Fashion's untamed wild side: whether in the form of pelts, plumes, prints, or animal symbolism, faunal apparel long has represented one of man's more primal instincts

"WILD: Fashion Untamed" presents a historical and crosscultural examination of mankind's obsession with animalism as expressed through clothing. With more than 100 costumes and accessories on display, the exhibition focuses on the practical, spiritual, psychosexual, and socioeconomic underpinnings of the decorative possibilities of birds and beasts.

Organized thematically, "Fashion Untamed" examines how the physical and sexual characteristics of animals have come to define ideals of femininity. Evoking the power and strength of wild beasts, the notion of "Woman as Huntress" is explored in the work of fashion designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Yohji Yamamoto. Drawing on 19th-century representations of "La Belle Sauvage," these designers have used animal skins, crudely sewn together and molded to the body to construct images of 21st-century Amazons invested with a potent feminism.

Since prehistoric times, fur has been employed not only for warmth and protection, but for display and adornment. Its decorative possibilities were realized fully in the Middle Ages with the emergence of a symbolic system for determining social rank and class affiliation based on its material value. During the Renaissance, the necks, cuffs, and hems of gowns trimmed with ermine, lettice, or miniver (all members of the weasel family) became hallmarks of fashionable aristocrats. Today, fur continues to announce wealth, luxury, and exclusivity. The works of Fendi, Guccio Gucci, and Christian Dior illuminate contemporary representations of the fur-clad "Bourgeois Woman."

Fake furs also are featured as a means of manufacturing class access and for constructing definitions of the "Ethical Woman." Recent debates over fur and social morality are analyzed through the advertising campaigns of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and (the now disbanded) LYNX of the United Kingdom.

In the visual history of fashions for men, artists such as Hans Holbein, Tiziano Vecellio (aka Titian), Peter Paul Rubens, and Raphaello Sanzio (aka Raphael) are conspicuous for their highly refined and naturalistic representations of the different varieties of furs included in the costume of the nobility in the Renaissance. These painters manifest fur's aesthetic and economic values by equating it with the wealth and power of the aristocracy. In the early 20th century, the fur coat became the hallmark of the "mogul" or "capitalist," a stereotype of the fur-clad man that has endured to this day. Charlie Chaplin immortalized him in two of his most popular movies, "The Gold Rush" (1925) and "Modern Times" (1936). As in Chaplin's films, this "fat cat" often was accessorized with a hat, cigar, and moustache, signifiers of wealth and status that only are surpassed by the motorcar. Today, the fur coat is a symbol of wealth and status, as well as virility, machismo, and male dominance. "Fashion Untamed" explores how the dandified self-representations of sportsmen and hip-hop performers reference pimp style, with its blatant display of sexual and economic power.

The power of plumage to signify vigor and ardor has a long history in fashion. While plump ostrich feathers dangling from wide-brimmed beaver hats announced the physical and sexual confidence of the 17th-century cavalier, delicate egret feathers woven into the coiffure of an 18th-century courtesan proclaimed her sensual exoticism. These historical references are articulated through the wondrous confections of such renowned milliners as Philip Treacy. The fantastical featured costumes of Las Vegas showgirls--iconic symbols of femininity born out of male fantasies of the "kept" or "caged" woman--are shown alongside equally dazzling and sexualized creations by Rudi Gernreich and Gaultier. Among the highlights of the exhibition are examples of feathers used for display and attraction in male apparel, such as a peacock feather waistcoat, a psychedelic manifestation of the Restoration fop.

Other designers in the exhibition have used animal prints to suggest a playful yet sensual femininity. Conflating ideas of the feline and the feminine in societies as diverse as ancient Egypt and Victorian England, designers such as Azzedine Alaia, Dior, and Gianni Versace have used animal prints--most notably those derived from the leopard--to evoke such hyper-sexualized pin-ups as the "Vixen." "Fashion Untamed" also explores darker relationships between animalism and female sexuality. Myths and legends such as those of Lilith, Medusa, and the Sirens, which combine images of women as divine matriarch and sexual predator, are referenced in the serpentine creations of Yves Saint Laurent, Norman Norell, and Garavani Valentino. Continuing the theme of female empowerment, ensembles by John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture parody the overtly sexual and suffragette symbolisms of the Victorian femme fatale through exaggerated fur stoles and taxidermy hats. The exhibition also examines couture interpretations of second-skin fetishism, as demonstrated in the latex bodysuits of Barman's cherished dominatrix, "Catwoman," and Thierry Mugler's embossed black exoskeletons and leather-whip skirts.

"WILD: Fashion Untamed" is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, through March 13.

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