She's so refined, I think I'll kill myself

The Dangerous Liasons costume exhibit at the Met was totally, splendiforously kickass. It's not good in terms of imparting a lot of costume and social history information, but it's absolutely perfect in showing the dresses to their full effect, in very witty, stunningly gorgeous tableaus. I think it closes at the end of this month, so if you can make it to NYC to see it, I highly reccomend it. The silver embroidery winking in the candlelight (and it's tarnished now, so you can imagine how bright it was when the dress was new), the way the jewelry caught the light and reflected it back in a thousand colors, the sly sexuality (a music teacher sliding his hand over his pupil's breast as her chaperone reads obliviously by the window, a merchant stealing a kiss from the client's wife while the client studies the detail on a sidetable, the "Late Supper" scene with the woman's bodice half-undone), and the way the gorgeous period rooms were used to their full effect. Wow.