Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: Updated Edition

by Hamish Bowles, Chloe Malle, Anna Wintour (Introduction)

An updated and expanded edition, covering the past five years of the Met Costume Institute’s exhibitions and galas through the lens of Vogue
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibition is the most prestigious of its kind, featuring subjects that both reflect the zeitgeist and contribute to its creation. Each exhibition—from 2005’s Chanel to 2011’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and 2012’s Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations—creates a provocative and engaging narrative drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors. This updated edition includes material from 2015’s China: Through the Looking Glass, 2018’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (the most visited exhibition in the museum’s history), and 2019’s Camp: Notes on Fashion. The show’s opening-night gala, produced in collaboration with Vogue magazine, is regularly referred to as the party of the year, and draws a glamorous A-list crowd, drawing an unrivaled mix of Hollywood fashion. This updated edition of Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute once again invites you into the stunning spectacle that comes when fashion and art meet at The Met.
 

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2020

About the author

Hamish Bowles is European editor at large for Vogue and editor in chief of Vogue Living. He was curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2001 Costume Institute exhibition, “Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years.” He lives in New York, London, and Paris.

Reviews

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, especially if you like pictures and aren't going to read it. It's a very dull read. It has all the wit of those descriptions at the onset of a gallery exhibit, it's not written as a "book" at all. There are chapters about past exhibitions where the text say 'this year we are' etc., so it's clearly just text from the time, plopped into the book.

Of course, I'm coming at it from the wrong direction: I'd be more excited about a book called "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute and Vogue" ... I don't think I learned very much, and I mostly walked away thinking "if you're an exceptionally good looking male fashion designer, Vogue might let you co-chair this event with a female movie star," and wondering if Nicolas Ghesquière was merely hot, or super-hot. So I did learn one thing, which is that yes, he's attractive, but that one photo was exceptionally flattering. I expected to learn more about the costumes.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love

[Mary L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute is an overview of each of the annual Met Galas held from 2001 to 2019. The sections for each Met Gala include photographs of the accompanying exhibit, Vogue photoshoots, and photos from the actual Met Gala, plus one of Hamish Bowles' articles (with the exception of two articles).

I think the book is wonderful for fashion newbies like myself to get just a taste of designers’ and styles’ defining characteristics. As usual, I love Hamish Bowles’ writing, though I dislike that two of his articles focused more on the celebrities and what they wore to the Met Galas (I couldn't care less, and I’m made to wonder if celebrities are cringe?) than information about the exhibits.

I enjoyed Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute so much that I genuinely want to steal it from my local library, but I will restrain myself.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

stunning photos, many full page. would be improved only by having more photos from the exhibitions themselves. the articles about the exhibitions/galas are interesting, with the exception of a couple towards the end which abandon information and insight into the year's theme in favour of an incredibly boring list of what and who every gala attendant was wearing. if we want to know that we can google it, or honestly just remember since those galas were so recent.

[Ifrah Akhtar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Met Gala highlights from 2001-2019.
Each chapter accompanied a short essay about that year’s theme and included images of selected pieces from the exhibit. Nothing too much in-depth, this is a book where the pictures speak for themselves.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book. Beautiful photos that you can enlarge to see exquisite detail. Loved it.

[Manny Villa · Rating 5 out of 5]

3268021

[ASC Library]

746.9 Bow

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

3268021

[CharlotteReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding visual collection. I used this for a unit on gala gowns and gown fashion design in an art class I am teaching. A visually quite impressive collection.