Come back tomorrow for an explanation!

Update: 7/20/13: There is a fine exhibit at SAM now called, somewhat confusingly, “Future Beauty” but is actually a show of some of the high fashion emanating from Japan from the last 30 years.

The show includes these designers:

In a move that keeps art museums maintaining their reputation of being elite and unapproachable, the visitor is not allowed to take photos in the current exhibition.

Now, I have spent a good part of my adult life working in and for art museums and I know all the reasons for not allowing photograph (mainly the potential damage caused by the flash of the camera’s light).  But if art museums want people to come, to look, to enjoy, then they need to allow today’s visitor the opportunity to take a picture.  Phones with cameras are ubiquitous.  Phones are in everyone’s hands.  So, here’s a tip to the art museums of the world:  allow pictures.  You don’t have to do any more focus groups to understand why museums seem elite.

So, yeah, I took these pictures without permission by playing hide and go see with the guards.  Stupid.

The most aggravating part of the experience is that I couldn’t get pictures of the  most knock-out designs because the guards were watching for me (I don’t blame the guards, they were just doing their jobs, but the administration needs to wake up and smell the coffee.  Wouldn’t you think especially in the coffee-capital that is Seattle, they already would be smelling the coffee?)

So, please enjoy these few pictures that I stole.

This was interesting.  Some of the garments were folded like origami and displayed as 2-d designs.

One of the most flamboyant dresses could be folded up entirely and packed like a large, flat paperback book .  Now that’s ingenious.  Too bad I can’t show you because of the photog restrictions.

If you can, catch this show!

Sayonara! Mata ne.