I spent the latter half of my Saturday at the MET, sheltered away from the light summer rain. I had only toured the museum once before despite living here all my life, though I wouldn’t really count it since it was near closing and in a rush. This time around I had much more time to take in a lot of the pieces. Each room had its own unique atmosphere, making the staging and design feel like an art form in and of itself. In one room you were in Ancient Byzantine, seeing the tools used to hunt prey, while in the next room you were transported to the avant garde glamour of the museum’s world-renowned fashion exhibit.
Titled “Costume Art,” the exhibit propped up beautifully thought-provoking garments next to the art they resembled, connecting two art forms in a visually concrete manner. At one point I seriously considered pursuing a degree in Fashion Design but ultimately succumbed to practicality. Yet, fashion is something I still follow closely today. There’s plenty of discourse on whether or not fashion is art, so to see this exhibit so firmly juxtapose traditional art and fashion together was very admirable.
Two pieces in particular caught my attention. The first being a display of 3 Telfar tote bags, each in a neutral shade and all of different sizes. It was actually a bit amusing to me since I had brought my own Telfar medium tote bag to the museum with me, except mine is made of a cherry patent faux leather. I felt a quiet sense of pride, not because I was one of the first few that bought a Telfar bag when they first were selling out at every drop, but more-so for what the brand stood for. Telfar is a New York City based brand centered around uplifting and featuring black and brown LGBTQ+ people of color, and in return we uplifted and featured the brand in our day to day fashion. I felt a sense of pride similar to that of New Yorkers celebrating the Knicks winning the NBA finals, a pride you feel when you see someone that comes from the same place as you make it––a quiet reassurance that you can one day make it too. 
Please excuse the blurry picture of the description and instead read it down below:
“TELFAR (American, founded 2005)
Telfar Clemens (American, born 1985)
Purses 2022
White, brown, and black polyurethane polyester blend.
The Telfar shopping bag represents a significant cultural intervention in contemporary fashion. Telfar Clemens redefined the meaning of luxury by creating gender-neutral and widely accessible clothing, encapsulated in its slogan “Not for you for you––for everyone.” Introduced in 2014, the tote drew aesthetic inspiration from department store shopping bags. Its more popular moniker “Bushwick Birkin” coined by makeup artist Xya Rachel, contrasts the exclusivity of the Hermes Birkin with the cultural diversity of the Brooklyn neighborhood. Through affordable pricing, unisex design, ethical materials, and a range of sizes and colors Telfar advances a model of democratized luxury that upends entrenched hierarchies of prestige and consumption.”
The other piece that stayed with me was from the same exhibit. What seemed like a simple white t-shirt with black text paired with jeans, was actually one of the most thought-provoking pieces for me. Behind the mannequin was an altered image depicting two pregnant men. What once seemed like a preposterous idea is now a political one. While the image’s goal was to comment on possible medical advances in the future, the fashion made a statement on the present reminding the public that pregnant men already exist––they’re just trans. In a political climate that seems so unsure for my trans brothers and sisters, I find comfort in knowing that New York has vowed to defend us so fiercely. Being one of the only cities that provides free gender-affirming care, New York has been a beacon of light that many trans people from all over the world flock to. To have these two pieces included in the exhibit gives trans people like me the ability to dream of a future where we won’t be shackled by the limitations of our bodies.
These pieces ultimately reaffirmed my idea that fashion could be art, something that I not only knew but felt all those years ago when I sketched. Yet, it once again brought up questions about when it stops being art and where that line lies.
