The Mermaid Bride, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion Exhibition — *The Mermaid Bride, Callot Soeurs, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, The Met*

Most of you know that one of my goals for 2024 is to visit one museum per month. Although I have already been to the Met this year, I had to go see their newest exhibit: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.

When I decided to visit this exhibit, things didn’t go as planned leading up to my trip to New York. I almost gave up on going, but I’m really glad I didn’t. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I experienced there, it was really special. The exhibit wasn’t just about what you could see; it engaged all your senses. There were holograms, smells, sounds/music, and things you could touch. It was a fully immersive experience!

I saw pieces in person that I had only seen in photos years ago and discussed in my fashion classes. It felt surreal to see them up close. I will never forget this exhibit and how special it was to me.

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Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, The Met

“The Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, reactivates the sensory capacities of masterworks in the Museum’s collection through first-hand research, conservation analysis, and diverse technologies—from cutting-edge tools of artificial intelligence and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection, and soundscapes.

When an item of clothing enters the Costume Institute collection, its status is changed forever. What was once a vital part of a person’s life is now a motionless ‘artwork’ that can no longer be worn or heard, touched, or smelled. This exhibition reanimates these objects, helping us experience them as they were originally intended—with vibrancy, dynamism, and life.

The exhibition features approximately 220 garments and accessories spanning four centuries, all visually connected through themes of nature, which also serves as a metaphor for the transience of fashion. Visitors will be invited to smell the aromatic histories of hats bearing floral motifs; to touch the walls of galleries that will be embossed with the embroidery of select garments; and to experience—via the illusion technique known as Pepper’s ghost—how the “hobble skirt” restricted women’s stride in the early 20th century. Punctuating the galleries will be a series of “sleeping beauties”—garments that can no longer be dressed on mannequins due to their extreme fragility.”

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Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, The Met

“Théâtre de la Mode (Theatre of Fashion) was a 1945–1946 touring exhibit of fashion mannequins created at approximately 1/3 the size of human scale, and crafted by top Paris fashion designers.It was created to raise funds for war survivors and to help revive the French fashion industry in the aftermath of World War II. While raising funds, Théâtre de la Mode was also meant to showcase the work of Parisian couturiers.”

Seeing Théâtre de la Mode was incredibly special for me. I first heard about it when I was 12 and started learning about fashion. Then, it came up again when I took a fashion certification course in my small hometown in Brazil. Seeing these pieces in person meant a lot to me, and it was definitely the highlight of my entire trip.