Folk Couture: Fashion and Folk Art

This exhibition will explore the polemical yet fascinating ways in which fashion engages with art. Conceived as an encounter between two worlds of creative endeavor, “Folk Couture” will feature the work of thirteen established and emerging designers who will create an original ensemble based on a selection of paintings, sculptures, photographs, quilts, and furniture chosen from the museum’s outstanding collection. The designers have selected approximately thirty artworks, drawn from every time period and in every medium considered by the museum, not only for their potential fashionability and capacity to inspire new styles of clothing but also for their background stories that inject powerful notes of intimacy and authenticity. The original couture and the works of art from the museum’s collection will be exhibited together in juxtapositions that promise to be both stunning and provocative.