Attendees at Monday’s media preview for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” were routed through a Loewe pop-up within The Met Store before entering the exhibition.
That was a fitting start, given the crowd and the fact that Loewe is a corporate sponsor of the Costume Institute’s spring 2024 show, which features 220 items spanning from the 17th century to the present, and opens to the public Friday.
Organized as a series of shops-in-shop, The Met Store’s limited-run assortment for “Sleeping Beauties” includes designs from Loewe and decoupage specialist John Derian. Museumgoers will find a selection in three sections — the Loewe pop-up shop, the exclusive range of decoupage decor by Derian, and a selection of postcards, prints and the hefty exhibition catalogue. Loewe fans can choose from bags, small leather goods, accessories and candles along with other items from the luxury house’s home scents collection. Derian has dreamt up trays, coasters, paperweights and other decorative gifts.
With Memorial Day and the summer approaching, the “Sleeping Beauties”-inspired shop will feature items including the Loewe Font Tote, the Puzzle Fold Tote and Anagram Basket from the just-out 2024 Paula’s Ibiza collection.
Playing into the nature theme that runs throughout “Sleeping Beauties,” as well as the Anderson-designed pieces that are on view, the shop stems from the concept of a Mediterranean garden. Think olive and lemon trees, lavender, rosemary and potted thyme. While Phillip Lim’s “Algae Sequin” dress was made of biodegradable rayon mesh derived from bamboo and seaweed and Conner Ives’ “Couture Girl” dress required hand embroidering 10,000-plus paillettes made from recycled PET by the Sustainable Sequin Co., Anderson took the environmental factor up to another level. One of the Grass-sprouting coats that he designed for Loewe is literally still growing in a glass case in the exhibition.
The pop-up shop design was inspired by the Loewe stores, and a Mediterranean-type environs complete with esparto, handmade ceramic tiles, wooden furniture, raffia flooring and colorful William Morris chairs including one with a neon orange trim.
New York City-based designer Derian did a heavy lift for The Met Store, whipping up 100-plus designs that spotlight works of art from the Met’s collections of Drawings and Prints, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts and Islamic Art. The artist’s finished products stayed true to the exhibition’s undercurrents of nature, ephemerality, fashion, rebirth and renewal. His creations, which include buttons, bottle openers, cake stands and other sundries retail from $12 to $2,000.
Visitors can also pick up an array of artistic keepsakes — postcards and prints that highlight pieces seen in “Sleeping Beauties.” Those who really want to take a deep dive afterward can purchase the exhibition’s catalogue that was penned by the Costume Institute’s curator in charge Andrew Bolton. Readers will also find missives by the creative consultant for “Sleeping Beauties” Nick Knight, the show’s scent specialist Sissel Tolaas, Elizabeth Shaeffer, Margherita Barone, Linda Borsch, William DeGregorio, Stephanie Kramer and Dr. Junpeng Lai, among others.
