Costume Art

By Andrew Bolton

Introduction by Llewellyn Negrin, Epilogue by Andrew Solomon, with contributions by Ayaka Iida, Samar Hejazi, Stephanie Kramer, Miriam Peterson, Nathan Rich, Julie Wolfe, and Tracy Yoshimura
Photography by Paul Westlake, additional photography by Anna-Marie Kellen
Assemblages by Julie Wolfe with photography by Nathalie Agussol

Fashion transforms our bodies. Exploring this concept through the lens of age, size, gender, and disability, Costume Art demonstrates how the clothed body is central to artistic expression and representation. The luxuriously designed book features a diecut cover, three specialty papers, debossed details, and metallic silver foils. New assemblages created specifically for this volume by artist Julie Wolfe, composed of photographs by stylist and designer Nathalie Agussol, highlight the connection between art and fashion through collage, overlay, and juxtaposition.

The contemporary and historic fashions draw on a range of artistic inspirations—from Greek molded cuirass armor and carved Roman sculptures to manuscripts, enameled decorative figures, and grand painted canvases. New photography by Paul Westlake of designs by makers such as Madame Grès, Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, and Madeleine Vionnet—some dressed on bespoke mannequins made by scanning real people—reevaluates idealized representations of the human form. Bookended by essays from art and design scholar Llewellyn Negrin and award-winning author Andrew Solomon, the texts reveal the ways the body shapes how we dress and how we understand ourselves and others.

Andrew Bolton is Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.