Other items of interest regarding shoes came to light during the opening of the Metropolitan Costume Institute’s exhibit, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” and I really must share.

Cathy Horyn, the New York Times Fashion critic and of On the Runway blog fame, wore the perfect shoes to the opening party. What she wore and how well it came off indicates or should anyway how important it is to think these details through. The shoes were the perfect compliment to her outfit, the trends, and the length of her skirt. It all came together to make her look quite leggy….something one may only expect of fashion models, but not true. We can all look like that if we put on the right shoe with our outfit. (for more on what all the style mavens wore for the gala, see style.com)

A strappy heel is what I called it. Then about the same time, Bill Cunningham, the New York Times on the street fashion photog and documentarian, photographed a lovely segment on hats and shoes and among other things also noted the strappiness of the heels but also the uniqueness of the shoes. Take a look.

But then, there were Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise perfectly captured going up the stairs to the Met’s entrance for the exhibit…she looking like the superheroe Cinderella that she is in a red sequined Armani and these daring do “Blue” shoes and he, Tom, looking like the perfect prince pulling her up the stairs (also dressed in Armani). The best shot of the evening came from Reuter’s photog, Lucas Jackson, shown alongside Eric Wilson’s funny and quippy first impression article for the New York Times of the evenings happenings, “Stars and Superheroes Sparkle at Museum Gala.”

Nonetheless, it was the blue shoes that really made the impression……hmmmm, I wondered aloud to myself, could this have more meaning than for creating a fun yet beautifully themed ensemble for the evening? Then I spied with my little eye the cornflower blue Puma First Round Hi-tops at Urban Outfitters and knew instantly, yes, that blue has life well beyond the Superheroe exhibit and Katie Holmes’ outfit for the evening.
(okay, it’s a little lighter shade, but nonetheless has superpower written all over it)

In fact, I am hoping I can score some great same color blue sandals and/or flip flops for this summer somewhere….Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight has been wearing these fantastic cobalt blue dresses and suits on the show and while interviewing (image from January 2008 SAG awards). I think she knows something too about this color of blue besides that it looks good on her.

So, KERPLOW! and, and, PLUNK! that.

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At the Victoria & Albert Museum March 15-July 13.

Right on cue with all the controversey about goods being produced and imported from China, it’s time we see the upside to this country’s progress. The V&A exhibit explores China’s current design, art, fashion and architecture scene. Journeying along China’s east coast, the exhibit moves south to north from Shenzhen, China’s manufacturing centre, to fashion capital Shanghai and architectural hotspot Beijing.

As the country has developed so has its arts, architectural and fashion practices. ‘China Design Now’ covers some 100 designers set to influence the international stage as they establish a new norm within their own shorelines.

For more information, downloads, and to order tickets, visit the V&A’s website or to their online shop for information on or to purchase the above poster, Graphic Design in China by Chen Shaohua, or any one of the Hi Panda collectibles (small versions of the larger ones seen in the show and designed by young urban designers Shirtflag).

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Opening May 7, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s newest show, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” is a “celebration of the body fantastic,” so says Giorgio Armani, the exhibit’s honorary chair.

Clicking through the slide show of some of the costumes reminds me of some of fashion’s better moments both on the runway and on the silver screen. For more, go here.

Image courtesy Style.com. From the Superheroes, “The Doge Knows: Philip Treacy’s futuristic Venetian mask, photographed by Irving Penn for Vogue, December 1996.”

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Well by now you all know I am a color junkie….or you can even call me an expert–regardless, I am into it. But tell me what are the chances that all of these museums are having exhibits on the science of color at the same time?

As noted here already, The Color Chart: Reinventing Color 1950-Today, @ MOMA through May 12, 2008.
Color as Field: American Painting 1950-1975 @ Smithsonians American Art Museum through May 26, 2008 (the first ever full-scale examination of the sources, meaning and impact of the Color Field movement).
Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product, @ Cooper Hewitt Museum through September 1, 2008.
Jasper Johns: Gray @ the Metropolitan Museum in New York through May 4, 2008 examines the use of the color gray by the American artist Jasper Johns (b. 1930) between the mid-1950s and the present.

Coincidence? Or Connected? I say the latter……….all of these curators know each other and spoke at a “Topics to put on at a Museum convention.” Just kidding, but who knows. There are the friends of friends who know each other, or associations(wink)who know someone such as sponsors, and so on. Regardless, we the lookees or guests or vistors are the winners. It’s a literal color cornucopia………love that word especially when it comes to color (and food).

((Top intro image is of a ceramic plate sample that represents the colors the plate came in from Cooper Hewitt’s Multiple Choices: From Sample to Product which examines sample books and other sampling formats as tools for marketing or recording designs and techniques in a wide variety of media. The curators propose that sample books or samples for that matter will no longer be used….another 21st century fatality as a consequence of technology.)

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