Cloak by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino in the Saint Guilhem Cloister

During my recent trip to NYC, I was able to enjoy Fort Tryon Park on a daily basis. One of those days, I visited The Cloisters embedded in the park and managed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I noticed the sampling of architecture throughout and learned it was constructed using bits and pieces of Romanesque and Gothic structures from France and Italy. Each piece has its own elaborate history.  In addition, a portion of the Met’s feature exhibit “Heavenly Bodies” was integrated into it.

Heavenly Bodies is a large collection of religious artifacts and contemporary “religion-inspired” fashion. I never considered the notion of religion-inspired fashion. It was very intriguing and I wanted to write a serious blog about it. I could have spent hours in this exhibit and actually did spend days drafting and re-drafting this piece. I found myself doing more research than writing. I ended up in rabbit hole after rabbit hole of interesting, beautiful stuff. I’m a fluid writer when it comes to my own thoughts and emotions, but this turned into hard work! I’ve shifted my purpose to simply sharing a few of my photos. For a comprehensive collection of professional photos, I recommend taking a look at The Gothamist publication of photos by Sai Mokhtari here:

These are a few of my favorites from that day which highlight the fashion and variety of architecture. After you enter the elaborate doorway of a Romanesque chapel, you are greeted by the stunning, yet simple image of Balenciaga’s wedding dress from 1967.

Doorway from a church in Italy now serves as the entryway into the Fuentiduena  Chapel

Cristobal Balenciaga’s Wedding Dress in Fuentiduena Chapel

Hidden under an elaborate medieval stair well, is a red rubber dress by John Galliano for Dior.

Dress by John Galliano for Dior

Outside, there are more beautiful doors, archways and gates.

One final memory of my visit – a rabbit hole on the pathway to The Cloisters. Not staged by me, but of course I had to photograph it.