“I like the idea that some of the glamour of fashion is rubbing off on painting and artists,” the artist John Currin tells me. “I care about painting even more than sculpture or architecture or photography; still, I think these things coexist wonderfully, especially fashion, because it’s been so beneficial for the museum.” Institutions like The Met need change, he argues; nothing should be regarded as sacred. “They should have a celebrity zoo at The Met,” he says. “People naked in cages. They can work out in front of everybody…. I’ll give up the bookstore if that’s what it takes. (The Met has not given up its store—only relocated it.)
Finally, I asked my husband, Calvin Tomkins, who wrote the history of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Merchants and Masterpieces) the question I’d been asking everyone. “Can costume be art and art be fashion?” He answered with a resounding “Yes!” and added, “In fact, the two are so close that they can’t help being
each other.”
In this story: hair, Jimmy Paul; makeup, Kabuki; manicurist, Jin Soon Choi; tailor, Carol Ai.
Produced by Special Production Agency. Set Design: Studio Wagner.
All artwork images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
