The Met’s Pointless Fashion Exhibit about Blogging

Over the holiday break PSFK made a trip up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then down to the basement of the building where the museum sequesters its fashion gallery. While the Costume Institutes’s yearly exhibit is always worth a look, we were especially curious to see what was on display this year, since the exhibit is titled “blog.mode: addressing fashion.” Here’s what the museum’s website has to say about the exhibit:

As a living art form, fashion is open to multiple readings. A vibrant reflection of contemporary culture, fashion – especially in its most avant-garde expressions – affects us through its intense visual impact. blog.mode: addressing fashion is the first in a series of shows designed to promote critical and creative dialogues about fashion. The exhibition presents some forty costumes and accessories dating from the eighteenth century to the present – all recent Metropolitan Museum acquisitions – and invites visitors to share their reactions online or from a”blogbar” of computer terminals at the exhibition galleries.

Reading that description left us pretty skeptical of the whole affair at the outset. Its hyper-consciousness of the concept of blogging seemed precious, like an 80-year-old fumbling to read the numbers on his cell phone, but completely misguided. What was the thread that tied all the garments together in this exhibit? Blogging? That didn’t seem right.

But we decided to check out the exhibit for ourselves. And as we’d imagined, we were left completely unsatisfied. The clothes, of course, were gorgeous (please excuse the dark photos), but seemed to follow no particular theme. There were original Chanel knit dresses and S&M boots from the 20’s, 18th century petticoats and Vivienne Westwood tartan. But without a common thread, we found ourselves absolutely uninspired. And, tellingly, the “blogbar” was left totally unused, except for an 8-year-old attempting to check her email (no dice).

Perhaps if it were an exhibit about fashion in music, or 17th century royal attire, or wearable technology — and then provided the mechanisms for visitors to blog on site or via the Met’s website at home — it would make a little more sense. But the same goes for the entire museum, and every museum the world over — they should all be making the transition to include some sort of blogging platform, for all their exhibits. Because blogging isn’t really the point in and of itself, it’s the tool with which to understand the point. The Met, it seems, has missed the point entirely.

Metropolitan Museum of Art: blog.mode: addressing fashion