About
This collection includes both clothing items and accessories from the 20th and 21st centuries, all of which belong to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. These works come from design houses throughout the world, from Japan to Italy to the United States. Designers featured in the collection include Elsa Schiaparelli, Virgil Abloh, and Jun Takahashi. The collection reflects a diverse range of national identities, materials, cultural references, and philosophical outlooks.
These objects illustrate the complex, highly culturally referential nature of fashion. Featured works include a dress by the late Virgil Abloh that comments on the cliché status of the "little black dress," transforming an actual LBD into a label for itself. This functions as a reference to and a reversal of René Magritte's 1929 painting, The Treachery of Images.[1] Martin Margiela's wig coat explores the nature of haute couture, arguing that time and skill are more important signifiers of value than expensive materials.[2] The sophisticated themes explored in this collection should serve to elevate fashion's status as an art form with widespread appeal.