Andrew Bolton (curator)
Andrew John Bolton is a British museum curator and incumbent 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
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.Career
Bolton began his career at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.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. Later that year, he was awarded the Vilcek Prize in Fashion. 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. Bolton exhibitions are known for their "scholarly rigor....whimsy.... theatricality".
Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo was the subject of the 2017 exhibit. 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."
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". The exhibition included objects from the Vatican Collection alongside designs by Gianni Versace, John Galliano for Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and other designers.
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.
Bolton was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to art and fashion.
Costume Institute exhibitions
2006: AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion 2007: Poiret: King of Fashion 2008: Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy 2009: The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion 2010: American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity 2011: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty 2012: Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations 2013: Punk: Chaos to Couture 2014: Charles James: Beyond Fashion 2014–2015: Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire 2015: China: Through the Looking Glass• 2015–2016: Jacqueline de Ribes: The Art of Style 2016: Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology 2016–2017: Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion 2017: Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between 2018: Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination 2019: Camp: Notes on Fashion 2020: About Time: Fashion and Duration2021–2022 In America: A Lexicon of Fashion 2022 ''In America: An Anthology of Fashion''Personal life
Since 2011, Bolton has lived in Manhattan with fashion designer Thom Browne, his partner.Literary works
The following is an incomplete list of his literary works:- Bolton, Andrew. The Supermodern Wardrobe. New York: V&A.
- Bolton, Andrew. Sui, Anna; White, Jack; Meisel, Steven, eds. Anna Sui. New York: Chronicle Books..
- Bolton, Andrew. McQueen, Alexander, eds. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art..
- Bolton, Andrew, eds. Punk: Chaos to Couture. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Bolton, Andrew. Manux X Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Bolton, Andrew. Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Bolton, Andrew. Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Bolton, Andrew. In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.