Dress Up
Jean Paul Gaultier and Mariko Kusumoto, Big in Japan ensemble (detail), 2019. Silk organza. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Curators Circle: Fashion Council. © Mariko Kusumoto and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Andrew Prince, tiara (detail), about 2013. Silver and Swarovsky crystals. Museum purchase with funds donated by Victoria and Jessica Croll and Christina Croll Failing in honor of David Croll on the occasion of Father’s Day. Reproduced with permission.
Dress (detail), designed by Valentino Garavani, about 2010. Polyamide nylon, tulle. William Francis Warden Fund.
Oliver Rousteing for Pierre Balmain, pair of shoes with double-headed eagle (detail), 2012. Leather, suede, and embroidered beads and studs. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Fashion Council, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with Permission.
Hattie Carnegie, silk flower brooch (detail), 1960–69. Gilt metal, enamel, glass, silk. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum.
Jean Paul Gaultier and Mariko Kusumoto, Big in Japan ensemble (detail), 2019. Silk organza. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Curators Circle: Fashion Council. © Mariko Kusumoto and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Andrew Prince, tiara (detail), about 2013. Silver and Swarovsky crystals. Museum purchase with funds donated by Victoria and Jessica Croll and Christina Croll Failing in honor of David Croll on the occasion of Father’s Day. Reproduced with permission.
Dress (detail), designed by Valentino Garavani, about 2010. Polyamide nylon, tulle. William Francis Warden Fund.
Oliver Rousteing for Pierre Balmain, pair of shoes with double-headed eagle (detail), 2012. Leather, suede, and embroidered beads and studs. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Fashion Council, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with Permission.
Hattie Carnegie, silk flower brooch (detail), 1960–69. Gilt metal, enamel, glass, silk. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum.
“Playing dress up begins at five and never truly ends.”
Fashion allows us to take on different roles, choosing clothes, jewelry, shoes, handbags, and other accessories to transform the way we are seen and the way we see ourselves. One’s choice of dress can make a political statement, express a mood or communicate personal identities. Through more than 100 works from the MFA’s collection, “Dress Up” celebrates 20th- and 21st-century style with fashions by Alexander McQueen, Bob Mackie, Pauline Trigère, Patrick Kelly, and Oscar de la Renta; jewelry from designers like Hattie Carnegie, Lanvin, Elsa Peretti, Schreiner, and Trifari; accessories by designers like Thom Solo; illustrations; and photographs by Cecil Beaton and Martin Parr.
Looking at jewelry as fashion and fashion as jewelry, this exhibition removes the delineation between the two to focus on how they play an integral and inseparable role in self-fashioning. Objects with beads, sequins, and sparkles blur the lines between fashion and jewelry while at the same time extending and expanding our ideas about them. From a jeweled brooch or shoe, to an heirloom ring or little black dress, each selection can represent a variety of stories and lived experiences.
Thematic sections explore child’s play, identity politics and more, and feature myriad new acquisitions—including shoes and dresses from the collection of Donna Summer, an ensemble by Project Runway alumna Korina Emmerich and local jewelry artist Tiffany Vanderhoop, and a ring by Of Rare Origin, a version of which was worn by poet Amanda Gorman at the 2020 US presidential inauguration. Spectacular loans include an Iris Apfel ensemble from the Peabody Essex Museum and cuff bracelets designed by Fulco di Verdura for Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, which she was photographed wearing throughout her life.
- Henry and Lois Foster Gallery (Gallery 158)
Images
Martin Parr, Dakar, 2001
Chromogenic print, (Lambda print). Gift of Jesse H. Wilkinson—Jesse H. Wilkinson Fund. © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Foley’s Department Store, Houston, Texas, USA, 1957
Gelatin silver print. Gift of Charles T. and Alma Isaacs. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos.
