On a recent overcast afternoon I accompanied Sisters Cho to see The Model As Muse exhibit at the MET, which ended up being a near-verbatim walk through of Michael Casey’s multi-media intensive Fashion History class. It all came flooding back.

“Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the twentieth century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition, organized by historical period from 1947 to 1997, will feature haute couture and ready-to-wear masterworks accompanied by fashion photography and video footage of models who epitomized their epochs.” (From the Met Website)

By far my favorite room was the 1960’s – a massive split-screen projection of Blow Up was playing, Veruschka straddled and gorgeous and gazelle-ish on one side, the lackluster models from the first photoshoot of the movie moping on the other side. Around the room stood super-mod dresses by Paco Rabanne, Bernard & François Baschet, and Pierre Cardin.

There were also two unbelievable pieces by Yves Saint Laurent – the beaded dresses, here. While the 60’s have never been my favorite moment in fashion, I appreciated the way they curated this decade. Another great display was the reflective case full of white Prada and Helmut Lang in the 90’s decade – a stark and welcome contrast to the Anna Sui grunge-fest you have to walk through to get there.

After we’d had our fill of iconic fashion, we momentarily frolicked through modern art and Ancient Greece (which I will never get tired of) before escaping into central park.

The Model As Muse runs until August 9th – I definitely recommend it to those with even a vague interest in fashion. Really, considering you can get into the MET for $0.01, I have no valid excuse not to spend more rainy days there.