Most people know that the Metropolitan Museum of Art does an annual costume institute exhibit, but occasionally they have other fashion exhibits on throughout the year. This is the case for In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, the current fall exhibit. From the Met’s page on the exhibit: “The Costume Institute’s fall 2019 exhibition features promised gifts from Sandy Schreier, a pioneering collector, who over the course of more than half a century assembled one of the finest private fashion collections in the United States.  The show explores how Schreier amassed a trove of twentieth-century French and American couture and ready-to-wear, not as a wardrobe, but in appreciation of this form of creative expression.”

This was also a special trip because I got to meet a longtime sewing friend! Jennie runs Sense and Sensibility patterns, which were essentially my gateway into sewing. When I first learned to sew, it was her regency dress pattern that I decided to make. Because that’s logical, right? A complete beginning making a Jane Austen-style dress right off the bat?! (Hey, I did it! It wasn’t perfect, or even any good at all, but I learned a lot by just jumping in and looking stuff up as I went along.) I made it out of an old flannel sheet with a sheet print on it (and should I ever unearth the picture of it, I will definitely share it).

The start somehow aligned with Jennie being in New York for a few days, and I wasn’t working or headed upstate. I wasn’t feeling super great (rundown from the run of Frozen), but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet a longtime sewing friend! We figured out that we’ve known each other online for about eighteen years.

We spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the museum, walking and talking. Of course, the main goal was to see the fashion exhibit and so that was the first stop.

Schreier’s collection spanned many decades of fashion, with one of the showpieces being this Edwardian-era dress:

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Gorgeous both front and back, and look at all that beading!

The exhibit was organized in chronological order for the most part, and following the 1910’s, there were some delightful dresses from the 20’s and 30’s. I appreciate 1920’s fashion so much, but can never wear it. The styles of the 1920’s are not for curvier girls, as they tend to make you look too boxy. However, they are often full of gorgeous art-deco details and other delights.

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The treats for the eye didn’t end there. The exhibit also showed off a number of dresses from the 30’s, which is a silhouette I can sometimes wear, depending on the style of the dress. (Apologies if eras overlap in the images here, I’m trying to include all the pictures I took!)

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Of course, the exhibit also drove home what I already knew: I am a 1950’s fashion girl at heart. The dresses from that era were by far my favorites, with these two being particularly me:

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And just look at the matching shoes and hat that go with this dress:

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I’ve always been a matchy-matchy girl. If every dress I owned could have a matching pair of shoes and hat, I would be very happy!

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The room housing the exhibit was small but packed with delights. In a little second room, they had a collection of more unique fashion, such as the infamous soup can dress and a hat made of little lobsters (or possibly crayfish?). I love that color-blocked Art is Love dress.

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As usual, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon! I’m looking forward to the Met’s annual exhibit following the gala this year, which you can read more about here.