the Met Gala funds the Met Costume Institute. meaning, basically, the Met’s clothing collection
from what I’ve read, it is the main source of funding for the Institute, which houses over 31,000 garments and accessories from the 17th century onwards
as for why the Costume Institute needs a separate fundraiser from the rest of this vast world-class museum with many high-profile donors…I have often wondered that myself. in the same breath as wondering why the Met has so few and sparse costume exhibits in any given year, and why some pieces on their collections website are outright misdated
but that’s the situation, so. that’s what the Met Gala is for. it’s not just rich people parading around in couture for fun. it keeps a huge museum collection of historical clothing preserved, so people can learn from and be inspired by those garments for years to come
(via ticket sales to the aforementioned rich people parading around in couture. and, in the case of guests who attend for free, the designers who make said couture and pay for tables for their celebrity models as publicity)
I’m not affiliated with the Met or the Met Costume Institute, but I am in graduate school and work in a museum with a substantial clothing and textile collection, so I will take a stab at it:
Storage: Clothing and Textiles (C&T) take up A LOT of space. Garments are usually stored by laying them flat in drawers or by being hung. You can’t fold them, you can’t store them on mannequins long term. They require space and (like all museum collections) sympathetic and specialized storage materials like acid-free tissue and boxes. That stuff is expensive.
Conservation: to put older garments on exhibit, you often need to bring in specialized textile conservators to just prep the garments for exhibition. Some historical pieces are too fragile to go on a mannequin (we have an AMAZING beaded 1920s flapper dress that lives in its drawer because the straps aren’t strong enough to hold it up on a mannequin and the skirt is approximately 600 billion seed and tube beads that need pinned in place). A lot of historic garments need conservation and/or restoration work before going on exhibit ( I spent MONTHS repairing the bodice of a 1950s gown, including recreating the beadwork). One of the common materials from the late 19th century was weighted silk; weighted silk has been treated with lead and other metallic salts. This means it literally breaks down over time. Chunks fall off. It shreds. You have to make sure the object can stand up to the rigors of exhibition before going on exhibit.
Exhibition is stressful for objects. Light is extremely damaging to most museum objects, and exhibition means extended periods for days on end. People coming in and out of the gallery means that the temperature and relative humidity is going to fluctuate, also causing damage to the objects. Just being on a mannequin, and out of its dark, safe, controlled environment is stressful for garments. My museum is talking about putting an exhibit of out 19th century clothing in the next year or so; our C&T curator needs to bring in a conservator to guide the process because we have to make sure the garments can handle it.
Also, textile conservators are expensive and highly sought after. Most museums don’t have one on staff. I don’t know if the Met does. Work on historic garments takes a long time, especially since most of it has to be done by hand.
Mannequins are also expensive. Many historic garments can’t go on adult mannequins; the mannequins are too big and the garments are too small. When C&T in my museum has exhibited 19th garments, we have to break out the kid-sized mannequins, and even then, they’re sometimes too big. Plus you have to store the mannequins when they’re not being used, which takes up mire space.
People: C&T is traditionally underfunded. It often doesn’t draw in the big donors. For things like quilts and other fiber arts, it’s often not seen as art the way paintings are. It’s women’s work, and women’s work is traditionally undervalued. Our C&T curator is constantly trying to raise money for her position’s endowment, to ensure that when she retires, another curator will be hired. There’s a museum about 2 hours north of where I am; they have a large C&T collection, but haven’t had a curator in years.
I don’t know how the Met’s budget is laid out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Costume Institute’s budget was one of the smaller ones.
sharing this again because, as a museum worker myself, I deeply appreciate you adding all the related info!
and as for C&T being underfunded. it’s so true.
one of the museums I work at, a 19th-century historical house, has a collection of amazing period garments and accessories. we have a general curator, but guess who’s the primary person on staff with specialist textile/dress history knowledge?
me
the tour guide/admin assistant/museum tech with no graduate degree who learned textile conservation from working with antique dolls
(fortunately I have a lot of field experience and do independent research, so I do know enough to keep the collection stable, mount garments for temporary display, etc. but still. before me, we had no C&T person at all. after me, we likely won’t have one again. and that’s normal)
this is a huge area of museum work with precious few resources to spare. and it’s not like museums have pots of cash to throw around in general. so sometimes, we have to let donors peacock a bit to get their money
The Met does have costume/textile conservators on staff, but they also hire more as needed - I was very nearly hired on as an assistant for the Charles James exhibition. (So close!) So you can bet that a chunk of the budget goes there, yes.
(I also want to note that the database being incorrect is because they have an extremely laborious system requiring multiple levels of committees to accept changes, or so I’ve been told. And I suspect there’s also not much desire at the top to spend time fixing the historic fashion entries when, lbr, the museum’s focus is now pretty firmly on more modern fashion-as-art.)
does anyone else think the sets in this weeks episode of a starstruck odyssey look inspired by metal gear? 😍 they are gorgeous! and this episode was a lot of tactical espionage action for sure!
Just saw “ageless blogs will be blocked” and ascended, what the fuck is wrong with the current young generation lmao, (1) why are you so obsessed with making other ppl tell u identifying personal details abt themselves in public (2) people can lie about their age people can lie about their age people can lie about their age people can–
i’m sure a ton of other reblogs say this, but this is not a young person thing. It is for people with adult/explicit blogs who vet their followers. yes minors can lie about their age, but for those who don’t or lie by omission, it is just one layer of safety. it is not asking people to reveal their ages, just stating that for their own for moral/legal reasons they are proactive about not letting follow them. why anyone would be upset with adults taking action to minimizing minors’ exposure to explicit content is beyond me.
Rachel is the only character in pjo with a button nose and I will die on this hill. These bitches are GREEK and I firmly believe that if they only inherit a few things from their godly parent those things are heroic powers, the ability to tan well, and noses.
