Five “fashionable” museum exhibits for those who can’t make it to New York Fashion Week

by McLean Robbins on

Can’t make it to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City? Never fear – these fashionable museum exhibits will help you get your fix.

We’ve heard of a museum where you can touch the goods – but what about one where you can smell them? The Museum of Arts & Design in New York City has hired former New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr to head their “Center of Olfactory Art” as well as its inaugural exhibit, “The Art of Scent, 1889 – 2001,” opening in November 2011.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is offering a retrospective of famed designer Jean Paul Gautier entitled “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk.” It opens June 17.

New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is offering a more timely (at least for those sad about missing NYFW) look at big-time bling with, “Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels.” It opens February 18.

New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is paying tribute to Alexander McQueen with “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.” It opens May 4.

You don’t have to wait to see Washington D.C.’s finest fashions on display. Simply visit the for the “First Ladies at the Smitsonian” exhibit, a permanent gallery that has long been one of the museum’s most popular.

If you do make it to New York, look out for the Stylist Mobile Makeover Bus that will be parked outside the Lincoln Center tents.

Smithsonian opens up its attic

by Sean McLachlan on

The Smithsonian is often called “America’s attic.” This October, America’s attic will be opening up its attic to give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at how it operates.

October is American Archives Month and and the Smithsonian will be celebrating by hosting a free Archives Fair on October 22 at the National Mall in Washington, DC. Experts working with the Smithsonian’s collections will be talking about the institution’s hidden treasures and giving tips on how to preserve your old mementos. You can even make an appointment and have your heirlooms examined by an expert.

If you can’t make it to DC, check out the Smithsonian Collections blog, which will be running a 31-day blogathon throughout October. Curators will post about how they preserve and restore the objects in the world’s biggest museum.

[Image courtesy ultraclay! via Gadling’s flickr pool]

Go inside the CIA with the Smithsonian’s newest Resident Associates Program

by McLean Robbins on

Ever dreamed of being a spy? In today’s increasingly covert operations-governed world, agencies like the CIA are playing a key role in major international events.

The latest offering from the Smithsonian Resident Associates Program is showcasing a six-course series about how the Central Intelligence Agency carries out its principal missions of collecting, analyzing, and protecting secrets and helping inform and implement foreign policy.

Classes will explore the myths portrayed in novels, movies and academia, examine how CIA directors interact with the President, how different types of espionage operations are run, examine different spy technologies and discuss the complex world of moles and double agents.

Instructors include CIA experts, General Michael Hayden, the 18th director of the CIA and the official CIA historian. The class is $120 for general admission and $84 for Smithsonian members and begins October 5.

Can’t stay in town that long? We’d recommend visiting the International Spy Museum in Chinatown, where, for $20, you can learn about many of the same subjects in a fun, game-like environment. It’s perfect for families, too.

Museums scramble for retiring space shuttles

by Sean McLachlan on

NASA has set the date for the last Space Shuttle launch at February 26, 2011, and as an era comes to a close, museums around the country are fighting to get their hands on one of the retiring vessels.

The Space Shuttle Discovery is earmarked for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. It has graciously agreed to give up the shuttle it already has–the Enterprise, which was used for testing but never flew into space. Besides the Enterprise, Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour will also be available for museums.

The scramble for a Shuttle has not always been polite. A total of twenty-one institutions in almost as many states are competing for them, and Congressmen from Florida and Texas tried to get wording put in NASA’s latest funding bill that would give their states preferential treatment. The House Committee on Science and Technology rejected that move.

What museums do you think should get a shuttle? Give us your vote in the comments section!


Photo of the Space Shuttle Atlantis taken from above courtesy of NASA.

Rick Steves’ New Travel Mag

by Andrew Evans on

Just in time for you to change your summer travel plans, the Smithsonian and Rick Steves just launched their special summer edition magazine, Smithsonian Presents “TRAVELS with Rick Steves”. (In case you forgot, a magazine is a bundle of glossy paper printed with pretty colored pictures and some words, then bound with staples and placed within arm’s reach of the toilet in case you lose your iPad and need something to read.)

Just like Rick Steves the person, Rick Steves the magazine is dedicated to traveling in Europe. The 104-page Eurofest breaks down into 24 articles that describe Europe’s “Top 20 Destinations” which mixes up the obvious (Florence, Prague, Rome, Paris, and Venice) with the obscure (Denmark’s Aero Island, Bosnia’s Mostar, and the tiny Austrian village of Hallstatt). As an unapologetic advertorial, the magazines flips between a few scant full-page ads for Smithsonian Journeys and Rick Steves Tours. For a mere five bucks, you can buy a still-warm copy from the 100,000-strong print run at a newsstand near you.

Now honestly, I know nothing about Rick Steves other than he’s quite famous for helping regular Americans take tours of Europe. Also, many travelers who I respect swear by his travel guides, and once upon a time, a bunch of his fans mistook me for his assistant at a book signing. After reading his entire magazine cover to cover, I made the amazing discovery that the masthead lists only one writer. Yes, Rick Steves wrote the entire magazine all by himself, so… respect. The guy works hard and is way gutsy… gutsy enough to publish a print travel magazine in 2010.Love him or hate him, Rick Steves is a brand that’s infected America in much the same way as Target, Wranglers, and hip hop music sung by Caucasians. He’s everywhere and we all end up liking him, just like a lot of Americans enjoyed the movie “Chocolat” and a lot of Americans dream of carrying a baguette under one arm in France or clinking beer steins in Germany or sipping ouzo shots in Greece. This magazine is for them. For us pickier travel snobs, the gorgeous photo spreads and classy Smithsonian layout gives Rick the royal treatment and makes us all want to book a trip to Europe with our new best friend Rick.

Nevertheless, for someone whose entire identity involves leading America by the hand through Europe’s backdoor, it’s hard not to ignore Rick’s hearty embrace of cliché. His magazine’s titles highlight “Storybook” England, “Sound of Music” Austria, and “Heidi’s Switzerland” before trailing off into a slew of earth-shattering travel tips such as “David is a must-see visit in Florence”.

Now, if I wrote travel copy like that, my editors would shove it through a shredder. Twice. All you would have is a bunch of little squares of paper-like confetti thrown at a quaint Italian wedding that I just happened to run into as I was strolling down a cobblestone street under a buttery Tuscan sunset.

I much preferred Rick’s more honest and authentic articles like the “Best Little Street in Paris”–a candid Polaroid narrative about Rue Cler in the 7th Arrondissement–and his heartfelt discovery of Danish island life. I was also happy to see some of the Rick Steve love shine down on Blackpool–a northern British seaside resort that very few Americans ever visit.

If Rick Steves and Smithsonian want to feed our dreams of Europe, then mission accomplished. I want to go to all the places listed and now that I’ve read this sunny version of their Top 20 list, I’m so there. My only conjecture is that the “quaint folksiness” Rick so adamantly warns travelers against might also be the very product that he’s selling.