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The Costume Institute began as the Museum of Costume Art, an independent entity formed in 1937 and led by Neighborhood Playhouse founder Irene Lewisohn. In 1946, with the financial support of the fashion industry, the Museum of Costume Art merged with The Metropolitan Museum of Art as The Costume Institute, and in 1959 became a curatorial department. The legendary fashion arbiter Diana Vreeland, who served as special consultant from 1972 until her death in 1989, created a memorable suite of exhibitions, including The World of Balenciaga (1973), The Glory of Russian Costume (1976), and Vanity Fair (1977), galvanizing audiences and setting the standard for costume exhibitions globally.

In 1989, Richard Martin took the helm, with the support of Harold Koda, and began a rotating cycle of thematic exhibitions including Infra-Apparel, Waist Not, The Four Seasons, and Cubism and Fashion. Martin's tenure culminated in Rock Style, the last exhibition before his death in 1999. Mr. Koda, who had previously departed from the Museum, rejoined The Met in 2000 as curator in charge, hiring Andrew Bolton in 2002. Upon Mr. Koda's retirement in January 2016, Mr. Bolton became curator in charge, and in March 2018, upon the endowment of the postion, he was named the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge.

Exhibitions

The Costume Institute organizes one or two special exhibitions each year. Recent monographic exhibitions have included (2005), Poiret: King of Fashion (2007), Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (2011), Charles James: Beyond Fashion (2014), and Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between (2017).

Recent thematic exhibitions have included AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion (2006); Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy (2008); The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion (2009); American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity (2010); Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations (2012); PUNK: Chaos to Couture (2013); China: Through the Looking Glass (2015); Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology (2016); Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (2018); and Camp: Notes on Fashion (2019).

Heavenly Bodies attracted more than 1.65 million visitors to The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters, making it The Met's most visited exhibition. Previous Costume Institute exhibitions among The Met's most attended include Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty; China: Through the Looking Glass; Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology; and Camp: Notes on Fashion. All five exhibitions were curated by Bolton.

The Collection

In January 2009, the Brooklyn Museum transferred its renowned costume collection to The Costume Institute, where it is known as the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It includes the definitive collection of Charles James material, as well as the world's foremost holdings of American fashion from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. The combined collections now constitute the largest and most comprehensive costume collection in the world, offering an unrivaled timeline of Western fashion history.

The Costume Institute relies on the generosity of collectors, designers, and the public to expand its collection. If you have a piece that you believe might be of interest or could enhance our department's holdings, please email CostumeInstitute.Acquisitions@metmuseum.org with a photo and brief description of your object, including its history of ownership.

The Benefit

The Costume Institute Benefit (also known as The Met Gala) is the main source of annual funding for the department's exhibitions, acquisitions, and capital improvements. Each May, the gala celebrates the opening of the spring exhibition. Under the leadership of Trustee Anna Wintour (Artistic Director of Condé Nast and Editor-in-Chief of Vogue), who has been co-chair since 1995 (excluding 1996 and 1998), the gala has become one of the most visible and successful charity events, drawing attendees from the worlds of fashion, film, society, sports, business, and music. The brainchild of publicity doyenne Eleanor Lambert, the benefit was introduced in 1948 as a midnight supper and dubbed "The Party of the Year." Co-chairs in past years included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1977-1978) and Patricia Taylor Buckley (1979-1995).

Friends Group

In 2002, the Museum established the Friends of The Costume Institute, a group that supports the department's exhibition, acquisition, conservation, and publication programs. In promoting a more profound historical and theoretical understanding of costume, these programs advance fashion as an art form and encourage the study of fashion as a serious academic discipline.

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The Costume Institute's collection of more than 33,000 costumes and accessories represents five continents and seven centuries of fashionable dress, regional costumes, and accessories for men, women, and children.

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The Underpinnings Museum is an online museum dedicated to the history of underwear, documented through digital exhibitions. Over 300 objects spanning 4 centuries can be found in this virtual archive.

