Photoessay: Armor at the Met, part one

While in NYC a couple weeks ago, one of our grad students and i hit up the Metropolitan Museum for their Costume Collection exhibit, American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.

It was a pretty good exhibit, though a bit less immersive than i'm used to seeing at the Met--the rooms weren't decorated with any of the usual striking set-dressing that past exhibits like Anglo-Mania had, and the bizarre conceptual hair-don'ts on the mannquins were a jarring visual element that didn't work for me juxtaposed with how traditional the clothing and background design elements were. There were definitely highlights (an 18th-century shoe trunk, wonderful period fans), and it's worth seeing, but we couldn't photograph inside so if you want to see some examples, hit the gallery and the database on the exhibit link up there.

But, photography was allowed inside the permanent exhibits (no flash), so my student took a pile of photos in the armor hall! First up, helmets and sabatons and other pieces...


All photos are courtesy of Kaitlin Fara.


( photos behind cut )