View of gallery 206, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. All photos © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
«The Costume Institute's spring exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, on view through September 7, captures the aura of China and its influence on Western fashion and culture. This exhibition juxtaposes art with fashion from designers who have made their mark in recent fashion history.»
After watching a helpful video guide narrated by Curator Andrew Bolton, I was able to take notice of every detail in the galleries. I felt like I had stepped into an alternate world, just like Alice in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. The exhibition is jaw-dropping; you can see something mystical, magical, or theatrical in any gallery you choose to visit.
Mannequin surrounded by LED tubes, mimicking a bamboo forest in gallery 206
The installation in gallery 206 is based on wuxia—a genre of Chinese fiction or film dealing with martial arts, sorcery, and chivalry. LED tubes resembling a bamboo forest surround mannequins wearing pieces by Jean Paul Gaultier and Craig Green inspired by martial arts uniforms. Film clips of a vibrant, green bamboo forest are projected on the back wall of the gallery and the shapes of the forest are mimicked by the shiny, white LED tubes of the installation. This gallery is considered the conclusion of the exhibition, but you can also begin there.
A film clip of a warrior in a bamboo forest projected on the wall of gallery 206
I have never seen different media blended together like this before. The entire exhibition reminds me of the last line in the book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, which reads: "Life, what is it but a dream?" Take a journey through the heady atmosphere of each gallery, and go ahead and dream.