Can we be honest and admit that not every museum exhibition is exciting? There, I said it. I love art but a stuffy museum is more boring than watching paint dry. If you want to see two glamorous and captivating exhibitions, I recommend American Woman: Fashioning a New Identity at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
It took excessive amounts of self-control to restrain myself from asking the security guard at the MET where the fitting room was located. The American Woman exhibition is a decadent display of little black dresses and a wide variety of gorgeous gowns. If ever I wanted to embark on a life of crime and pull a museum heist, it was yesterday. American Woman: Fashioning a National
Identity focuses on "archetypes of American femininity through dress, the
exhibition reveals how the American woman initiated style revolutions
that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation."
From Gibson Girls and Suffragettes, from riding habits to evening gowns, American Woman showcases creations by iconic designers such as Worth, Lanvin, and Poiret. The audio guide is narrated by Sex and the City fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker. Another highlight is the multi-media presentation set to Lenny Kravitz's rock tune American Woman that includes photos and video images of Josephine Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Onassis, Beyonce, Rosa Parks, and prominent American women of all ages and cultural backgrounds.
(image: La Sirene by Charles James. 1941)
Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt reveals that Hollywood wasn't entirely wrong - her life really was a soap opera! Egypt's last Pharaoh, Cleopatra was a legendary beauty and powerful leader who married her brothers, had love affairs with her enemies, and apparently loved to shop.
"Organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International,
with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and
the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), the
exhibition features never before seen artifacts, and takes visitors
inside the present-day search for Cleopatra, which extends from the
sands of Egypt to the depths of the Bay of Aboukir near Alexandria."
In addition to important historical information that dispels many myths about Cleopatra, the exhibition includes eye-catching displays of beautiful gold jewelry and other luxury items. Also, did you know that current research suggests that the dramatic eyeliner worn by Cleopatra and others may have helped ward off eye infections? A smokey eye with medicinal powers - Sephora are you listening?
