Podcast Summary: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” Brings Old Pieces to Life at the Met

Podcast: All Of It
Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guest: Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, Met Costume Institute
Date: July 10, 2024
Exhibition: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” on view at The Met through September 2nd

Overview

This episode dives into the Met’s groundbreaking exhibition “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which unites more than 250 historic and contemporary garments with inventive curatorial practices. Host Alison Stewart and curator Andrew Bolton discuss how the exhibition breathes new life into fragile, centuries-old items through technology, innovative display, and immersive sensory experiences, all within a show themed around nature and transformation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Concept of “Sleeping Beauties” and Inherent Vice

• Definition of Inherent Vice:
  • “It’s a quality that's intrinsic to an artwork that is…the very cause of its ruin. So it's kind of a form of built-in destruction.” – Andrew Bolton [01:48]
• The exhibition displays some garments flat, not on mannequins, due to their fragility (e.g., an 1887 Charles Frederick Worth ball gown belonging to Carrie Astor suffering from “warplast” — its warp threads deteriorate while the weft remains).

2. Technology Bringing Fashion to Life

• Resurrecting Garments with Holograms:
  • The Worth dress is digitally recreated and animated, enabling visitors to see and “feel” its history, silhouette, and movement as if in Mrs. Astor’s Gilded Age ballroom.
  • “Getting the accuracy of the materiality…I think, was the most complicated in trying to bring the garment back to [life].” – Andrew Bolton [03:42]
• AI and Object Interaction:
  • At the exhibition’s end, a 1930s bridal gown (Natalie Porter’s) is equipped with an AI chatbot accessed via QR code. Visitors can “converse” with Natalie (using a GPT-based system), dialoguing about her marriage, dress, and era.
  • “…We wanted in a way to engage an object in an actual conversation with the viewer.” – Andrew Bolton [06:24]

3. Poetics, Science, and Exhibition Design

• Typography and Labels:
  • Simple, typewriter-like labels echo natural history museums, bridging the poetic and scientific aspects of fashion.
  • “We wanted the show to be quite…the show tries to marry poetics and science and the poetics of fashion and the scientific elements of fashion.” – Andrew Bolton [07:30]
• Architecture & Pathways:
  • Exhibition design by Leong Leong features undulating, single-file hallways and circular rooms—an architectural “molecule.”
  • Each gallery acts as a bell jar, intensifying sensory focus on garments while referencing the isolation that comes with museum conservation.
  • “We wanted to create [an] architectural representation of a molecule…” – Andrew Bolton [08:38]

4. Engaging Senses Beyond Sight

• Touch:
  • Some wall coverings are designed to be tactile, including a “touch wallpaper” mimicking historical embroidery in Braille and a 3D-printed model of Miss Dior’s floral dress.
  • “Touch…the tactility of fashion is really…one of the most compromised senses that happens within the museum.” – Andrew Bolton [09:59]
• Sound:
  • The exhibition features “scroop” – the distinctive sound silk makes (“scrape” + “whoop”) captured in anechoic chambers.
  • Also includes readings like Morgan Spector reciting “In Flanders Fields” among poppy-themed dresses, and soundscapes that reflect the garments’ connections to nature and history.
  • “Silk has this very specific sound…taffeta is the loudest silk…in French, it's called frou frou, which is a much prettier word than scroop.” – Andrew Bolton [11:58]
• Scent:
  • Scent artist Cecil Tolas captures and replicates the “olfactory history” of select garments, letting visitors smell the perfumes, living environments, and even diets of original wearers.
  • “…You’re actually smelling the olfactory history of a dress or an accessory…” – Andrew Bolton [15:55]

5. Thematic Organization and Juxtaposition

• Nature as the Overarching Metaphor:
  • Show is structured around elements (air, earth, water, etc.) and motifs (poppies, beetles, shells, etc.), linking ephemerality, rebirth, and renewal in fashion.
  • “…Nature became this overarching metaphor for the entire exhibition.” – Andrew Bolton [05:45]
• Nonlinear Display:
  • Period pieces are paired with contemporary designs (e.g., a 1615 English waistcoat next to a Karl Lagerfeld dress, or a Worth gown with a Gucci cape) to foster dialogue and reinterpretation.
  • “It's important to show how through interpretation…we’re also reawakening [garments] conceptually.” – Andrew Bolton [18:05]

