by Given consumers’ shrinking attention spans, visual overload, and a sea of entertainment options, it’s no surprise that the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is bringing up the multi-sensory components of its spring show “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”.
Ahead of the public opening on May 10, The Met has enlisted several multi-dimensional talents to join Anna Wintour in co-chairing The Met Gala on May 6. Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth will help with the honors. All attendees will follow “The Garden of Time” dress code. This year Shou Chew, chief executive officer of TikTok, and Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe, will be honorary chairs.
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When “Sleeping Beauties” are revealed, 250 garments and accessories will be displayed to express their connection to nature beyond the naked eye. For example, passing floral hats, Met-goers will be encouraged to smell the “aromatic history of hats” with floral motifs, or touch the gallery walls embossed with selected clothing embroidery. They will also be able to see the form and floral decoration of the “Mini Miss Dior” dress through an enhanced 3D printed maquette and the intricate embroidery of the 1615-1620 waistcoat through an interactive embossed wallpaper.
Visitors will be listening elsewhere to “hear” the sounds that can be made with a metal ensemble from Marni’s spring 2024 collection and a dress composed of razor clam shells from Alexander McQueen’s spring 2001 collection – a design inspired by a walk McQueen took on the beach one hour. The sound feature was isolated and recorded in an anechoic chamber.
Aiming to convey an even more elevated experience, The Met will give ticket holders a sense of how the “hobble skirt” hindered women’s progress in the early 20th century.th century; the restrained fashion trend began in 1908 and peaked in 1914. To get a better multidimensional understanding of the evening gown and hobble skirt designed by Jeanne Hallée from 1913-1914, The Met will be using “Pepper’s Ghost,” an illusionary technique in an image of an off-stage object is projected so that it appears to be in front of the audience. Together, the idea is that people will see fashion’s connection to nature, as well as the impermanence of fashion. The exhibition’s undercurrents correlate with how many shoppers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of the fashion industry, as well as materialism in general.
Andrew Bolton, curator in charge of The Costume Institute, is organizing the exhibition and the highly innovative Nick Knight is acting as creative consultant, with Showstudio developing and implementing the various technological actions. Exhibition design is being handled by Leong Leong in collaboration with The Met’s Design Department. Scent researcher and artist Sissel Tolaas will develop a scent to accompany selected objects in the show.
Other highlights in the galleries will include a series of “sleeping beauties”, previously described by The Met as the subject of the exhibition as “clothes that can no longer be worn on a moniker because of their fragility.” Two versions of the Charles James “Butterfly” ballet dress — one in excellent condition and the other “sleeping beauty” with severe damage will highlight the simultaneous occurrence of duplicates in the collection. James’s 1955 design consisted of a narrow “chrysalis” sheath of pleated silk chiffon over silk satin and a “winged” bustle skirt of nylon tulle. The “sleeping beauty” will increase the damaged chiffon on the surface, due to its construction and handling, as well as the amount of tulle on the back of the dress that adds significant weight to a relatively small area.
The Costume Institute staff is using personal research, preservation analysis, and technologies such as artificial intelligence, computer-generated imagery, X-rays, video animation, light projection and soundscapes. Such kaleidoscopic features and potential social media moments should attract a wider audience including first-timers beyond die-hard museum-goers who may visit a few times a year.
The exhibition and The Met Gala are being made available by TikTok. Loewe is also providing support.
Like other leading museums and cultural institutions, the Met is developing more multimedia ways to attract a more diverse number of visitors. It’s not just these arts-related forces that are trying to achieve more immersive experiences to engage audiences of all ages and interests. This fall, the “Elvis Evolution,” an AI-assisted tour of the life of Elvis Presley that also includes the multisensory smell of the farmland of his home state of Mississippi, will bow in London. And “Dr. Jane’s Dream,” an immersive experience of primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall’s landmark work in East Africa will reportedly open later next year. On Saturday, the work of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt will be illuminated at the Emigrant Bank in lower Manhattan in a one-day public exhibition “Gustav Klimt, Gold in Motion” at the Halle Des Lumieres.
Meanwhile, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is trying to convey a more immersive experience through “Hallyu! The Korean Way,” which explores how Korea became a cultural superpower and features many contemporary touchstones such as K-pop videos, a dance competition area and video footage of multiple screens playing “Gangnam Style.”
Last year, the Met welcomed 5.36 million visitors, a significant increase compared to the high annual levels during the pandemic, but still not comparable to pre-pandemic levels.
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