Anna Wintour. Michael Gross, author of Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum, blames Anna Wintour for making the Met lowbrow. “The most highly publicized event at the museum has been turned into a magazine and movie-promotion party ..
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Does the Celebrity-Driven Met Gala Make the Museum Lowbrow?
Seven models were to wear outfits by Azzedine Alaïa to tonight’s Costume Institute party to celebrate the opening of the “Model as Muse” exhibit, but Alaia has asked them not to wear the dresses. And some of the models, including Naomi Campbell, have decided not to attend the party because the designer’s work is not in the exhibition.
A spokeswoman for Campbell said this afternoon: “As Naomi has been the muse of Azzedine Alaïa for 23 years, she feels she doesn’t want to attend unless she can represent his work.” Dresses were also made for Linda Evangelista and Stephanie Seymour. It’s unknown if they plan to attend the gala.
As anyone who follows fashion knows, Alaia has a long and special association with models. At the start of her career, Campbell lived with Alaia, whom she calls Papa, and Seymour and her husband Peter Brant stay with the designer when they’re in Paris. It’s hard to separate their careers—and bodies—from Alaia’s fashion. And they are not the only models associated with Alaïa. There’s Marie-Sophie Wilson, Veronica Webb, Farida Khelfa and Tatjana Patitz.
Nonetheless, apart from one photograph, by Gilles Bensimon of Elle, Alaia’s work has no place in the Met’s exhibition. At least in terms of fashion, the 80s is mainly represented by clothing from designers like Versace and Armani, and there’s no elaboration of Alaïa’s relationship with models.
Alaïa said in a telephone interview this morning that he was not fully informed by the Met about the subject of the show, nor was he invited to attend the opening. He had made dresses for the models, at their request, but last week, when it became clear to him that his work was not in the exhibition, he asked the models not wear the dresses. “It would have been silly to have seven girls wearing my dresses at the party and not have anything of mine in the exhibit,” he said.
He blamed the omission not on the Met’s chief costume curator Harold Koda, but rather on Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of Vogue, who organizes the party. “She has too much power over this museum,” he said. (Alaïa has had very little presence in Vogue in the last 15 years.) He also conveyed his displeasure to Marc Jacobs, whose company is sponsoring the event, in a telephone call on Saturday.
Reached this morning, Koda said that Wintour has no involvement in Costume Institute shows. He said Alaïa had not been asked to loan garments for this particular exhibit, despite his history with models, because the curators didn’t believe the designer would agree to participate in a group show. Koda added that he hopes to someday have a one-man exhibition of Alaïa’s fashion — provided the Met changes its policy about monographic shows of living designers.
At the press preview for the exhibit this morning, Jacobs said, referring to his call from Alaia: “He’s very upset. Azzedine is a great friend of mine. I admire him so much… He’s had a huge influence on the way women are shaped, the way women look. I do think he’s one of the greatest influences. I’m really sad that he’s not part of this exhibition.”
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Alaïa Pulls His Dresses From the Met Gala
The Parsons Fashion Benefit, held last night at Cipriani on Wall Street, was a black-tie affair. I put on a long black skirt, a little white shell and a sparkly cardigan, an outfit that made my colleague Eric Wilson beam and say I looked inspired by Michelle Obama. (See next post.) Perhaps because I was one of three people being given an award (the others were Francisco Costa and his boss, Calvin Klein chief Tom Murry), I paid more attention to things than I would normally at an event where the faces are familiar (Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Rachel Zoe, Ron Frasch and Terry Lundgren) and indeed will be in their war paint and party shoes again for the Met gala on Monday.
First of all, this was the graduating seniors’ evening, the celebratory end to assignments and demanding teachers. There was a runway show, and at the end of the evening the outstanding seniors were announced in three categories: Anika Gupta and Azumi Nishizawa for children’s wear, Edward Lorenz Tan for men’s design, and Julia Blum and Robert Fitzsimmons for women’s. I thought Fitzsimmons’ designs indicated someone with a pretty good eye and also a sense of restraint. The clothes were edgy by virtue being colorful, unextravagant and comfortable.
Students have been part of this blog since it began, so I was flattered to receive the Parsons award, which was presented by seniors Bessie Afnaim and Jonathan Cohen. Of course this is a difficult time to be starting a career in fashion and retail, but there’s nothing these kids can do about the problems so they might as well not worry about them too much. Just think about it as a different time, that’s all. Another thing I said to them was to perfect their craft. After months of hearing this kind of stuff from their teachers they probably don’t want to hear it anymore.
But if there’s one thing right now I’d want to be tough-minded and disciplined about it is the craft of making clothes. I’d want to know everything I could—even if the application of the knowledge wasn’t immediately apparent. Or the job you get doesn’t ask for much. My guess is the cost of clothing and the world-wide recession are going to put quality under increasing pressure. We’re going to see manufacturers cutting all kinds of corners to maintain their margins or just stay in business. But, if you’re vaguely serious about design, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t equip yourself with as much knowledge about technique as you can. Because at some point it WILL be useful, not only to you but to someone else. Aside from the fact that the mastery of one technique inevitably leads to the mastery and use of another, I think this approach to the high calling of being a fashion designer will liberate you from having to do a lot of stupid stuff.
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The Graduation Season
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