The exhibition opens in the Byzantine and Medieval art galleries, where ethereal creations from Dior, Givenchy and Valentino are situated alongside more austere, nun and clergy-inspired garb from Thom Browne and Yves Saint Laurent in its sanctuary-like setting.ĭS+R specially designed a display system, made from concrete, steel and acrylic, that quietly adapted itself to the garments being showcased. Keeping a foot in the museum and then also something more elevated was something we tried to get the right balance for,’ adds project lead Kumar Atre.ĭiller Scofidio + Renfro’s display system maintains a fresh, continuous thread through its design variations. Photography: Brett Beyer ‘We spent a lot of time in the early days talking about taking the subject matter seriously on its own terms, but also not being overly reverential and trying not to do anything campy or too narrative. To do it both in the spaces of the museum and at the Cloisters – there was a lot that had to be thought through and resolved.’ ‘The idea of bringing in all this modern and contemporary fashion with from the Vatican was a challenge to figure out how do. ‘We were really game to take on such a complex theme,’ says founding partner Liz Diller, who also oversaw the firm’s design for the museum’s Charles James retrospective in 2014. However, installed within the museum’s galleries for Byzantine and medieval art, its Costume Center space and also uptown at The Met Cloisters, the historical context of viewing both ecclesiastical fashion and genuine religious garments bestows the exhibition with a palpable gravitas, whether you are a believer or not.Īs the largest undertaking the Costume Institute has attempted to date, ‘Heavenly Bodies’ brings together over 150 garments, including 40 papal robes and vestments dating back to the mid-18th century, on loan from the Sistine Chapel Sacristy – an unprecedented move as some of them have never been seen outside of the Vatican exhibition space in the museum, the task was given to Diller Scofidio + Renfro to create a cohesive exhibition design to bring it all together. Its latest effort, ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination’, which examines the influence of Roman Catholic imagery and symbolism in fashion, may have been polarising from the outset. ![]() Given its track record for staging fashion spectaculars, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute does not shy away from controversy by any means.
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