Fashion continues to play an integral role in the art world, according to Andrew Bolton, curator of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bolton emphasizes that fashion, or the concept of the dressed body, is a unifying element across all curatorial departments and galleries within the museum. He highlights that even in representations of nudity, there is never a complete removal of clothing; rather, cultural values and ideas are embedded within the depiction of the human form.
Despite successful exhibitions such as “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” which attracted a record 1.66 million visitors, the longstanding divide between art and fashion remains. Bolton suggests that this divide persists mainly due to society’s perception of clothing as closely tied to the body. He argues that fashion has often been recognized as an art form only when it aligns with traditional art values, which tend to focus on aesthetics divorced from the human form. This ongoing conversation about the relationship between fashion and art underlines the importance of recognizing the cultural significance of the dressed body in artistic expression.
As the conversation around fashion and art continues to evolve, one can hope for a future where the integration of these realms deepens, allowing for a broader appreciation of the cultural narratives that fashion conveys within the artistic landscape.