While Charlotte’s Mint Museum boasts an array of art exhibits, it’s long been renowned for a specific collection: The Mint holds one of the largest, most significant fashion displays in the Southeast. In an effort this year to push the art form even further and enhance fashion’s storage and study, the Mint unveiled their latest series of exhibits, “Year of Fashion.”
The Mint Museum announced plans for its “Year of Fashion” to 400 guests at its sold-out “Coveted Couture” gala on April 29 at Mint Museum Randolph. The museum’s annual fundraiser is permanently devoted to celebrating the Mint’s Fashion Collection. The “Year of Fashion,” running July 1 through June 30, 2018, has been carefully curated by the Mint’s staff and made possible in part by a major financial gift from Mint supporters Ann and Michael Tarwater.
The Senior Curator of Craft, Design, and Fashion at the Mint, Annie Carlano, was a major force in making the exhibit happen. Carlano is a classically trained art historian who has worked with a host of American and international collections. She joined the Mint in 2008, where she has since helped reimagine the department.
Her dedication to fashion stems first from a love of art and design, and she worked tirelessly to help launch this newest addition to the Mint’s offerings.
“Fashion is accessible,” Carlano explains. “Everyone wears clothes so they can identify themselves, and therefore they are less intimidated by fashion. There’s a lot of excitement [around this exhibit]. It’s truly what happens when the universes conspires. From different angles, different parties, things are falling in place to create the ’Year of Fashion.’”
The “Year of Fashion” centers around three exhibitions: William Ivey Long, Charlotte Collects, and Oscar de la Renta. North Carolina native William Ivey Long is one of the most renowned theatrical costume designers working today and the exhibition will explore a number of his works from throughout the last decade. Charlotte Collects is an exhibition taking an intimate look at important designs in the collections of our community’s fashion leaders to present a wide range of 21st century fashion. The Oscar de la Renta exhibition, scheduled for spring 2018, was organized in close collaboration with the House of Oscar de la Renta and the designer’s family. It was also curated by André Leon Talley, former American editor-at-large for Vogue.
It’s an important moment for Charlotte and for the Mint, organizing an extensive display of some of the finest art and designs. The “Year of Fashion” is aimed at reminding the Queen City that fashion, like all art, has something important to share.Find out what that
“Our relationship with fashion is both universal and personal,” Carlano says of the exhibition’s significance. “It reflects the times we live in and who we are.”
