To walk into "Goddesses in the Machine: Fashion in American Silent Film," the new exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center, is to feel a little bit like a kid in a candy shop—or rather a theater kid turned loose on the Paramount backlot, circa 1922. Everywhere you look, there's another lighter-than-air silk gown, or pair of beautiful metallic pumps, or bedazzled brassiere.
If you have a mental picture of silent film, there's a good chance it involves tinny piano music and overdramatic facial expressions—the era as retold by "Sunset Boulevard." This exhibition, which aims to tell the story of style and costume in early film, will overturn that impression, conveying just how vibrant, thrilling, and downright sexy these movies and their stars must've seemed to contemporary audiences. One of the displays quotes a costume designer who wrote that in the silent era he "wallowed in rhinestones and feathers and furs and loved every minute of it." That opulence and enthusiasm come through loud and clear in the exhibition.
What's more, the exhibit offers a rare window into a fascinating chapter in the history of the American movie business: when its beating heart was not on the West Coast, but in New York City.