Heavenly Bodies, a breathtaking exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, featured fashion made for celestial beings and gave me a taste of being surrounded by couture clergy, religious queens, heavenly angels, and it painted the fabric picture of a modern monastery. The first Monday in May has become a personal holiday for me, like “May the 4th be with you” day, fashion week (a week long holiday), and The Oscars. I devour fashion exhibits and coffee table fashion books with the same enthusiasm I have each month when I crack open my Vogue or Vanity Fair (and I’ve loved magazines for as long as I can remember). I love racing home from work to tune in for the red carpet looks of each year on the first Monday in May. Some people want to win the lottery. I want to win a ticket to the Met Gala just one time. Oceans 8 just came out, which is about a jewelry heist at the Met Gala, and I’ve already seen it twice in theaters. (and I bought the soundtrack, ‘ahem) I just can’t get enough of it. So when I can time a trip to New York City within a timeframe that the exhibit from the annual Met Gala is still showing, it is an extra special treat in my journey to live my best life. Viewing this year’s Heavenly Bodies exhibit basically blew my heavenly mind.
Viewing fashion exhibits at museums could easily be in my top ten things I love to do. It’s so difficult for me to keep my fingers to myself and not reach out and touch the beautiful gowns and costumes. It’s almost like time stops and I just start inhaling the designs into every fiber of my body. To me, it’s the most beautiful expression of art. I’m simply mesmerized by couture fashion. I have no problem taking hundreds of pictures on my iPhone Plus 7 in less than an hour when viewing and exhibit. In fact, you will usually find images I’ve taken from these types of exhibits on my Apple watch, being my joy each and every time I lift up my arm to check the time. One day, I hope to make a coffee table book of my own, featuring all of the exhibits I’ve been too over the years.
I like to feel the fashion more than read about it. Even if I feel it only with my eyes. And while I’ll skim over the articles on display along with each piece, I’m more interested in memorizing the images in my head than the stories that are behind them. I’ll make a mental note of the designer or the house from which the piece comes from, but the imagination in my own head usually jumps in to take it from there. This year’s Heavenly Bodies exhibit lifted my spirits in many ways and I was able to view it with one of my closest friends. I hope in my next life to come back as a creative fashion designer, but for now I’ll continue to enjoy exhibits like these every single chance I get.
