Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

In its pursuit of sensory immersion and participatory elements, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”—the Costume Institute’s new exhibition, opened to the public on May 10, after the 2024 Met Gala, with a mission to break down traditional boundaries. This is achieved physically through the limited use of glass cases, and more intangibly, by engaging multiple senses. Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, aims to evoke a kind of synesthesia (a neurological condition where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in another) through smell, sound, and sight.

Bolton shares an anecdote from last year’s Karl Lagerfeld exhibition about a young visitor who instinctively wanted to touch the exhibits. Touch is paramount to both wearers and designers, but is typically forbidden in museums to protect fragile fabrics from light exposure and skin oils. Although physical touch remains off-limits in “Sleeping Beauties,” the idea is vividly alive. Bolton notes, “Your sense of sight is a way of touching…touching your feelings, your emotion, your memory.” This exhibition challenges the notion that sight is merely about looking, suggesting it’s far more complex.

 

Entering the exhibition feels like crossing into another realm, possibly the Land of Nod. The first exhibit is Constantin Brancusi’s ovoid bronze, The Sleeping Muse of 1910, a piece symbolizing an altered state of being. This sculpture, over a century old, speaks to the ongoing struggle of costume departments to justify their place in the art world. It also reflects Bolton’s cerebral approach to fashion exhibitions, which are always multilayered. The exhibition’s theme of nature is straightforward but nuanced with symbolism, portraying fashion’s cyclical and ephemeral nature.

Recent curatorial efforts have explored the Costume Institute’s collection in innovative ways. “Sleeping Beauties” examines how science can safely extract and showcase the sensory aspects of garments. Technological advances, such as dye analysis of a Mario Fortuny dress revealing the use of artificial colours, illustrate fashion’s slow adaptation to technology. Sound recordings in anechoic chambers and tactile elements like 3-D printed models and urethane panels provide a multisensory experience.

 

Sissel Tolaas, known for her work with Demna at Balenciaga, captured the scents of several historical dresses, including those of Denise Poiret and Millicent Rogers. The exhibition’s climax features a 1931 Callot Soeurs-designed wedding dress, with a customized ChatGPT addition, allowing visitors to ask questions about this “mermaid bride.”

"Experience the fusion of sensory immersion and fashion history at 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,' where the past comes alive through sight, sound, and scent." - Charles Daniel McDonald

Garments in museum collections often lose their connection to the bodies they were designed for, transforming into lifeless art pieces. Bolton’s “Sleeping Beauties” references objects too fragile to be displayed upright, lying flat in a resting position. He writes, “Life is the key word in relation to fashion in a museum,” highlighting the radical transformation garments undergo upon entering a museum’s collection.

 

“Sleeping Beauties” builds on previous exhibitions, exploring fashion’s intangible effects. It follows the themes of simultaneity from “About Time: Fashion and Duration” and the role of technology from “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.” This year’s focus is on engaging the senses to provide a fuller experience, particularly for visitors with disabilities.

At a time when culture is leaning into immersive experiences, “Sleeping Beauties” expands our sensory engagement with fashion. Multimedia activations, overseen by Creative Consultant Nick Knight and realized by SHOWstudio, evoke emotions beyond the garments. The exhibition’s spaces connect like molecules, seamlessly integrating sight, sound, and smell. Bolton concludes, “We’ve reawakened garments in the past, mainly through interpretation—never really through the senses. This is the first time we’re literally bringing them back to life.”