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Andrew Bolton (curator)

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Andrew Bolton
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Occupation(s)Curator in chief, Anna Wintour Costume Center
Known forSavage Beauty
China: Through the Looking Glass
PartnerThom Browne

Andrew John Bolton OBE (born 1966[1]) is a British museum curator and current head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the host venue for the annual Met Gala.

Early life and education

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Bolton was born in 1966 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and majored in anthropology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in 1987, and subsequently completed a master's degree.[1]

Career

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Bolton began his career at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.[2][3]

On September 8, 2015, it was announced that he would replace the retiring Harold Koda as curator in chief of the Anna Wintour Costume Center in New York City.[4] Later that year, he was awarded the Vilcek Prize in Fashion.[2][5] Bolton has created and or co-created several critically lauded exhibitions including Savage Beauty featuring clothing created by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, as well as China: Through the Looking Glass (both with Koda).[2] Bolton exhibitions are known for their "scholarly rigor....whimsy.... (and) theatricality".[2]

Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo was the subject of the 2017 exhibit.[6] In an interview with Vogue in April 2017, Bolton stated, "I really think her influence is so huge, but sometimes it’s subtle. It’s not about copying her; it’s the purity of her vision."[7] Bolton also stated that the exhibition would be an austere, all-white maze hosting approximately 150 Comme ensembles. Both the exhibit and accompanying book by Bolton are based upon the recurrent fashion dichotomies concentrating on eight thematic oppositions listed as: (1) fashion/antifashion; (2) design/not design; (3) model/multiple; (4) then/now; (5) high/low; (6) self/other; (7) object/subject; and (8) clothes/not clothes.

Bolton's show, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, opened on 10 May 2018. Bolton described the exhibition as an examination of "the role dress plays within the Roman Catholic Church and the role the Roman Catholic Church plays within the fashionable imagination".[8] The exhibition included objects from the Vatican Collection alongside designs by Gianni Versace, John Galliano for Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and other designers.[9]

Bolton is featured alongside Anna Wintour in Andrew Rossi's 2016 documentary film The First Monday in May, which documents the staging of the Metropolitan Museum's annual Costume Institute Gala.[10]

Bolton was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to art and fashion.[11]

Costume Institute exhibitions

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Personal life

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Since 2011, Bolton has lived in Manhattan with fashion designer Thom Browne, his partner.[12][13]

Literary works

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The following is an incomplete list of his literary works:

  • Bolton, Andrew (2002). The Supermodern Wardrobe. New York: V&A.
  • Bolton, Andrew (November 2, 2010). Sui, Anna; White, Jack; Meisel, Steven, eds. Anna Sui. New York: Chronicle Books. ISBN 1452128596.
  • Bolton, Andrew (2011). McQueen, Alexander, eds. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588394125.
  • Bolton, Andrew (and Richard Hell, Jon Savage, John Lydon) (2013), eds. Punk: Chaos to Couture. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Bolton, Andrew (2016). Manux X Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Bolton, Andrew (2017). Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Bolton, Andrew (2018). Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Bolton, Andrew (2019). In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Anarchy Unleashed". The New Yorker. 2013-03-18. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  2. ^ a b c d Trebay, Guy (29 April 2015). "At the Met, Andrew Bolton Is the Storyteller in Chief". New York Times. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  3. ^ Tomkins, Calvin (25 March 2013). "Anarchy Unleashed". The New Yorker. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  4. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (8 September 2015). "Andrew Bolton Chosen to Lead the Met's Costume Institute". New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  5. ^ Chilton, Nancy. "Andrew Bolton Wins 2015 Vilcek Prize in Fashion". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  6. ^ Time magazine. Kawakubo announcement of 2017 exhibit
  7. ^ Lynn Yaeger. "On the Eve of the Comme des Garçons Retrospective, the Notoriously Reclusive Rei Kawakubo Speaks Out", APRIL 13, 2017, Vogue Magazine.
  8. ^ Bolton, Andrew (April 23, 2018). "The Metaphorical Nature of Creation: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  9. ^ "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  10. ^ "New Zealand International Film Festival: The First Monday in May".
  11. ^ "No. 64082". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2023. p. B26.
  12. ^ Posted December 6, 2016 (2016-12-06). "Fashion Designer Thom Browne's 1930s Manhattan Apartment". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 2018-05-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Leland, John (29 April 2016). "How Andrew Bolton of Met Costume Institute Spends His Sundays - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-05-11.
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