Peter Lindbergh: Naomi, Linda, Tatjana, Christy and Cindy, British Vogue, Jan 1990.

If the 1990’s symbolized the end of the supermodel era, the forty years before that was a steady climb of pretty girls, each decade giving us a set of faces that served to define an era. Then the 2000’s made it abundantly clear that models were simply mannequins again, nameless girls, still beautiful, though none with the stature of a Cindy, a Christy or even an Amber.

The Model as Muse exhibit at the Met is a a beautifully organized history lesson of those names and their Vogue covers (support is provided through Condé Nast), illustrated also with the important fashion designs of each period from the 1950’s until today. The exhibit design feels very similar to a fashion version of It’s a Small World, with each room revealing a reconstructed decade through mannequins in various dress and pose, projections of films and videos starring models and loudly looped music reaffirming the Disney ride atmosphere. However kitschy, it is an immensely guilty pleasure to read about each model’s life (Jean Shrimpton actually graduated from a modeling school) and to watch an enlarged Freedom ‘90, George Michael’s seminal supermodel music video.

Left/ Irving Penn: Jean Patchett, B&W Vogue Cover, 1950. Right/ Carmen Dell'Orefice, Vogue Cover

The grand hallway leading into the exhibit recreates the famous 1955 Richard Avedon photograph of the model Dovima posing with elephants at a Paris circus; the actual photograph follows later down the hall. To have been a model in the ’50s, one had to have carriage, posture that was as physical as it was mental, an air of elegance and refinement. Hallmarked by Irving Penn’s luminous black and white photograph of model Jean Patchett and Avedon’s 1949 image of model Dorian Leigh, the 1950’s monochromatic-ness was soon to change.

Richard Avedon: Dorian Leigh, evening dress by Piguet, 1949. Gelatin silver print.

Leaving carriage far behind in the ’60s, modeling changed drastically. We are treated to a snippet of William Klein’s art house film about fashion, Qui êtes vous, Polly Maggoo? (Who are You, Polly Magoo?) where a heavily eyelashed Dorothy McGowan is fussed and hairsprayed in a stationary metal dress (an early rendering of fashion as immobility). The aluminum alloy dresses in the movie are center stage here in the 1960’s room, on rotating mannequins, along with Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dress and Rudi Gernreich’s topless swimsuit. Subsequently, the ’70s-’90s explode with name brands and inflated modeling contracts, the dawn of Sports Illustrated and then grunge. Brooke Shields’ iconic Calvin Klein pose, photographer Peter Lindbergh’s supermodels in Chanel ballgowns and leather jackets. Then a strange thing happens at the end of the exhibition: the model disappears. Instead a glowing cabine of minimalist designs from Prada and Helmut Lang cap off the forty plus years that we have just seen.

The name of the show, Model as Muse hints at this complex relationship, whether it is between model and designer or model and photographer, however, never quite examines either working marriage completely. Fashion has always been regarded as that hollow medium, and this exhibit does little to discredit this notion. In showing movies about models or the fashion world, what is notably missing is Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966), which highlighted the elongated limbs of model Veruschka and explicitly detailed the notorious relationship between photographer and model. These relationships are only hinted at here and never entirely dissected. What is fully illustrated though is that models are the paradigm of the values and movements of each time period; their faces, body types, pedigrees, and attitudes adjusting accordingly. The age old question of whether a model is merely a clothes hanger or a cultural icon was best addressed by model Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn in 1949. Quoted in a Time magazine article she stated, “It is always the dress, it is never, never the girl.” Though Naomi Campbell may heartily disagree, it seems nowadays the sentiment rings true again.

Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion through August 9, 2009 at the Met

Tags: Blow-Up, Chanel, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Dorian Leigh, Dorothy McGowan, fashion photography, George Michael, Irving Penn, Jean Patchett, Jean Shrimpton, Met, models, Naomi Campbell, Peter Lindbergh, Polly Magoo, Richard Avedon, supermodels, Veruschka, Vogue, William Klein.

Today’s New York Times Sunday Styles section featured a full page advertisement for Barney’s announcing:

“Balenciaga.Edition -

Masterpieces from the Balenciaga Archives. Limited Exclusive Offering by Order only.”

Surely this is going to cause fashion pandemonium as the carefully chosen words used are: “Balenciaga,” “Archives,” “Limited,” and “Exclusive.” If your heart is beating faster already, read on. For obsessive vintage designer-philes, Balenciaga is high up there on the list. If these pieces are from the archives of the 1950s and 60s when Cristóbal Balenciaga reined supreme, expect a world of difference from the Balenciaga that Nicolas Ghesquière has introduced to the modern fashion world, but expect nothing less than perfection. Balenciaga was revered by many as ‘the master’ and was known for his sculptural exact cuts; he was a perfectionist and would reset sleeves often after a client was already wearing the piece or after the item was shown in a collection. He was also one of the first to introduce the silhouettes that still influence so many designers today: the cocoon jacket, the balloon skirt, and the sack dress. Cristóbal left the house of Balenciaga in 1968.

Irving Penn photographed his wife, model Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn in this layered feather Balenciaga dress in 1950.

and this tiered sleeve cape

A sleeve detail

Although these stellar pieces are probably not a part of Barney’s offering, there may be similar cuts or silhouettes to behold.

Other amazing vintage Balenciaga pieces:

Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Barney’s Balenciaga Archive is by appointment only, Thurs, Nov. 13th & Fri, Nov. 14th at the New York location (212-826-8900 x2152.) Chicago, Dallas, Beverly Hills and San Francisco locations follow.

Tags: Balenciaga, Barneys, Irving Penn, Nicolas Ghesquière, vintage.