The Vintage Club’s Virtual Met Visit

The LIM Vintage Club had the opportunity to attend the Costume Institute’s exhibition About Time: Fashion and Duration. The Met Museum held the event, which happened to be its 150^th Anniversary, virtually this year due to COVID-19. Although the experience was much different than years prior, we had a wonderful time thanks to our guide, Page Knox. She led us through the virtual time-themed exhibit to see the fascinating evolution of fashion since 1870. The exhibit included 3,300 items, making it one of the largest costume collections in the world. Each look in the exhibit was black to highlight the changing of silhouettes over time.

The About Time: Fashion and Duration exhibit set designed by Es Devlin

The exhibit was split into two parts: The first represents time on the clock, while the second shows the time as disrupted. In a chronological progression, we saw important moments in fashion history, including the works of the most notable names in fashion. From Charles Worth’s dresses to Chanel’s little black dress to Christian Dior’s New Look, we saw how each moment has led to creating the fashion industry that exists today. Knox led thoughtful discussions about the fashion industry, considering how fashion now is too fast and needs to slow down. This is explained perfectly by how many of the most important moments in fashion seemed to have happened over seventy years ago. 

We participated in a thoughtful discussion on the fashion industry with a focus on women’s history. We discussed the major change of women only wearing dresses or skirts to wearing pants for everyday occasions. We noted that this was an especially important turn, not only for the fashion industry but for women’s status in society. 

Our discussions followed the evolution of the fashion industry. We reached modern-day to question how social media and the COVID-19 pandemic would change the industry. Overall, the club members agreed that fashion needs to “slow down.” The pandemic led to many fast fashion stores counting on online sales, but also to independent sellers opening shops. Social media has been the perfect space to enable fast fashion companies and has also been a helpful channel in spreading the message of sustainability and the problems with fast fashion. We hope that the future of fashion will include more meaningful pieces from new creative designers.