Wedded Perfection Two Centuries of Wedding Gowns - The Exhibit

I had always thought that "ART" was the last bastion of all things avant garde...pushing the envelope, breaking the rules - where someone could swipe some black and green paint on a 5 foot tall canvas, give it a title like "Intrigue" or "Girl With Straw Hat Picking Flowers", hang it up under a soft spot light and be hailed as one of those who somehow is privy to things that the rest of us are not (like how anyone in their right mind could consider black and green paint smeared on a piece of canvas as "art") But apparently the Cincinnati Art Museum who loaned the "Wedded Perfection" wedding gown exhibit to the Munson Williams Proctor Art Museum failed to get the memo...

I walked in, prepared to take pictures of the dresses I liked with my iPhone and capture as many of the details of the decorations, bustles, lace and pleats as I could. I snapped a picture of a rather elegant, close fitting gown in a cream velvet that was displayed dramatically on a staircase when a voice behind me said, "Ma'am, no pictures are allowed. It's not us - it's the Cincinnati Museum of Art's rule".

You've gotta be kidding me! No pictures? Why? I wasn't using a flash, so there was no chance of damaging the delicate fabrics through some sort of burst of UV rays from my flash. I was using my cell phone camera, so no chance of taking devastatingly fabulous, hi-rez photos that I could then sell as prints and become independently wealthy from. There were no audio-animatronics that I was aware of that could have malfunctioned from the use of my camera, and I had every intention of purchasing the overly-priced museum book that accompanied the exhibit once I exited through the gift shop...

This dress is made from.....latex gloves!

Now, normally I am a "rule-abiding" citizen - I recycle, I clear my table off at the fast-food restaurant, I don't take up two parking spaces - but when the "rules" are ridiculous and make no logical sense, then my inner teenager comes out, and I look for ways to "bend" the rules (they're more like guidelines....really).

Hmm, I know how she feels....

So, I "surreptitiously" took a few photos here and there. Consequently, many of them are blurry. I couldn't get any close-up details, nor could I get more than one angle. The museum guards (more like elderly gentlemen in suit jackets) shadowed everyone viewing the exhibit as if the Hope diamond and the Mona Lisa were on display. Even if I *hadn't* been breaking the rules and sneaking a photo here and there, I would have been EXTREMELY annoyed. This made enjoying the exhibit almost impossible.

I understand that it would be annoying to the other patrons if everyone was running around taking flash photography and generally being a nuisance, but I was quiet, using my phone camera and NO FLASH. I was not bothering anyone....

Russian Fantasy Wedding Dress

After I got busted the second time by a guard with a huge mustache, he kept tailing me like I had gotten caught shoplifting at Walmart....I was really starting to get annoyed now...

The whole point for a "costume geek" to go to an exhibit of vintage clothing or movie costumes is to TAKE PICTURES, lots of pictures, from every angle - close-ups of all the trim - every puff, bustle, button, drape,  pleat and ruffle....anything that shows construction, seams, hooks, laces, zippers, etc....All for the purposes of RECREATING THE DRESS. Otherwise, what is the point? Sure, maybe if we can draw, we could spend all day trying to "sketch" these things, but really.... that is neither practical nor always possible. So, to forbid taking photos to someone like myself ruins the whole exhibit, which, happened here.

I ended up leaving earlier than I had anticipated, mainly because I didn't feel like being followed around like I was a spy who had stolen the plans to the Death Star, but also because the whole atmosphere was stifling...

Oh, and....I didn't buy the book that went with the exhibit - take THAT Cincinnati Museum of Art!