Met時裝學院交接權力法杖 Andrew Bolton Chosen to Lead the Met's Costume Institute
After 14 years of overseeing ambitious, crowd-pleasing shows like “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” in 2011 and the recent “China: Through the Looking Glass,” which have helped put the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the crossroads of glamour, fashion, scholarship and art, Harold Koda is retiring as curator in charge of the museum’s Costume Institute. On Tuesday the Met board chose Andrew Bolton, his fellow curator, to succeed him.
大都會藝術博物館(Metropolitan Museum of Art)時裝學院(Costume Institute)的主管哈羅德·科達(Harold Koda)將退休。在任職的14年裏，他主管過一些雄心勃勃、受觀衆喜愛的展覽，比如2011年的“亞歷山大·麥昆：野性之美”(Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty)和前不久的“中國：鏡花水月”(China: Through the Looking Glass)，幫助該博物館成爲魅力、時尚、學識和藝術的彙集地。週二（9月8日），大都會博物館董事會任命科達的同事、策展人安德魯·博爾頓(Andrew Bolton)接任他的職位。
Mr. Koda’s tenure included transferring the Brooklyn Museum’s costume collection to the Met in 2009; reopening the expanded Costume Institute in 2014 after a two-year renovation; and helping to host, with the Vogue editor Anna Wintour, “the party of the year” — the annual Met Gala fund-raiser, which drew a record $12.5 million for the museum in 2015.
科達在任期間的業績還包括：2009年，他把布魯克林博物館(Brooklyn Museum)的服裝收藏納入大都會藝術博物館；2014年，經過兩年的整修擴張，重新開放時裝學院；他和《Vogue》主編安娜·溫圖爾(Anna Wintour)一起協助舉辦“年度派對”——大都會博物館慈善晚宴。2015年，該晚宴籌集了1250萬美元，打破了記錄。
“It’s been an incredible time to be in this field,” Mr. Koda said in a telephone interview. “You’re in the catbird seat of fashion. You can observe and comment on contemporary fashion without any of the risks that designers, merchants and editors have to go through.”
“如今，這個領域處於不可思議的好時候，”科達在電話採訪中說，“處於時裝業的有利地位。你能對當代服裝進行觀察和評論，且不必承擔設計師、商人和編輯的那些風險。”
The Honolulu-born Mr. Koda, 65 — who will step down in January — guided his department through significant changes since the days when it was institutionally marginal, relegated to the museum basement. He said he would be leaving the institute’s collection of 35,000 costumes and accessories in good hands, having worked closely with the British-born Mr. Bolton, 49, since bringing him to the department in 2002. Mr. Bolton, who worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for nine years before joining the Met, said he had learned from Mr. Koda the value of juxtaposing the old and the new. “There’s almost a tonic effect,” he said. “Historical fashion informs contemporary fashion, and contemporary fashion enlivens historical fashion.”
65歲的科達生於檀香山，將於明年1月退休。他帶領這個部門經歷了巨大變化。最初，這個邊緣部門被排擠到博物館的地下室。他說，他會把時裝學院收藏的3.5萬件服裝和配飾交到可靠的人手中。博爾頓是科達2002年招進來的，從那時起，他們就一直密切合作。博爾頓生於英國，現年49歲，在加入大都會博物館前在倫敦的維多利亞與艾伯特博物館(Victoria and Albert Museum)工作了九年。博爾頓說，他從科達那裏懂得了把新與舊放置在一起的價值。“它們相得益彰，”他說，“歷史服裝滲透到當代服裝中，當代服裝賦予歷史服裝活力。”
With its choice, the board of directors may be signaling more than the quiet passing of a baton. Scholarship in the field has been radically redrawn in recent years to accommodate an evolving understanding of the sociocultural and even anthropological role of costume and fashion. Mr. Bolton brought a form of Imagineering showmanship to exhibitions that looked at fashion through the prism of punk rock; paired Elsa Schiaparelli with Miuccia Prada to create a feminist dialogue expressed through design; and proposed in the 2008 show “Superheroes” that Wonder Woman may have been as influential a style avatar as any fashion editor.
董事會通過這項任命可能想表明，這不只是安靜的權力交接。近些年，人們對服裝和時尚在社會文化和人類學中的角色有了新理解，這一領域的學問也隨之發生了徹底改變。博爾頓把充滿想象力的吸引觀衆的才能帶到展覽中：透過朋克搖滾審視時裝；把埃爾莎·夏帕瑞麗(Elsa Schiaparelli)和繆西婭·普拉達(Miuccia Prada)放在一起，呈現一場通過設計表達的女權主義對話；在2008年的展覽“超級英雄”(Superheroes)中，他指出，神奇女俠(Wonder Woman)可能和時尚編輯一樣是具有強大影響力的時尚化身。
He has also organized two of the most popular shows in the museum’s history. Crowds lined up for hours in 2011 to view “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” the critically acclaimed and creatively installed retrospective of work by a visionary yet tortured designer, who was as much sculptor as dressmaker, and who committed suicide in 2010. The exhibition drew more than 661,000 visitors (at a time before the museum decided to remain open seven days a week).
