For the catalogue accompanying Costume Art, multimedia artist Julie Wolfe, in collaboration with photographer Nathalie Agussol, created a series of assemblages that illuminate the relationality of the garments and artworks featured in the exhibition. Occupying the interstitial space between the original objects, these assemblages function as hybrid visual entities, where “disparate images and ideas coalesce through intuitive experimentation, becoming a way of thinking, a unique artistic practice in its own right,” according to the artist. Adopting the techniques of collage and overprinting, Wolfe asserts that the assemblages “make visible the logic behind the pairings [of exhibition objects], offering clarity without diminishing complexity. They consider how identities, bodies, and histories are continually reimagined, revealing how meaning expands when two distinct worlds are placed in deliberate relation.”
Written by Amé Bourdon (French, 1636/38–1706). Engraved by Daniel Le Bossu (French, active 1671–78). Nouvelles tables anatomiques (detail), 1678. Engraving, 21 5⁄8 in. (55 cm). Bibliotheque interuniversitaire de sante, Paris. Courtesy Internet Archive; Alexander McQueen (British, founded 1992). Sarah Burton (British, born 1974). Dress (detail), spring/summer 2024. Beige silk georgette embroidered with red silk and red silk-and-metal thread in the forms of internal organs and veins and trimmed with red glass beads and red viscose fringe. Courtesy Alexander McQueen.
Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, ca. 1480–before 1534), After Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520). Adam and Eve (detail), ca. 1512–14. Engraving, 9 1⁄2 × 6 15⁄16 in. (24.2 × 17.6 cm) (sheet). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917 (17.50.42); Lùchen (American, founded 2021). Lu Chen (Chinese, born 1994). “Adam with Apple” ensemble, spring/summer 2022. Beige nylon tulle and silver metal hooks and eyes. Courtesy Lùchen
Rafaelle Monti (Italian, 1818–1881). The Veiled Woman (detail), 1854. Marble, 75 × 22 × 26 in. (190.5 × 55.9 × 66 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Annie Brinkmann, 1887 (87.7). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Anna-Marie Kellen; Maison Margiela (French, founded 1988). John Galliano (British, born Gibraltar, 1960). Ensemble (detail), autumn/winter 2020–21 haute couture. Dress of nude silk tulle overlaid with white silk gauze and trimmed with red silk thread; veil of white silk gauze. Courtesy Maison Margiela.
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827–1875). Impression of Amélie de Montfort (detail), ca. 1867–69. Terracotta. 7 5⁄8 × 3 1⁄4 × 3 1⁄2 in. (19.4 × 8.3 × 8.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 1989 (1989.289.2); Charles James (American, born Great Britain, 1906–1978). “Bustle” muslin, 1947. Unbleached and black cotton muslin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Millicent Huttleston Rogers, 1949 (2009.300.752).
Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Pregnant Woman (detail), modeled probably ca. 1896–1910, cast 1920. Bronze, 16 3⁄4 × 5 3⁄4 × 5 5⁄8 in. (42.5 × 14.6 × 14.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.384); Georgina Godley (British, born 1955). “Pregnancy” dress (detail), autumn/winter 1986–87, edition 2025. Black cotton-elastane jersey. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Isabel Shults Fund, 2026 (2025.712a, b)
Michael Henry Spang (Danish, died 1762). Ecorché (detail), after 1761. Bronze, H. 9 3⁄4 in. (24.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Ogden Mills, 1925 (25.142.11). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Anna-Marie Kellen; Thom Browne (American, born 1965). Ensemble (detail), autumn/winter 2024–25 haute couture. Dress of off-white cotton twill embroidered with red, white, and blue bugle beads, red, white, and blue silk bullion, and red crystals, and appliqued with white cotton batting; boots of off-white cotton canvas, white cotton lacing, gold metal, and red rubber. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Thom Browne, 2026 (2026.36.3a–c); Anonymous Italian artist. A youth lower left drawing an écorché of a standing man (detail), 1550–1600. Pen and brown ink, brush and gray-brown wash, over traces of black chalk or leadpoint, 15 1⁄2 × 10 1⁄8 in. (39.3 × 25.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880 (80.3.105). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
José Guadalupe Posada (Mexican, 1852–1913). Elegantly dressed male and female skeletons arm in arm (vignette for the feast of the dead) (detail), ca. 1894. Type-metal engraving, 3 1⁄4 × 2 9⁄16 in. (8.2 × 6.5 cm) (sheet). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Jean Charlot, 1930 (30.82.20). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.; Thom Browne (American, born 1965). Ensemble (detail), spring/summer 2018. Jacket and dress of black silk tulle overstitched with black cotton thread and embroidered with white synthetic pearls, crystals, glass beads, white synthetic cabochons, and silver metallic thread in the form of a skeleton; socks of black and white silk ribbed knit; shoes of black leather and dark brown wood inlaid with red, white, and blue plastic strips. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Thom Browne, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2020 (2020.267.1a–f)
All assemblages by Julie Wolfe