Free For All

As the cold weather engulfs the city, days spent lounging in Central Park or enjoying a latte at a sidewalk cafe are packed away til next spring. Instead, weekend activities migrate indoors where the air is warm and the fashion hot.

Always in search of weekend plans that involve little cost of participation (since when did seeing a movie in the City cost $12.50 a person?) I was happy to come across the schedule of exhibitions at FIT (all free!) Going on now, but sadly ending on November 7th, is Fashion and Politics, featuring Catherine Malandrino's famous Flag Dress, and a Nixon 'paper dress'. This exhibit traces the theme of American Nationalism through clothing and offers something for everyone, including my CSPAN loving Husband.

Even more tantalizing is the exhibit running from November 6th through April 10th titled American Beauty (since this is the name of one of my favorite movies, I was immediately intrigued). Put on by Charles B. Froom, this reveal features 75 looks to narrate the relationship between technical ingenuity and artistic excellence. Though I have to wait until December 3rd to catch Night and Day, I think it will be well worth it. This exhibition will do what I set to accomplish every Saturday evening- trace the history of how the dress code for women has changed (painfully so) over the past 250 years. The most noteworthy component of this display will be a black Chantilly Lace gown by Rochas. I will have to resist the urge to lean surreptitiously over the velvet ropes to trace the outline of a Chantilly flower with my pointer finger. (I am sure that no where in the exhibit will I find a recreation of a mannequin donning Ugg boots and leggings.)