And Now, a Possible Hint on Next Year's Costume Institute Exhibit

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The Met's Costume Institute kicked off their impressive Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations exhibition Monday morning with an elegant press conference in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Sculpture Court. The front row included the exhibit's filmmaker, Baz Luhrmann, along with Anna Wintour (wearing Prada) and Miuccia Prada, who sported a decidedly un-jaunty mustard beret. Unfortunately, these luminaries were whisked off immediately after the preview, before the press could speak to them.

We did, however, have an interesting chat with one of the show's curators: the charming Andrew Bolton, who gave us some interesting insights into the Costume Institute's process of choosing exhibit topics. He was less forthcoming, however, when we tried to wheedle info out of him about their designer choice for next year's exhibit. Although, after reading in between the lines, we may have discovered one clue.

Racked: Congratulations on another great exhibition! When did you decide this was going to be the topic?

Andrew Bolton: Almost immediately after the McQueen exhibit.

Racked: How do you follow something like that?

Andrew Bolton: I think we wanted to follow the exhibition with an exhibition that had a different experience. More intellectual, more conceptual in a way. The McQueen show was intensely emotional for many people and we knew that we could really never repeat that, nor did we want to. I think what's so nice about doing exhibitions here is that we provide different experiences every time we present an exhibition. So with this particular one, we wanted it, in a way, to be less emotional and more high concept, more intellectual. So that was a deliberate strategy on Harold's and my part. [Harold Koda is the exhibit's fellow curator.]

Racked: Have you started thinking about next year's topic yet?

Andrew Bolton: We have, yeah.

Racked: Any American designers, perhaps?

Andrew Bolton: Um. Uh...

Racked: So—no?

Andrew Bolton: My lips are sealed at the moment!

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