Pantone panoply: Vivienne Westwood's fulsome ensemble, 1993, from the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute.

Museum Quality This Holiday Season, the Visual Treats Aren't Just in Stores

Fashion in Colors
The Cooper-Hewitt's current show examines hue as a design element through 300 years of Western fashion. Each of the exhibition's five rooms is lit in a specific shade, illuminating not only the matching clothes, but also the psychological or cultural aspects of that particular tone. Red, as we all know, is associated with love and passion, so it's no wonder there are plenty of glamorous gowns in that gallery. "The idea is to feel the materiality of color," said curator Barbara Bloemink. Beats blinking tree lights any day.

Perfect Fit
Can anyone imagine life without jeans? Thank you, Mr. Levi Strauss. Or Manhattan without Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale's? Yeshiva University Museum's latest exhibition explores how advances in mass manufacturing dovetailed with Jewish immigration and gave birth to a thriving garment industry. Show highlights include designs from the likes of Judith Leiber, Anne Klein, and Adrian, as well as a lavish leather shirt from the man who dressed Nashville's top country stars, along with Elvis: Nudie Cohn.

David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer who fears neither color nor scandal (his near-naked dip in Miami's Setai Club pool during last week's Art Basel festivities being a perfect example). But he reserves his real provocative powers for his work. Who can forget a nude Pam Anderson stepping gingerly out of a giant egg, Lil' Kim's naked body branded with the Louis Vuitton logo, or krump star Miss Prissy's dance moves in his recent documentary Rize? Four years of eye-popping photographs for Italian Vogue are on view at Staley-Wise.

Fashion in Colors, December 9, 2005, to March 26, 2006, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, NYC, www.cooperhewitt.org; A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry, 1860-1960, through March 31, 2006, Yeshiva University Museum, NYC, www.yumuseum.org; David LaChapelle: Pictures for Italian Vogue, 2001-2005, through January 28, 2006, Staley-Wise Gallery, NYC, www.staleywise.com.

–Laird Borrelli