AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion

Dress: Scrub Woman, Medea collection, spring/summer 2002.
Hussein Chalayan (British, b. Cyprus, 1970).
Lavender shredded silk tulle and hand-painted cotton with
navy synthetic and cotton tulle, linen, and lace and natural raffia.
Photograph courtesy of Chris Moore.

AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion
May 3, 2006-September 4, 2006
The Annie Laurie Aitken Galleries

AngloMania focuses on British fashion from 1976 to 2006, a period of astounding creativity and experimentation. Over the past 30 years, British fashion has been defined by a knowing and self-conscious historicism. In their search for novelty, designers have looked to past styles with an appetite that is as audacious as it is rapacious.

Focusing on their postmodern, historicizing tendencies, this exhibition presents a series of tableaux based on Britain's rich artistic traditions. The irony of satirical prints, the romance of landscape paintings, and the glamour and bravado of grand manner portraits are evoked through a wide spectrum of British designers. The exhibition is set in the Metropolitan Museum's English period rooms-the Annie Laurie Aitken Galleries-to create a potent dialogue between the past and the present.

The exhibition and its accompanying book are made possible by Burberry. Additional support has been provided by Condé Nast.

Experience a new dimension of AngloMania through the commentary of punk legend John Rotten in a special audio feature:

Download the audio file. (6.9 MB)

Stream the full audio program. (RealPlayer: 8 minutes)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art : http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/136.html

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