Heavenly Bodies

While on the topic of the Met I wanted to share with you some of my pictures from the controversial exhibit, Heavenly Bodies; Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.

While my interest in fashion is only passing the clothes throughout the exhibit are remarkable. Most remarkable of all however are the actual papal vestments found in a (respectfully) separate gallery from the secular garments (no photos allowed).

 Most extraordinary of all however is how excited people are for this exhibit; The crowds were immense. In all of my visits to the Met I have never seen crowds of people actually spending time in these medieval galleries.  People are excited for church stuff, in the 21st century,  that should be good right?

Well a lot of people are complaining that an exhibit on fashion inspired by Catholicism is disrespectful.  Whatever happened to 'Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery' or 'There is no such thing as bad publicity'?

 I found the exhibit thrilling, particularly the addition of chant'ish type music and great lighting.

I also thought it was incredibly respectful.  The actual papal vestments as I mentioned are in a separate gallery all to themselves, not mixed with other artwork.  These are works inspired by Catholicism, not copies or mocking in any way.

 This is an art museum:  we're looking at the artistry of the clothes both secular and religious.

Seeing these clothes up close and in person was truly astonishing, much better than in the pages of Vogue. The art is in the details.

 These glamorous gowns by Thiery Mugler were from his 'Winter of Angels' collection in 1984-85.

 Lame!  How I loved these.

 Also interesting were the 1991-92 evening tops by Versace inspired by Mosaics.

The exhibit Heavenly Bodies is on view at the Met and the Cloisters (which I sadly missed) through October 8, 2018, be sure to catch this!