About Time: Fashion and Duration

Iris van Herpen (Dutch, born 1984). Dress, fall/winter 2012–13 haute couture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Iris van Herpen, in honor of Harold Koda, 2016 (2016.185). Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope Charles James (American, born Great Britain, 1906–1978). Ball Gown, 1951. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Coulson, 1964 (2009.300.1311). Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope — Dresses by Iris van Herpen and Charles James, 2012 and 1951. Photos © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Costume Institute.

The PatternVault blog turns nine today! It’s been a pleasure writing about vintage fashion for you, for almost a decade.

Speaking of the passage of time, this year’s major Costume Institute show, About Time: Fashion and Duration, also considers questions of style and temporality.

Planned to mark the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 150th anniversary, the spring-summer exhibit has been postponed to open on October 29, 2020 (closing February 7, 2021). Luckily, thanks to Yale University Press, the exhibition catalogue is available to purchase, or preview online.

Book cover for About Time: Fashion & Duration by Andrew Bolton, 2020 — Andrew Bolton, *About Time: Fashion & Duration* (Metropolitan Museum of Art 2020) Design: Joseph Logan and Anamaria Morris. Image: Yale / Google Books.

The preview — and exquisite black-and-white photography by Nicholas Alan Cope — gives a taste of the garments selected for the now-postponed exhibition. Curator Andrew Bolton pairs Drecoll with Rick Owens, and a WW1 Red Cross uniform with current-season Margiela by Galliano.

Dinner dress by Christoph Drecoll, ca. 1912. Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Yale / Google Books.

Rick Owens Fall/Winter 2007-8. Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Yale / Google Books.

American Red Cross uniform, 1918. Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Yale / Google Books.

John Galliano for Martin Margiela Spring 2020. Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Yale / Google Books.

As I noted on Twitter, About Time also includes a look at the McQueen dress that is SHOWstudio’s latest Design Download.

Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2020. Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Yale / Google Books.

Detail, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2020. Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope. Image: Yale / Google Books.

Happy blogiversary to me, and happy sesquicentennial to the Met!

7 thoughts on “About Time: Fashion and Duration”

Congratulations! I’ve enjoyed your posts very much; wishing you success for many more years 🙂 . FYI: the images in this post are not loading. It could be at my end – I’ll check in again tomorrow.

Sarah Sheehan says:

July 11, 2020 at 10:49 pm

Thanks so much, and thanks for the heads up! It should be fixed now 🙂

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Happy Blog Birthday! I always enjoy your posts and have taken much inspiration from them.

I’m knocked out by image1. What a stunning dress. Must make one. Image 4 does not show. Thank you for all your work and congratulations on your anniversary.

Sarah Sheehan says:

July 13, 2020 at 10:10 am

Thanks for letting me know, Barbara. I had missed that one image, but it should be fixed now.

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