Weekend Pick: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion at the MET

Gallery View, Dior's Garden / Photo copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Perhaps the best way to introduce your little ones to the Met is through a visit to this year’s Costume Institute exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. Featuring 220 garments and accessories, this show is a multi-sensory experience that breathes life into fashion history.

Ensemble, Francesco Risso (Italian, born 1982) for Marni (Italian, founded 1994), spring/summer 2024; Courtesy Marni. Photography (c) Nick Knight, 2024. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The collection, on display in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art Tisch Galleries through September 2, 2024, effortlessly reinvigorates the elements of fashion history that are often lost over time.

As you walk through four centuries of fashion, you’ll notice how the innovative design of the show’s curation appeals to your senses in a novel and exciting way.

"The Upside-Down Rose" hat, Philip Treacy (British, born Ireland, 1966), spring/summer 2000 haute couture; Courtesy Philip Treacy. Photography copyright Nick Knight, 2024. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Visitors are invited to smell the aromatic histories of hats bearing floral motifs, touch gallery walls embossed with the embroidery of select garments, and absorb the vibrancy and dynamism that reawaken throughout the space.

Sleeping Beauties successfully revives the multi-sensory facets of fashion that tend to deteriorate when garments are collected by museums as static objects.

Surrounded by video animation, light projection, soundscapes, artificial intelligence, computer-generated imagery, and traditional formats like x-rays, visitors of all ages will be immersed in the brilliance and beauty of centuries-old style.

Coat, Jonathan Anderson (British, born 1984) for LOEWE (Spanish, founded 1846), spring/summer 2023 menswear; Courtesy LOEWE. Photography copyright Nick Knight, 2024. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

The exhibition is organized into three sections: Earth, Air, and Water, emphasizing the connection between fashion and nature. One of the most breathtaking displays features a greenhouse and garden filled with hats that bloom with various types of flowers. The interactive nature and accessibility of this stunning exhibition make it the perfect outing for all ages.

New Yorkers enjoy pay-what-you-wish tickets.

-Emma Gould