Friday #5: PJ Party After Dark, Reflections

On Friday #5, it was time for the nighttime museum again. MAM After Dark Pajama Jam.  Sticker proof of presence (bottle of wine optional): 

You can see from the festive Rosemary Tree in the background that the holidays are upon us. This meant the Pajama Jam was also a Holiday Party of sorts. 

As I said in an earlier post (Girls Night Out), I was really looking forward to seeing what people would wear as they interpreted PJ party through the complex social lens that is the Art Museum at night. I expected all sorts of non-G-rated happenings. I even bought a sassy little night dress, a short, black, silk robe, and some daring teal slipper boots for the occasion. I thought I'd be mild, but when I was getting my "lord-yes-she's-old-enough-to-drink" bracelet, the woman behind the counter hooted to her fellow bracelteer: "Wooo-eee! She's brought her lace!"

Indeed, I brought two lace cuffs to this PJ party, and that's the sort of party it was. Wild on the margins? Tame even by Victorian standards? There were lots of flannel pants, bathrobes, a few bold adults wearing footed PJs, and everywhere the ubiquitous co-ed PJ uniform of patterned pants and a tank top.

Adam wore the silk kimono his dad brought him back from China a few years ago. I don't think it's ever been seen in public, and he strolled like a lord through the art museum halls.  

We also brought David and Liana, our fav couple friends and fellow After Darkers.  This is totally a posed shot, but I like the bask-in-blue feel to it.

So, if the above is the posed, simulacrum of life (and boy is that a great word to throw around in relation to both Art and the holiday season as the appearances of holiday joy, cheer, and bliss, are staggering to keep up with), then this is what the night was really like:

Messier, darker, more real by half. I love this photo for the background screen shot that was projected above our heads (along with a lot of incongruous silent rap videos with the toned female rappers in silk PJs), and for the way Liana's laughing, and David is saying something funny.

And this is what Adam really looked like:

And as I looked at this and the other photos I took that night, I realized that this was a night all about reflections. I was captivated by the reflection of the tree, the screens, the bar, and the caterwauling karaoke stage in the concave windows-turned-mirrors of the art museum windows.

I was drawn to art like this: mirrored vessels in a  mirrored box:

And I snapped a quick picture as my friend looked at herself in a 500-year-old looking glass (gawd, I might be pretentious for typing that rather than mirror). I love this picture because it makes me think about all the other people who might have seen themselves in this mirror over the many, many ages of the world.

Even Adam and I have been spotted in it in an earlier life (1/20/12):

And all I've got at the end of it is this message: FOOL. Resonating in the silent halls of the art galleries (where I was talking too loud) as the PJ party went on far away. 

See you next week.