Jean Paul Gaultier and Mariko Kusumoto, Big in Japan ensemble, 2019
Left to right: Silk organza. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Curators Circle: Fashion Council; © Mariko Kusumoto and Jean Paul Gaultier. Model: Issa Lish. Photo © Launchmetrics/spotlight.
Top to bottom: Fulco di Verdura, Maltese cross cuffs, about 1930; Man Ray, Coco Chanel, 1935
Top to bottom: Gold, silver, enamel stones. Verdura (New York). Image courtesy of Verdura. Verdura Museum Collection; © Man Ray Trust / ADAGP, Paris, 2013 - Cliché: Telimage / Banque d'Images de l’ADAGP.
Andrew Prince, tiara, about 2013
Silver and Swarovsky crystals. Museum purchase with funds donated by Victoria and Jessica Croll and Christina Croll Failing in honor of David Croll on the occasion of Father’s Day.
Oscar de la Renta, coral resin necklace, 2000–2010
Metal, resin. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum.
Left to right: Hattie Carnegie, silk flower brooch, 1960–69; Sarah Jessica Parker, in a Jil Sander jacket, at the Cinema Society and Linda Wells’s Screening of Smart People, Landmark Sunshine Theatre, New York, March 31, 2008
Left to right: Gilt metal, enamel, glass, silk. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum; The Everett Collection.
Manolo Blahnik, women’s shoes: Campari (pair), 2007
Patent leather. Museum purchase with funds donated by Rebecca Gold Milikowsky. Reproduced with permission.
Tiffany Vanderhoop, All My Ancestors Are Watching earrings, 2022
Brass, glass seed beads (delica, size 15). Textile Curator's Fund.
Oliver Rousteing for Pierre Balmain, pair of shoes with double-headed eagle, 2012
Leather, suede, and embroidered beads and studs. Museum purchase with funds donated by the Fashion Council, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with Permission.
Left to right: Dress, designed by Valentino Garavani, about 2010; Donna Summer in Valentino at 2011 Art on Ice
Left to right: Polyamide nylon, tulle. William Francis Warden Fund; © Nadin Vernon.
Unidentified artist, dress, about 2000
Pongee silk. William Francis Warden Fund.
Left to right: Woman’s evening dress, designed by John Galliano, 1999; Cate Blanchett at the 71st Annual Academy Awards on March 21, 1999
Left to right: Silk knit, silk embroidery, tulle, plastic. Gift of Judith Hurwitz Krupp; Photo by Steve Granitz Archive 1/WireImage.
Left to right: Aviary Classic Ring, designed by Of Rare Origin, 2023; American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the the 59th inaugural ceremony on the West Front of the US Capitol on January 20, 2021, in Washington, DC
Left to right: Gold vermeil (18k), composite coral, chalcedony, jade, pearl. William Francis Warden Fund. © Of Rare Origin; Photo by Patrick Semansky-Poo.
Manolo Blahnik, shoes, about 2006
Leather. William Francis Warden Fund. Reproduced with permission.
Coppola e Toppo, scallop necklace, beaded earrings, 1960–69
Glass, brass. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum.
Left to right: Woman’s evening dress, designed by Travis Banton, 1934; Publicity portrait of Anna May Wong, 1930s
Left: Silk satin, embroidered. Museum purchase with funds donated by Jane Pappalardo.
Left to right: Elsa Peretti, slice bracelet, early 1970s; Model Naomi Sims discusses her first fragrance line, called “Naomi,” in New York on May 15, 1979
Left to right: Ivory. Anonymous gift. © Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation; Photo by Dustin Pittman/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images.
Pierre Cardin, Woman’s dress, about 1969
Wool plain weave (crepe) and chrome; synthetic silk plain weave lining. Alice M. Bartlett Fund and Benjamin Pierce Cheney Fund. Reproduced by permission.
House of Lanvin, You necklace, 2013
Metal, resin, glass, silk. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum.
Kenneth Jay Lane, imitation jet drop earrings, about 1965
Brass, glass. Gift of Carole Tanenbaum. Reproduced with permission.
