Metropolitan Museum’s About Time: Fashion and Duration

Photos and Text by Eleanor Foa Dienstag

This is a less eccentric fashion exhibition than we are used to from the Met, and for that reason it is more relatable and enjoyable: a perfect antidote to Covid time. No screaming S & M outfits, just lots of basic black drawn primarily from the museum’s own collection of 19^th and 20^th century clothes, a time line that ties into the museum’s 150^th anniversary celebration.

The only eccentric touch is the contrived narrative about “time,” employed to link and elevate the evolution and repetition of fashion with modern philosophy. It is Art Speak taken to an absurd level. But ignore the pretentious verbiage and enjoy the exhibition itself.  It is elegantly presented and fun to stroll through. An hour of pure pleasure during these days of high anxiety.  

A cousin of mine once pointed out that there are basically only two kinds of fashion silhouettes– clothes with a waist and clothes without a waist. Simple but true.  As this exhibition amply demonstrates these silhouettes wax and wane over the decades. The wasp-waist days of Dior’s “New Look” echoed the wasp-waist outfits of the 1870s. And the Twiggy days of the 1960s shift, echoed the dance-crazy Charleston days of the1920s and thirties. The materials may vary – from exquisite chiffon to man-made fibers – but fashion designers are students of their own history and draw liberally from the past to create clothes that appear “of the moment” but are often reworking and updating the ideas of the past.  

About Time: Fashion and Duration
Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 28 through February 7, 2021
 *A timed-entry exhibition ticket is required and must be purchased, separate from your ticket to the museum, on site.