approach” in need of updating. Schwartz, who has curated shows about feminism, gendered perspectives, and power such as “52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone” at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (2022–23) and “Modern Women: Single Channel” at MoMA PS1 (2011), continued: “If you’re working with figures like this, institutions have a responsibility to acknowledge the positive and negative aspects of an artist’s work. “But no one gains by pretending that problematic dynamics don’t exist, because they always do. There’s a lot of innovation and creativity there,” Schwartz said. “Lagerfeld was such a giant that to pretend he wasn’t would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. That choice has proven problematic to some observers, including Alexandra Schwartz, curator of modern and contemporary art, craft, and design at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). A clear choice was made to isolate Lagerfeld-the-creative-genius from Lagerfeld-the-deeply-flawed-person. While Lagerfeld’s caricature-like persona and humor are explored in wall texts and the garments themselves, the consequences of his flippant attitude are not, with the exception of a discreet mention in the exhibition catalogue. Instead, the show-which runs through July 16-emphasizes the designer’s singular process and innovative techniques, as well as the myriad historical and artistic references and personal collecting practices that informed his designs. None of Lagerfeld’s many wrongdoings figure in the Met exhibition, however. More Than 75 Years Later, Partition's Painful Legacy Persists for Artists
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