他還組織了該博物館歷史上最受歡迎的兩場展覽。2011年，觀衆排隊數小時，等待觀看“亞歷山大·麥昆：野性之美”(Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty)。那場展覽回顧了這位充滿想象力卻飽受折磨的設計師的作品。麥昆不僅是服裝設計師，也是雕塑家，於2010年自殺。展覽佈置得很有創意，廣受好評，吸引了超過66.1萬觀衆（那時候，博物館尚未決定一週開放七天）。
More recently, Mr. Bolton shepherded “China: Through the Looking Glass,” which incorporated multiple departments. That three-floor show, which closed on Monday, drew about 816,000 visitors during its four-month run.
前不久，博爾頓策劃了“中國：鏡花水月”(China: Through the Looking Glass)，它結合了多個部門，佔據了三個樓層。展覽週一（9月7日）閉幕，在四個月的時間裏共吸引約81.6萬名觀衆。
The challenge for the institute going forward is to keep an increasingly digital world coming in the door to see three-dimensional objects. The institute’s collection represents clothing and accessories from the 15th century to the present.
時裝學院面臨的挑戰是讓生活在這個越來越數字化的世界裏的人來這裏觀看真實的三維物品。這裏收藏着從15世紀至今的各種服裝和配飾。
The department has been experimenting with various forms of technology, and Thomas P. Campbell, the Met’s director, said he expected that “we’ll see more” under Mr. Bolton.
時裝學院試驗了各種技術。博物館館長托馬斯·P·坎貝爾(Thomas P. Campbell)說，他期待在博爾頓的領導下，“我們能看到更多”。
Last year’s show “Charles James: Beyond Fashion,” for example, organized by Mr. Koda, featured robotic arms and screens near the dresses showing how they were constructed. The China show incorporated a life-size bamboo forest of illuminated Plexiglas wands, film selections assembled by the Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai and costumes ranging from imperial robes to a contemporary dress with a bodice made from blue-and-white porcelain.
比如，在去年科達策劃的“查爾斯·詹姆斯：超越時尚”展(Charles James: Beyond Fashion)上，連衣裙旁擺着機械臂和屏幕，展示這些服裝是怎樣做成的。“中國：鏡花水月”展上包括用發光樹脂玻璃棒做成的實物大小的竹林；香港導演王家衛編排的電影剪輯；以及從旗袍到上身爲青花瓷圖案的當代連衣裙等各種服裝。
“I love to engage more elements of technology into our exhibitions,” said Mr. Bolton, who favors boyish suits tailored by his partner, the designer Thom Browne, “to examine early examples of fashion that aren’t represented in the collection, like Elizabethan dress.”
“我喜歡把更多技術元素融入展覽，探討早期的一些服裝範例，比如伊麗莎白一世時代的連衣裙，”博爾頓說。他很喜歡男朋友桑姆·布郎尼(Thom Browne)設計的男孩子氣西服。
With a more informed public constantly checking fashion blogs, the bar for the institute has been raised. “You can no longer present costume as, ‘Oh, isn’t this a pretty dress — it’s from the 1890s,’ ” Mr. Koda said. “You have to do it in a way that engages larger issues.”
現在的觀衆消息靈通，他們在不斷查看時尚博客，所以時裝學院面臨着更大的挑戰。“你不能再這樣展示服裝：‘哦，這件連衣裙很漂亮，不是嗎？它是19世紀90年代的’，”科達說，“你必須換一種方式，融入更宏大的話題。”
The broad appeal of the institute’s shows can backfire with critics, who sometimes take the museum to task for pandering to the public or blurring the lines between art and commerce.
時裝學院的展覽廣受歡迎，卻遭到一些批評家的非議，他們認爲大都會博物館過於迎合觀衆，模糊了藝術和商業的界線。
In her review of the 2013 show “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” which Mr. Bolton organized, Roberta Smith of The New York Times wrote that “fashion has rarely looked as frivolous, beside the point and 1 percent-ish as here.”
