Visiting some new exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum

If you've been following me for awhile, you know I love museums and their exhibits. I try to go to every fashion related one in NYC. Also, I know I'm blessed to live in a city with so much access to these events and appreciate every minute of it. Besides missing people, I've missed museum trips! I've most especially missed spending time with my friends.  Thanks Wanett (sewnbrooklyn on IG) for spending the day with me, it was just everything!

Honestly pre-pandemic, I wouldn't go to the Brooklyn Museum, declaring it was too far to travel on public transportation. I've since changed my mind! *LOL*  Sitting at home for 18 months makes you realize the importance of experiencing as much as you can. Y'all I don't drive, so this was a trip totally done on public transportation. An Uber to NJTransit train to NYC, then an Uber to the Museum reverse it to come home...but it was so worth it!

Please note this is a picture heavy post.

There were two exhibits I wanted to see ~

The Obamas Portrait Tour which will be in Brooklyn until October 24th

and the 

Christian Dior Designer of Dreams exhibit that will be in Brooklyn until February 20, 2022.

I took a lot of pictures beginning with my trip across the Manhattan Bridge...

My Uber was stopped at the light and I loved the graffiti

versus fire escape color on this building...

Columns at the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is doing timed entrance tickets so our first set of tickets were for The Obama Portraits. I loved that there was biographical information on the artists who painted the portraits, why Michelle chose that dress, and the mediums used to paint the pictures.

We had a short snack and talked and talked while we waited for our timed admittance to the Christian Dior Exhibit. Now I'm going to admit this exhibit made me cry. By the end of it I was so overwhelmed with how it was displayed, the sensory perceptions and the beauty of the garments, that I cried. Thank goodness for masks because no one could see me lose my sh*t!

Wanett and I took a lot of pictures and this is the combination of both of our picture taking efforts. I'm sharing them as they appear in the exhibit with a little commentary thrown in.

This is right as you enter the front 

and it's a quilted textile

I loved that cranberry dress in the middle. If I was still working

in Corporate America, I would be scheming how to interpret it!

The pleated skirt on this dress was awesome!

"The New Look" outfit!

Natalie Portman's Dior Commercial Dress

The next section shared garments by other House of Dior designers.  I only took a few pictures here because so much of this has been shared on social media and in magazines. At this point this still seemed like a regular museum exhibit. A really thorough and well displayed exhibit.

Loved the embroidery and trim on this jacket

This dress was all hand embroidered...it was stunning!

Then you moved into a display organized by color and full of miniatures, shoes, hats, jewelry that was fabulous in the way it was displayed.

Finally we moved into the room where the toiles are displayed. This is the room I've always wanted to see after seeing the pictures of the exhibit online. Because I marveled at the height and number of toiles displayed...

So imagine my shock and surprise when I realized that this effect was achieved by mirrors!

I stood there for five minutes with my jaw hanging open. The use of the mirrors and the optical illusion was everything! I had set my camera to record and someone had to walk up behind me and tell me I wasn't recording. It was because of the effect of the room.

The next room we moved into is the piece de resistance of the exhibit. It was so overwhelming and amazing that I walked around the room twice before I could focus on the garments. The staging in this room is perfection. I've never seen an exhibit like this and if you think I'm spoiling it by sharing all of this, I'm not.  My words can NOT do this room justice.

So some pictures...

I loved this exhibit and stayed here for a minute!

Side/back views of the dresses to show the artistry

I spent the most time in this room and this is where I cried. Even typing this reminds me of the way the exhibit made me feel and I needed to exhale.

The final room shows dresses the stars have worn...and there are decades of them. I'm not sharing them all, just a few of my faves. It was the perfect decompression after the excitement of the previous two rooms.

Grace Kelly & Josephine Baker wore these dresses from left to right

The back of the dress Nicole Kidman wore to the Oscars

Princess Diana wore the blue slip dress

I know I shared a lot and believe me it's not half of the collection. I wasn't a fan of the House of Dior when John Galliano was the head designer so his entire section is missing. Quite a few garments from when Dior himself designed it because I had seen a lot of them.  All of this is to say go and see the exhibit for yourself. IT IS SO WORTH IT. I'm actually determined to see it again before it leaves, it was that good!

Some of these pictures were posted to my Instagram account and quite a few sewists talked about seeing it in London, Paris and Dallas, TX. And how it looks like they're sharing different garments, so if you get a chance, please go and see the exhibit.  It's so worth it!

...as always more later!