The New York Art Institute, Simmons College

The American Women: Fashioning a National Identity, an exhibition going on now at the Met, in conjunction with the collection at the Brooklyn Museum, is much more hype than it is satisfying. Comparatively, since it is the Met, one would expect a certain degree of show and exhibition display perfection, however, one could counter that the window shop displays at the Berghoff Goodman stores are put together with much more refinement and sophistication.

The displays were a bit sterile and lacking of any creativity or feeling. The Met should take a clue from the American Museum of Natural History's displays of ethnic cultures and display their shows in such "slice of life" ways. The hair on the mannequins was distracting; great masses of horse hair piled on top and lacquered with hairspray took away from the beautiful clothing. In addition, the mannequins looked tired and weary, made of material that looked like stuffed fabric, their poses odd and lackluster.

The first disappointment is the placards which describe the color of one of the dresses in the Charles Worth section as being "ice-blue" when it appears in the dim lighting as mint green. Furthermore, if the garments origins were unclear, the curator simply labeled the piece as "Probably American" or "Probably French." All in all, it seems rather hasty and slapdash, if not hinting to not having enough confidence to label the piece as "Probably."

The greatest disappointment of the show is that it spanned merely from the 1880's to 1970's, completely cutting off the last forty years of fashion. However, what is interesting is the museum's press release reads: " It explores developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today." If the cut off date was the 1940's, it doesn't explain why a Yves St. Laurent dress appeared at the very last of the exhibition.

The entire show was just very confusing, with its large video installations in the 1920's room and feminist rights, which was supposed to make up for their scant collection (four pieces) reflecting the women's suffrage movement. Or the very last video installation of all the women and images from museum, just made a tacky last effort.

Another great disappointment was that if the exhibition was about "Fashioning a National Identity," it focused primarily on elitist groups that appeared in the early 20th century, such as the Gibson Girls, the Bohemians, or the Screen Sirens. The museum should have incorporated in minority or little-well known groups that emerged in this era because they were just as important to the "fashioning of a national identity."

The collection at the Brooklyn Museum remains to be seen, but of the few fashion collections in NYC, the collection at FIT never fails. It is a rather small collection, however, the curator at the museum has always assembled shows which are well-thought out and put-together. Appearing now is Eco Fashion: Going Green, which explores how fabrics and clothes are manufactured and how they affect the environment. It features garments from the 18th century to contemporary fashion designers.