Remember the bizarre, “Oriental” outfits donned by Tinstletown’s finest back in May? The red carpet affair, which inspired endless online mockery and Photoshoppery (exhibit A, below), was in honor of the Met Gala, which kicked off the New York institution’s big summer show, China: Through the Looking Glass.
The exhibition exploring the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion has proved a runaway success, drawing a record number of visitors – more than 670,000 – to the museum’s Costume Institute since it opened on May 7.
In response, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is New York’s most visited museum, has announced it will extend China: Through the Looking Glass for another three weeks.
A collaboration between the Met’s Costume Institute and the Department of Asian Art, the exhibition juxtaposes high fashion with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains and other art, including films.
Celebrated Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai served as the exhibition’s artistic director.
The museum’s curators believe the success of the exhibition reflects a growing fascination with China.
“As China’s role politically and economically has grown on the world stage, it’s very clear that people want to know more about the culture out of which that recent success has been spawned,” explained Maxwell Hearn, head of the Met’s Asian art department.
“I think China is something everybody is interested in,” Hearn said. “To see how China has been an obsession, certainly a source of inspiration for centuries is something that really comes across.”
He added that the show was also popular with Chinese tourists, saying, “It’s showing them that China has had an historical impact on the west.”
[Images via the Guardian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art]
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