Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed

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Court dress, ca. 1750. English. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1965 (CI 65.13.1a–c). More about This Exhibition Over time and across cultures, the human form has endured extraordinary transformations for the evolving criteria of beauty. "Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed"—an exhibition on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through March 17, 2002—presents a unique opportunity to observe fashion's most outrageous innovations and strategies of dress that have shaped and altered the body's silhouette to conform to shifting concepts of beauty. By focusing on five zones of the body—neck and shoulders, bust, waist, hips, and feet—the exhibition presents historical fashions, traditional costumes, and contemporary designs that reflect on cultural and historical paradigms of beauty from past and present. More than 100 costumes and accessories on view—ranging from a 16th-century-style iron corset, to Chinese lotus shoes, to the notorious "Motorcycle" bustier by French designer Thierry Mugler—are augmented by anthropological and ethnographic examples and by paintings and prints including caricatures by Rowlandson, Cruikshank, Daumier, and Vernet. "'Extreme Beauty' will seek to argue that an undeniable, if sometimes uncanny, beauty abides in the often mannered transformations of the body's natural form," commented Harold Koda, curator in charge of The Costume Institute. "A refashioning of nature to submit to a sublime standard of beauty has been accomplished by fashion's varying degrees of intervention: the subtle visual adjustment of proportion in the cut of clothing, the less subtle introduction of temporary prosthesis, or, in rarer instances, the permanent and deliberate physical deformation of the body. What 'Extreme Beauty' reveals is that the quest for beauty through fashion has repeatedly been attended by an impulse to exaggeration." First Gallery: Neck and Shoulders Second Gallery: Chest Third Gallery: Waist Fourth Gallery: Hips Fifth Gallery: Feet Designers Exhibition Publication Educational Programs Exhibition Organizers

First Gallery: Neck and Shoulders
Organized thematically in five sections, the exhibition begins with an intriguing presentation on the "Neck and Shoulders." In most cultures, a long neck and defined shoulders are perceived as symbols of grace, strength, and poise. To demonstrate this theory, an array of cultural and fashionable mechanisms such as traditional brass neckrings worn by the Ndebele and Padoung people to elongate the neck or traditional wide-wing kimonos worn by samurai to extend the shoulders are juxtaposed with modern and sometimes radical interpretations by fashion designers John Galliano for Christian Dior, Issey Miyake, and Hussein Chalayan.

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Second Gallery: Chest
The second gallery presents the obvious and subtle methods employed to enhance or diminish the "Chest." From Empire gowns marked with high waist and exposed décolleté to Tom Ford's plastic bustier with piercings for Yves Saint Laurent, art and fashion have presented the chest as alternately suppressed and augmented. Other examples include the flattening Japanese obi, monobosoms, early conical brassieres, and Madonna's infamous pink satin bustier by Jean Paul Gaultier worn during her "Blonde Ambition" Tour.

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Third Gallery: Waist
"Waist," in the third gallery, documents the long history of midriff manipulation, from the waist suppression of 16th-century iron corsets, to the cinched drawers of early-19th-century dandies. Ethnic examples include bark girdles worn in New Guinea by men and the beaded corsets of Dinka warriors in Africa. Non-waisted effects include the cylindrical form of the Japanese courtesan, flapper styles of the 1920s, and fashions by designer Balenciaga, Helmut Lang, and Viktor and Rolf.

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Fourth Gallery: Hips
The fourth gallery, "Hips," reveals the hidden constructions and elaborate engineering applied to the hips and buttocks. The impulse to enhance and exaggerate the hip area has resulted in an astounding array of panniers, bustles, hip pads, and crinoline hoops. Highlights include the double-door expanse of 18th-century panniered court gowns and the radical "bump" dresses of fashion designer Rei Kawakubo.

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Fifth Gallery: Feet
The final gallery is devoted to "Feet." Shoes have been one of fashion's most effective tools to adjust the natural anatomy. Examples range from geisha tottering on raised clogs, to the twenty-inch-high chopines of 16th-century Venetian women, to the outrageous and multicolored platform sandals of Salvatore Ferragamo.

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Designers
Among the designers represented in the exhibition are Elsa Schiaparelli, Gilbert Adrian, Cristobal Balenciaga, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, Norma Kamali, Rei Kawakubo, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano for Dior Haute Couture, Roger Vivier, Alexander McQueen for Givenchy Haute Couture, Yohji Yamamoto, and Yves Saint Laurent.

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Exhibition Publication
"Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed" is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue written by Harold Koda. The 168-page book, published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press, includes 225 full-color illustrations, and is available in hardcover and paperback in the Metropolitan Museum's bookshops and in the online Met Store.

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Educational Programs
In conjunction with the exhibition, a variety of education programs is being offered at the Metropolitan Museum, including a lecture, a film series, and a special program for teachers. Please consult the online calendar for a list of programs organized by date.

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Exhibition Organizers
The exhibition was organized by Harold Koda, curator in charge of The Costume Institute. Exhibition design was by Daniel Kershaw, exhibition designer, with graphics by Sue Koch, senior designer, and lighting by Zack Zanolli, lighting designer, all of the Metropolitan Museum's Design Department.

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