Thursday night has always been date night for us.  It’s always our little treat to kick off the start of the weekend.  Most Thursdays we end up downtown and many times it’s been at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

But one of our favorite events on Thursdays in the summer is changing up things a bit.  The OKCMOA has decided to rework their ever-popular Cocktails on the Skyline/Art After 5 event. First, the name is changing to Third Thursday and as it suggests, the event will now be held on the Third Thursday of each month. It will still include live music and drinks on the rooftop (weather permitting) but it’ll now include even more things to do. The event will now be centered around a different theme and focus more on the current exhibitions. And don’t worry, tickets are still only $5.00 per person with the evening starting at 5:00 pm until 10:00 pm. To see what it looks like in practice, scroll down…

It’s no surprise that anything fashion related immediately gets my attention, so I was thrilled to learn about the OKCMOA’s new exhibit titled “Fashioning Art from Paper” by the Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave. This incredible artist has designed life-size paper costumes (trompe l’œil) inspired by a visit to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, resulting in the creation of four different collections, all of which have been combined and put on display at the OKCMOA for the first time. And with this month’s theme being “Strike a Pose” centered around fashion and PRIDE month, it was also the perfect setting to celebrate Isabelle de Borchgrave’s new exhibit.

Fashion, PRIDE week, and drag queen storytelling blending together for this year’s first Third Thursday.

First I started off my evening enjoying some much-needed libations up on the rooftop and listening to the live music before heading down to check out the exhibit. I was immediately blown away by the detail and size of the paper costumes. I can only imagine the time and attention she spent on making these fashion inspired pieces. As someone who’s been interested in fashion since childhood and having graduated with a degree in art, I was a little jealous at her ability to combine two of the fields I love.

If it’s been awhile since you’ve explored the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, mark on your calendar the upcoming Third Thursdays this year. It’s always a great time and one of my favorite opportunities to see whatever exhibit I’ve been missing like Isabelle de Borchgrave’s Fashioning Art from Paper. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’ll be at the museum until September, but time flies and you shouldn’t miss it. Either way, I hope to see you at the next Third Thursday coming this July!