WHAT A YEAR: While millions would not want to rewind the past 12 months for obvious pandemic-related reasons, the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Institute has taken a tally and has plenty to show for it.
Last fall the Upper East Side museum unveiled the first part of “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” to much fanfare. The exhibition was a vocabulary of sorts about American fashion that spotlighted a slew of designers including many young, emerging and little-known ones. In March, 70 percent of the exhibition was refreshed so that the work of about 35 designers could be added to the rotation.
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The second part of the yearlong show bowed in the spring. Titled “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” it examined some of the complexities of fashion history in the U.S. and was staged in the museum’s American Wing period rooms. Spanning from the 18th century to the present day, the second part enlisted the talents of notable filmmakers like Sofia Coppola, Chloe Zhao, Martin Scorsese, Janicza Bravo and Tom Ford, among others.
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It appears that the Costume Institute’s first yearlong exhibition was well worth the wait. While the 12-month stretch was planned pre-pandemic, the timing turned out to be fortuitous since like many major and smaller museums, The Met’s attendance had been dented during the pandemic due to temporary closures and COVID-19-related capacity restrictions.
Combined, the first installment of “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” its refresh and “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” resulted in 947,465 visitors. All told, that makes “In America,” the fourth most attended exhibition.
However, the Costume Institute’s 2018 exhibition “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” still holds top billing. With more than 1.6 million visitors, that religious themed show ranked first among The Met’s most-visited exhibition. The second one — the 1978 “Treasures of Tutankhamunl” reeled in 1.36 million visitors, and the 1963 show for the “Mona Lisa.” Like “In America,” the museum’s “Heavenly Bodies” was housed in two locations — albeit one further than the American Wing — up further north in New York City at The Met Cloisters.
Although the latest Costume Institute has officially wrapped up, this weekend is the last chance to catch “An Anthology of Cinema” at the Metrograph on the Lower East Side. In conjunction with the Costume Institute’s “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” filmmakers involved with the second installment selected films to show at the theater. “The Fountainhead” and “Leave Her to Heaven” will be shown on Saturday and “The Portrait of a Lady” will be the finale on Sunday.