《紐約時報》的羅伯塔·史密斯(Roberta Smith)在評論博爾頓2013年組織的“朋克：從混亂到時裝”展(Punk: Chaos to Couture)時寫道：“時裝很少像在這場展覽中這樣顯得輕浮而無關緊要。”
And, while Holland Cotter in The Times commended the 2012 exhibition “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” for its “tight thesis,” he also noted that “the primary sponsor for this exhibition is ,” which “has recently initiated a major effort to sell high-end fashion online.”
雖然霍蘭德·科特(Holland Cotter)在《紐約時報》上稱讚2012年的“夏帕瑞麗和普拉達：不可能的對話”展(Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations)“主題簡潔”，但是也指出，“這次展覽的主要贊助人是亞馬遜網站”，“前不久該網站剛開始大力發展網售高級時裝”。
Mr. Koda and Mr. Bolton say they often tire of having to defend their subject area as a legitimate art form that is not beholden to the fashion industry.
科達和博爾頓都說，他們厭倦了經常需要解釋自己的主題領域是一種真正的藝術形式，不依賴於時裝業。
“There is this belief that you’re just puppets,” Mr. Koda said. “We don’t work for the brand, we work for the museum.”
“有人認爲，我們只是傀儡，”科達說，“而實際上，我們不是爲時裝品牌工作，而是爲博物館工作。”
“We’ve never said all clothing is art,” he added. “There can be certain design achievements that are so conceptually and technologically rich and innovative that they approach the standards and criteria of an artwork.”
“我們從未說過，所有的服裝都是藝術品，”他補充說，“但是某些服裝從概念和技術上都豐富新穎，接近藝術品。”
Mr. Bolton expressed frustration that “people still cling to a 19th-century hierarchy of art.”
博爾頓對“人們仍堅守19世紀的藝術等級觀”而感到沮喪。
“The artistry of clothing as an aesthetic medium is just as important as painting and sculpture,” he said, “to offer new ways of looking at clothes and new ways of interpreting clothes through the lens of history and aesthetics, but through trends of culture or psychology.”
“作爲一種美學載體，服裝的藝術性與繪畫和雕塑一樣重要，”他說，“[我想]提供審視和闡釋服裝的新方法，不僅是從歷史和審美的角度，而且是從文化或心理學潮流的角度。”
The Costume Institute has the strong support of the museum. Also crucial to the collection, which has costly storage and conservation requirements, has been the support of Ms. Wintour, who made possible the renovation. (It reopened last year as the Anna Wintour Costume Center.) “She’s our rainmaker,” Mr. Koda said.
服裝學院得到了博物館的大力支持。這些服裝藏品的保存和維護費用高昂，對它們來說，同樣重要的是溫圖爾的支持，是她讓整修成爲可能（時裝學院的場館去年整修後重新開放，更名爲安娜·溫圖爾服裝中心[Anna Wintour Costume Center]）。“她是我們的超級說客，”科達說。
Ms. Wintour said that the institute had been an important “resource for the fashion industry and for the public,” adding, “It puts fashion into a context that you don’t see anywhere else.”
溫圖爾說，時裝學院已經成爲“時裝業和公衆的”重要“資源”，“它把時裝置於獨特的背景中，這是你在其他任何地方都看不到的”。
While leading the institute, Mr. Koda built on the foundations laid by the visionary fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who was installed as head of the Costume Institute by the former Met director Thomas Hoving, and followed by the art historian Richard Martin.
科達領導的時裝學院是在有遠見的時尚主編戴安娜·弗裏蘭(Diana Vreeland)鋪墊的基礎上發展起來的。大都會博物館的時任館長托馬斯·霍溫(Thomas Hoving)任命弗裏蘭兼任時裝學院的主管，之後的主管是藝術史學家理查德·馬丁(Richard Martin)。
In addition to presenting shows focusing on single designers, the institute began to draw on the museum’s other collections in exhibitions like “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century,” in 2004, which presented 33 pre-French Revolution garments in 18th-century French period rooms, or “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” in 2006, which crammed 65 mannequins into the Met’s normally serene English period rooms — with sound effects.
除了推出單個設計師的展覽，時裝學院開始利用博物館其他部門的藏品，比如2004年的“危險關係：18世紀的時裝和傢俱”展(Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century)或者2006年的“英格蘭狂：英國時裝的傳統與不羈”展(AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion)，後者把65個人體模型放入通常寧靜的英國曆史展廳，還加了音效。
“I do try and tell a story — to start out with an overarching theme, then break it down,” Mr. Bolton said. “I really believe clothing carries all kinds of narratives. And it’s up to the curators to make them legible.”
“我的確努力去講述一個故事——從一個宏大的主題出發，再把它分解開，”博爾頓說，“我真的認爲，服裝承載着各種故事，要靠策展人把它們講清楚。”
