Next Met Costume Institute Exhibition – 2016
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s next Costume Institute Exhibition will focus on Technology’s impact on Fashion. From May 5 to August 14, 2016. Sponsored by Apple, a perfect fit. “The Exhibition will explore the impact of new technology on fashion and how designers are reconciling the handmade and the machine-made in the creation of haute couture and avant-garde ready to wear.” There will be more than 100 examples dating from an 1880s Worth gown to a 2015 Chanel suit. The manus x machina: fashion in an age of technology is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator of The Costume Institute, the first time in charge for my favorite curator. The Met Gala, which will take place on May 2, 2016, will include Co-Chairs Taylor Swift and Anna Wintour, Hononary Chairs will include Karl Lagerfeld, Nicholas Ghesquière, Miuccia Prada. The fabulous feather dress with bird heads here is by Iris van Herpen, Fall/Winter 2013-14. To see some of the past Costume Institute Exhibitions, click HERE
Photo: Jean-Baptiste Mondino
Met Museum Extends China Exhibition – 2015
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has extended hours for the final weekend of its much-visited and very popular China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition. The exhibition, which opened May 7, has so far drawn more than 730,000 visitors, surpassing the record-breaking Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty 2011 exhibition, and is now The Costume institute’s highest attended exhibition ever. Curated by Andrew Bolton, this must-see exhibition will be open to midnight on Friday, September 4 and Saturday, September 5 (Appetizers and full bar service will be at the Museum’s Great Hall Balcony Bar until midnight) and it closes on Labor Day, Monday, September 7. Expect crowds. But it will be worth it …
Photos: © Helen Oppenheim shown above – blue and white porcelain inspirations. Left, smashed up plate dress by Alexander McQueen, right dress by Gue Pei. More to drool over or, if you miss the exhibition, click HERE
Chinese Fashion Alert – 2015

Photos: Top/Bottom Left: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photography: © Platon. Right: © Helen Oppenheim
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “China Through The Looking Glass” exhibition now at their Costume Institute and the Anna Wintour Costume Center is so gorgeous, in every way, from fashions to the Stephen Jones head treatments to the presentation by the curator, Andrew Bolton, that Chinese fashions will soon be the rage. The must-see exhibition, worth a trip to New York City all by itself, is on until August 16, 2015.
Shown here, Top Left, evening dress by Valentino SpA, from the 2013 “Shanghai” collection. Bottom Left, John Galliano’s couture dress for the House of Dior, Autumn/Winter 1997/98. Right: Ralph Lauren’s jacket of red silk shantung and black silk satin embroidered with polychrome silk and gold metallic thread, Autumn/Winter 2011/12. Head treatment by Stephen Jones. For more Chinese inspiration from the very beginning of the exhibition, click HERE
Photos: Top and Bottom Left: © Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photography: © Platon. Right: © Helen Oppenheim
CommentSpectacular Chinese Imagery at the Met – 2015
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Gallery 213 at the superb China Through the Looking Glass exhibition has a spectacular display of fashions and unbelievably imaginative head treatments by Stephen Jones, inspired by blue and white porcelain. Yes, those are plates on the head, and other pieces of china, both in one piece and broken up. The absolutely must-see exhibition showcasing Chinese imagery of fashion, film and art opens May 7th and runs to August 16, 2015. For more, click HERE
Photos: © Helen Oppenheim
CommentChinese Art Film Fashion @ Met Museum – 2015
Coming soon. China: Through The Looking Glass. Thirty-Seven photos including spectacular Stephen Jones headpieces like this, along with fab fashions from the Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum which features Chinese Imagery in Art, Film and Fashion. From May 7th to August 16, 2015. The headpieces, over 120 of them, the fashions, the gorgeous exhibition by my favorite curator, Andrew Bolton, with Anna Wintour and the best of the best is a must-see. Stay tuned for more …
Photo: © Helen Oppenheim
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Memories. Diana Vreeland Letter – 1983
Memories. A letter to treasure. Forever. From Diana Vreeland, famous for her years at Harper’s Bazaar, as Editor in Chief at Vogue, the 12 extraordinary exhibitions she consulted on for Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, her wit, her often outrageous quotes and much more.
Diana Vreeland, also a classy lady, sent me this letter in 1983 after I had devoted my whole column, about 8 pages, in Peluquerias Magazine to her 1982 exhibition, La Belle Epoque. I had researched visuals of the art period from 1890 to 1914 extensively, and asked various hairdressers to send me photos and sketches of updated versions of the hair looks for the era. Peluquerias did us all proud with a great layout design. But I never expected a letter like this from The Great One. What an honor.
CommentStylish Blouses & Shoes Belle Epoque – 1900
For Fall, consider stylish blouses, shoes and buckles inspired by these Belle Epoque illustrations published in 1900 by the New York Herald for its first fashion supplement instructing ladies about style and fashions of the era. (From the “La Belle Epoque” catalog by Philippe Julian and Diana Vreeland for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, published in 1982, with a forward and descriptions by Diana Vreeland about the era, the fashions, the mood, the times. Click to get the catalog for more research:
CommentPunk: Chaos to Couture @The Met – Yamamoto
PUNK – FROM CHAOS TO COTURE – at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 9 to August 13, 2013. Here’s Yohji Yamamoto. More fashions under Museums on www.helenoppenheim.com. Red carpet arrivals will be live streamed beginning at 7 pm on metmuseum.org/metgala, modaoperandi.com, vogue.com and samsung.com/galaxys4/punk – tonight, Friday May 6, beginning at 7 pm.Z
Hair treatment: Guido Palau … Photo: Helen Oppenheim
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