About Time: Fashion and Duration

Bolton, Andrew, with Jan Glier Reeder, Jessica Regan, and Amanda Garfinkel; introduction by Theodore Martin; short story by Michael Cunningham; photography by Nicholas Alan Cope
2020
448 pages
240 illustrations
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“An hour, once it lodges in the queer element of the human spirit, may be stretched to fifty or a hundred times its clock length; on the other hand, an hour may be accurately represented on the timepiece of the mind by one second.”
—Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, 1928

About Time: Fashion and Duration traces the evolution of fashion, from 1870 to the present, through a linear timeline of iconic garments, each paired with an alternate design that jumps forward or backward in time. These unexpected pairings, which relate to one another through shape, motif, material, pattern, technique, or decoration, create a unique and disruptive fashion chronology that conflates notions of past, present, and future.

Virginia Woolf serves as “ghost narrator”: excerpts from her novels reflect on the passage of time with each subsequent plate pairing. A new short story by Michael Cunningham, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Hours, recounts a day in the life of a woman over a time span of 150 years through her changing fashions. Scholar Theodore Martin analyzes theoretical responses to the nature of time, underscoring that time is not simply a sequence of historical events. And fashion photographer Nicholas Alan Cope illustrates 120 fashions with sublime black and-white photography. This stunning book reveals fashion’s paradoxical connection to linear notions of time.

Mourning dress, silk, cotton, American
American
1872–74
Evening dress, Elsa Schiaparelli  Italian, wool, brass, French
Elsa Schiaparelli
ca. 1939
Afternoon dress, silk, American
American
1876–78
Walking ensemble, silk, probably American
probably American
ca. 1885
Coat, Yohji Yamamoto  Japanese, wool, silk, synthetic, Japanese
Yohji Yamamoto
fall/winter 1986–87
Suit, wool<br/>c) cotton, American
American
1892
Ensemble, Maison Margiela  French, (a) leather, metal, (b) wool, (c) leather, metal, French
Maison Margiela
Martin Margiela
fall/winter 1989–90
Dinner dress, Mrs. Arnold  American, silk, American
Mrs. Arnold
1894–96
Raincoat, wool, American
American
1894–98
Cycling ensemble, wool, French
French
ca. 1895
Riding habit, J.G. Müller  American, wool, American
J.G. Müller
1902
Evening ensemble, House of Dior  French, a) wool, silk; b) wool, French
Multiple artists/makers
spring/summer 1998
Riding ensemble, Morin Blossier  French, silk, metal thread, ostrich feathers, French
Morin Blossier
ca. 1902
Mourning dress, silk/wool, silk, American
American
ca. 1903
Dress, wool, French
French
1908
Dinner dress, House of Christoph Drecoll  German, silk, fur (squirrel), rhinestones, Austrian
House of Christoph Drecoll
Christoph Drecoll
ca. 1912
Uniform, wool, American
American
1918
Evening dress, Weeks  French, silk, rhinestones, metal, French
Weeks
1918–20
Evening dress, House of Chanel  French, silk, plastic, French
House of Chanel
Gabrielle Chanel
1925
Ensemble, House of Chanel  French, silk, wool, metal, French
House of Chanel
Gabrielle Chanel
ca. 1927
Showing 20 of 92

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Bolton, Andrew, Jan Glier Reeder, Jessica Regan, Amanda Garfinkel, Theodore Martin, Michael Cunningham, and Nicholas Alan Cope. 2020. About Time: Fashion & Duration. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.