Surprise trip to NYC
I was supposed to go to The Met for the new Costume Institute collection (American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity) on Wednesday with kambriel and Curse, but they were unable to make the long journey to PA due to a last minute injury (K will be ok, don't worry!). However, Beth flew Gina in from Idaho as a surprise, and they planned on seeing the new costume collection on Sunday because Gina had to fly back early Monday morning. So off to NYC we went- in Victorian gowns! After a harrowing time finding parking due to the fact that it was the Puerto Rican Pride festival and access to the Museum's garage was blocked, and no one in NYC allows trucks in their garages, we finally arrived.
The collection was breath taking! We walked into a setting of a Newport mansion ballroom with ladies in Worth gowns from 1900-1905-ish with glittering jewels and fantastic wigs. No photos were allowed. Not even without flash. As we glided from room to room, the scenes changed. We saw tennis costumes, riding habits, boating gowns, swimming costumes, cycling costumes, skating costumes and more. It was a dream! Soon, the era changed and we saw fantastic Edwardian evening gowns, capes, fans, shoes...we saw WWI ladies' uniforms and Suffragette outfits (along with video footage), then we moved on to flapper gowns for day and evening of the most gorgeous variety...then to the sirens of the silver screen and we saw elegant gowns from the 1930's with video footage of movies such as The Women.
I bought the collection companion book "High Style: Masterworks from the Brookly Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art" as well as a book I've been wanting, "Mrs. Astor's New York".
We were borderline harassed by the museum attendees. It was difficult to walk three steps without 3-6 people crowding us for explanations of our gowns and/or photos of/with us. It got to the point that we had to tell people-as kindly as possible-to please allow us to see the exhibit in peace. It was the same way walking to and from the Museum...despite the fact that it was *pouring* rain on the way back and we didn't have umbrellas. I don't think I'll go again in Victorian dress, but at least we could laugh about it later!
It was a wonderful day, a wonderful collection and I'll remember it always.