6. Fashion and Cultural Context

• Historical Reflection:
  • Garments are used to interpret cultural events (e.g., poppy iconography referencing war and mortality, supplemented by sound, poetry, animation).
  • Taxidermy fashion pieces reflect on ethical shifts (Victorian “bird hats” surrounded by an “amphitheatre of death”).
  • “Taxidermy…it was a very cruel vogue…birds were sacrificed in their millions for fashion.” – Andrew Bolton [13:22]

7. Color and Material Experiments

• Yellow Gowns and Dye History:
  • Displays explore the difficulty and symbolism of yellow dyes—from bright joy to melancholia.
  • “…Yellow…captures the full spectrum of one's emotions. And, again, was a very difficult color to achieve.” – Andrew Bolton [21:01]
• Loewe Grass Seed Coat:
  • A Loewe jacket sown with grass seeds grows and wilts during the show, embodying the cycle of life and obsolescence in fashion.
  • “…It was this ultimate metaphor for fashion…and I felt that coat really summed it up.” – Andrew Bolton [22:04]

8. The Met Gala Connection

• The exhibition theme informed the 2024 Met Gala (“Garden of Time”), with guests engaging in multi-layered interpretations based on J.G. Ballard’s short story.
• “They really read it. The guests really read it. And they interpret it in such different ways…” – Andrew Bolton [23:26]

9. Emotional Resonances

• Final galleries use sound, video, and light to create emotional peaks—from joy to anxiety (e.g., a Hitchcock-inspired Alexander McQueen “bird” jacket, with authentic birds’ sounds and lighting).
• “…The show is about the senses. It's also about deploying one's emotions and connecting with the rooms and with the garments emotionally as well as sensorially.” – Andrew Bolton [25:36]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On inherent vice:
  • “It's a quality that's intrinsic to an artwork that is…the very cause of its ruin. So it's kind of a form of built-in destruction.” – Andrew Bolton [01:48]
• On creating holograms:
  • “Getting the accuracy of the materiality…I think, was the most complicated in trying to bring the garment back to [life].” – Andrew Bolton [03:42]
• On AI and visitor interaction:
  • “…We wanted…to engage an object in an actual conversation with the viewer.” – Andrew Bolton [06:24]
• On the challenge of touch:
  • “…The tactility of fashion is really…one of the most compromised senses that happens within the museum.” – Andrew Bolton [09:59]
• On the “scroop” of silk:
  • “In French, it’s called frou frou, which is a much prettier word than scroop.” – Andrew Bolton [11:58]

Important Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction and exhibit overview: [00:17–01:19]
• On ‘inherent vice’ in historic garments: [01:21–02:52]
• Digitizing and animating costumes: [02:52–04:10]
• Technology, holograms, and AI in the exhibit: [05:45–07:12]
• Exhibition design and “sensory bell jars”: [08:08–09:53]
• On engaging with touch (tactile wallpapers and 3D prints): [09:53–11:41]
• Sound design – “scroop” and evocative soundscapes: [11:41–12:57]
• Connecting fashion to historical and cultural events: [12:57–14:54]
• Scent, olfactory history, and “smellscapes”: [15:44–16:59]
• Balancing intimacy and conservation: [17:08–17:53]
• Nonlinear exhibition—juxtaposing periods and designers: [17:53–19:04]
• Highlight on craftsmanship (1615 vs Lagerfeld): [19:04–20:34]
• Color symbolism and technical experimentation (yellow, Loewe grass coat): [20:48–23:12]
• Met Gala connection and theme interpretation: [23:12–24:20]
• Andrew Bolton’s “linger here” suggestion (swallow section): [24:34–25:52]
• Close and gratitude: [25:52–26:06]

Additional Highlights

• The exhibition is not just visual—it’s a richly immersive environment, intended to engage smell, sound, touch (via proxy), and emotion as much as sight.
• Visitors are encouraged to slow down and emotionally connect with individual rooms and garments, particularly in the “swallow” gallery, which merges fashion, film history, and evocative sound.

Tone & Takeaway

Andrew Bolton brings poetic insight, scientific rigor, and profound affection for fashion history to the conversation. With candid talk about conservation tensions and an infectious enthusiasm for multi-layered storytelling, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in how museums can make “sleeping” history vibrant for modern audiences.

Closing Advice: If you attend the show, pause in the “swallow” section—let the multimedia homage to Hitchcock and McQueen draw out your own sense of wonder, fear, and appreciation for the living, breathing art of fashion.