Last night I walked past the windows of the GAP.  Each window was marked as a different decade dating back to the1890s and labeled with a tag for a group of women from that decade and their look – think: Flapper, Gibson Girl, etc. Along with these windows and tags, signs indicated this campaign was attached to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Indeed, the GAP joins Conde Nast to sponsor the current exhibit at the Met, “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.”  The exhibit draws from the Brooklyn Museum collection of costumes and fashion.  “The exhibition reveals how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation” through an extensive display of costumes and clothes.

Corporations sponsoring art that has something to do with their product?  Not so innovative, you say.  What about then running an online auction of unique dresses made by the world’s best designers for the Met Gala and worn by a handful of A-list celebrities?  All proceeds going to the Met and the Costume Institute.  Innovative philanthropy, gorgeous gowns, and creative integrated marketing.  All focused on the most powerful force in purchasing for households, giving to charity and other non-profits, and forging a path for ourselves: WOMEN.

You can bid on dresses until 11:59 pm on May 31, 2010, view the gowns at the GAP at 680 Fifth Ave in New York City during the auction, and see the show at the Met until August 15, 2010.