Eva Lake at Frosch & Portmann

Eva Lake’s small collages at Lower East Side gallery Frosh & Portman elegantly remix Egyptian and 20th century fashions in a strangely congruous merger of the ancient and modern. (On view through July 16th).

Eva Lake, My Egypt, no 22, collage 13.25 x 9.5 inches, 2017.

Jesse Mockrin at Nathalie Karg Gallery

Inspired by art history and contemporary fashion, LA-based oil painter Jesse Mockrin offers glimpses of androgynous creatures with long necks, doll-like features and strangely bone-less fingers. (At Nathalie Karg Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 6th).

Jesse Mockrin, One Summer Day, oil on linen, 37 x 25 inches, 2016.
Jesse Mockrin, One Summer Day, oil on linen, 37 x 25 inches, 2016.

Irving Penn at Pace Gallery

From the 1940s onward, the fashion world embraced the elegance of iconic photographer Irving Penn’s highly visible commercial work, but it sometimes took longer for his personal projects to gain traction. In the iPhone era, his investigation of the wonderful in the banal seems prescient, especially in this particularly charming shot of an eerily face-like wad of chewing gum found on the city street. (At Chelsea’s Pace Gallery through March 5th).

Underfoot XXXIII, New York, gelatin silver print, image 19 1/8 x 18 ¾ inches, 2000.
Underfoot XXXIII, New York, gelatin silver print, image 19 1/8 x 18 ¾ inches, 2000.

China: Through the Looking Glass at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the most divine dresses in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of China-inspired Western fashions is this evening gown by Guo Pei in the museum’s Chinese Buddhist sculpture galleries. Though the model’s dress incorporates a lotus throne like the sculpture, it doesn’t seem to advocate any rejection of worldly pleasures. (Through Sept 7th).

Guo Pei, Evening Gown, spring/summer 2007, Haute Couture, gold lame embroidered with gold and silver silk, metal and sequins.

‘Death Becomes Her’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saying goodbye must have felt easier in these gorgeous half-mourning dresses from 1902 in the Met’s ‘Death Becomes Her’ show at the Costume Institute. Unlike the black-bedecked Queen Victoria in the background, these ladies look primed to welcome the new. (Through Feb 1st).

Henriette Favre (French), Evening dress, mauve silk tulle, metal foil sequins, 1902. Probably French, Evening dress, black silk tulle, mauve silk chiffon, purple silvered gelatin sequins, 1902.