Anyone who has visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Anna Wintour Costume Center will have, whether knowingly or not, felt the influence of Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton.

Since joining the Met in 2002 from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum – where he staged such exhibitions as “Fashion in Motion” (1999) and “Men in Skirts” (2001) –Bolton has worked closely on the museum’s groundbreaking Costume Institute shows, among them “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” (2006);  “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” (2008); and “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” (2011), which was hugely successful both here and at its V&A run earlier this year. The China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition, currently on at the Met, has broken all Costume Institute attendance records and was extended through Sept.7.

Naturally a keen observer of fashion with a deep understanding of its history and trajectory, the England native typically favors suits made by his partner, CFDA Member Thom Browne.

Here, Bolton mulls the record success of the most recent show, his curatorial philosophy, and his favorite exhibition to date.

CFDA.com:  China: Through the Looking Glass was a record breaking-success. What, in your view, made this exhibition so powerful?
Andrew Bolton: “I think it was several factors …the cinematic scenography, the immersive experience, the changing pace of the exhibition, which ranged from dramatic, theatrical galleries to personal, intimate, and contemplative galleries, but especially the range and beauty of the objects on display and the dialogues we created between Western fashion and Chinese costumes and decorative arts.”

CFDA.com: What do you look for in a costume exhibition?
A.B.: “I always try to come up with a subject that’s timely and that will speak to our visitors.  We try to have a menu of shows that is dynamic, that goes back and forth between subjects from the past to the present, between thematic exhibitions and monographic exhibitions on a single designer.  But even when it comes to monographic exhibitions, we try to approach our subject conceptually, as with McQueen which focused on the concept of the sublime and McQueen’s Romantic sensibilities. I always want to encourage people to think about fashion differently, to offer new ways of looking at clothing.”

CFDA.com:  “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” beat attendance records at the V&A. How was the London reception of it different from New York?
A.B.: “Oddly enough, I think it was less emotional.  More time had passed between McQueen’s death, so people’s responses were more objective.  Also, the galleries at the V&A were larger, so you responded to the pieces more intellectually. At the Met, the galleries were so claustrophobic that people fed off each other’s emotional responses … there was a heightened sense of emotional engagement.”

CFDA.com:  Of all the shows you worked on at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which one was your favorite and why?
A.B.: “I think it was ‘AngloMania.’  I found my own voice with that exhibition.  It was rather polarizing in the field of fashion curating, but it taught me to be both bold and brave about my curatorial statements.  I gravitate towards subjects that are controversial, but exhibitions should be provocative … what’s the point and where’s the fun in playing things safe.  Also, I was feeling very homesick at the time, and working on the exhibition cured me.”