Costume Art by Paul Westlake

Costume Art by Paul Westlake

Asserting the central role of the dressed body in art throughout history, this catalogue presents fashion as an essential expression of creativity and identity

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 die-cut 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.
 
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(May 10, 2026–January 10, 2027)

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