Photo by Amy He / China Daily

"In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, his character Alice enters an imaginary, alternative world by climbing through a mirror," said Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute. "In this world, everything is topsy-turvy, and back-to-front. Real life roles are reversed.

"Like Alice's make believe world, the exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass presents an image of China that is a fabulous invention, a fictional universe that embraces an alternate reality with a dreamlike object," he said. "This fictional universe reveals itself through a series of carefully curated juxtapositions of western fashion and Chinese costumes and decorative arts."

Bolton said that the exhibit will be broken up into two series: one called From Emperor to Citizen, which focuses on three periods in Chinese history-the Qing dynasty, the Republic of China and New China-and the clothing worn during that time, which were the changshan, qipao and zhongshan.

"For designers, the appeal of these garments lies in their cultural and historical specificity, they serve as a kind of sartorial shorthand for China and the shifting social and political identities of its people," he said. "These three types of garments in turn tell a story of the gradual introduction of Western technique with Chinese dressmaking traditions."

The second - called Empire of Signs - will focus on signifiers that Westerners associate with China, such as jade, lacquer and porcelain.

The exhibition is sponsored by Yahoo, Cond Nast, Chinese textile and apparel tycoon Silas Chou; Wendi Deng, Rupert Murdoch's former wife; and several other Chinese donors who wished to remain anonymous.