The Costume Institute’s next fashion blockbuster has been unveiled

After the pop culture bonanza of this summer’s “Barbie,” the hoo-ha surrounding the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” and the attention paid to everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, observers could be forgiven for missing the title of the next one. Costume Institute blockbuster at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and think they were in the mood for a Disney extravaganza. After all, it’s called ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’. And those princess costumes have been very influential.

But while the show was indeed partly inspired by a current cultural moment, it is not a fantasy moment.

Rather, it is a matter of sustainability.

In particular, the ephemeral nature of… well, nature. And how fashion captures that literally, in the form of garments inspired by and adorned with flora and fauna, and conceptually, in the endless cycle of in and out, the potential to degrade. Think of it as a show dedicated to Ansustainable fashion, a fashion that could function as a requiem, a warning sign and a reminder of the fundamental importance of regeneration.

“It’s basically an ode to nature,” says Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute and the man behind the idea. “Nature as a metaphor for fashion and for its fragility and transience.”

Considering fashion’s famously negative impact on the natural world, that’s a bit ironic. But Mr. Bolton, who is responsible for such shows as “Camp,” “Heavenly Bodies” and “China Through the Looking Glass,” has never shied away from a controversial theme. The show is also a meta-commentary about nature as a source of life and the life that is lost when garments enter a museum and become objects of study, rather than tools for navigating the world.

There will be a lot going on, making it a signature Bolton production.

Comprised of 250 garments and accessories from the museum’s permanent collection and held in the Tisch Galleries, ‘Sleeping Beauties,’ opening in May 2024, will be an immersive experience highlighting pieces with what Mr. Bolton calls “inherent called vices’, meaning that due to the internal characteristics of the material involved, they had deteriorated too much to be displayed on mannequins.

Instead, they will be buried in glass “coffins,” which will hang flat for the viewer to see, while a ghostly hologram, à la Kate Moss in her Alexander McQueen dress, may appear next to them, returning the garment to some sort of three may return. -dimensional life. Surrounding about 12 or 15 of these relics will be more contemporary garments that share a creative dimension rooted (no pun intended) in the natural world.

“I went through all 33,000 pieces that we have in our permanent collection,” Mr. Bolton said, noting that he was struck by how many references there were to the environment, including those that were among the most fragile. Hence the decision to make that idea the connective tissue that ties the show together.

“It is a subliminal message about a more sustainable care for nature,” he continued, and also reminds us of what is lost if it is not paid attention. (It also allowed him, he said, to acquire a number of pieces from younger designers working with sustainability in mind for the museum’s permanent collection, including Hillary Taymour of Collina Strada, Connor Ives and Phoebe English.)

The exhibition is divided into three zones by theme: earth, air and water, which in turn are displayed in approximately 26 walk-in bell-shaped structures, like their own fashion terrariums. (Mr. Bolton called them “bubbles.”)

For example, imagine an Elizabethan jacket from between 1615 and 1620, covered in embroidered pods, flowers and insects, next to a 2006 couture dress by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, itself inspired by Elizabethan embroidery, both pieces framed by enlarged clasps. ups on the walls and floor of the ants and bees in the embroidery so that they virtually buzz around you. Or consider a black tulle dress from 1938-39 by Madeleine Vionnet, embroidered with a flock of swallows and placed in a room with a video of swallows swarming in increasingly frenzied circles as the sound of flapping wings fills the space and the light fades to black.

To further emphasize the emotional component of clothing and why it matters, Mr. Bolton collaborates with photographer Nick Knight of ShowStudio as a creative consultant and with Sissel Tolaas, the Norwegian artist and fragrance scientist, who recreates certain scents associated with the garments through molecular analysis. Sound, such as the rustle of taffeta or the click of sequins (or those wings), will also be involved, as will x-rays and video. Even AI can play a role, thanks to the involvement of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who helps animate a 1930s Callot Soeurs wedding dress in the show.

“You’ll be able to ask him questions,” Mr. Bolton said. “And it will answer.”

The exhibition is sponsored by Loewe, whose designer, Jonathan Anderson, is known for using a huge cast anthurium as the bodice of a strapless dress, and by TikTok. As for what the latter has to do with “sleeping beauties,” Mr Bolton shrugged and pointed out that the platform could help the exhibition reach “a huge audience that, you know, might not automatically.” And that in turn can wake them up for the museum.

Although the hosts of the show-opening gala, which the Costume Institute is funding, have not yet been announced, it is likely that Mr Anderson will take his place alongside Anna Wintour, the bash’s honorary co-chair, at at the top of the Met stairs, possibly next to a Loewe ambassador or two, like Josh O’Connor or Taylor Russell.

As for the dress code of the party, it is also still a mystery, but one thing is clear. It should bloom beautifully. Don’t eavesdrop while we wait.