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https://www.thejohnbrightcollection.co.uk/

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The John Bright Collection - Three Centuries of Costume Heritage

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Founded by Nick Knight, SHOWstudio pushes the boundaries of communicating fashion with live content, innovative collaborations and unique conversations from leading global figures.

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Our branch is represented by a committee made up of working costume people from all levels, from Costume Designers to Trainees. We meet regularly throughout the year to discuss and highlight the issues that face us as a department working in today's film, TV and commercials industry. In addition to the committee meetings, we hold an AGM, and a social, which are open to non-members as well as members.

A new committee is voted in each year at the BECTU Costume & Wardrobe branch AGM, here you can meet the names and faces that represent you.

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WeWearCulture Discover the stories behind what we wear

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This new school has a curriculum that will cover all aspects of the designing and ma! cinema and the living history movement. Its unique approach will focus on developing the skills and understanding neede! historical tailors, seamstresses and other specialists.

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Promoting the study of clothing & textiles in dress

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Rijksmuseum, het museum van Nederland, in Amsterdam. Kunst en geschiedenis van de Middeleeuwen tot Mondriaan.

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Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

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Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to texts, movies & music, as well as 624 billion archived web pages.

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Guo Pei, SS20, Haute Couture, Paris. There are times where we want fashion to be a slightly elevated version of the everyday, and then there are times where you just need the technical skill, unmitigated escapism and pure spectacle. The collections of Guo Pei, with intricate textiles and atelier craft,...

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A celebration of textiles, fashion and related disciplines from designers and makers around the world.

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Hammersmith Vintage Fashion Fair (Oct 24)

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Hammersmith Vintage Fashion Fair (Oct 24)

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https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hammersmith-vintage-fashion-fair-24th-october-2021-tickets-177016419877?aff=erelexpmlt

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Hammersmith Vintage Fashion Fair, 24th October, 2021

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Eventbrite - P & A Antiques presents Hammersmith Vintage Fashion Fair, 24th October, 2021 - Sunday, 24 October 2021 at Hilton London Olympia Hotel, London, England. Find event and ticket information.

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Frock Me vintage Fair held first Sunday of every month

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Frock Me vintage Fair held first Sunday of every month

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frock me vintage fair- october 2019 tickets

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frock me vintage fair- october 2019 london

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frock me vintage fair- october 2019 london tickets

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Frock Me! returns to the King's Road for our autumn vintage fair in October 2019. Held at the historic Chelsea Old Town Hall, we will be joined by over 60 of the very best dealers in vintage fashion, textiles and accessories with fashion from the 1900s and earlier onwards alongside vintage designer labels from Biba, Ossie Clark, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and more.

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London Antique Textiles Vintage Costume & Tribal Art Fair

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London Antique Textiles Vintage Costume & Tribal Art Fair

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vintage costumes and tribal art fair tickets

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vintage costumes and tribal art fair london

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vintage costumes and tribal art fair london tickets

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The London Antique Textiles, Vintage Costumes and Tribal Art Fair

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A veritable cornucopia of delights, the exquisite Antique Textiles, Vintage Costumes and Tribal Art Fair is back this November, at the Hilton London Olympia in Kensington. Now in its nineteenth year, the show continues to gather about fifty leading specialist dealers offering for sale a dazzling array of unique textiles, vintage costumes, aubussons, lace, fine linen, tapestries, quilts, carpets and tribal art.

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The largest fashion collection in the world, the V&A's collection spans five centuries - couture to accessories, and footwear to hats.

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The focus of this collection is clothes and textiles made, sold, bought and worn in London from the 16th century to the present. The collection ranges from garments made at home to those produced in the studios of London couturiers, from gowns worn at grand occasions to clothes worn every day.

Clothes began to be collected as soon as the idea of a museum for London became reality in 1911. Until around the 1960s mainly garments from earlier periods were added with the exception of the two World Wars when contemporary collecting took place. The early curators of the museum were aware of the importance of clothes to bring history to life and in 1933 the museum was the first in Britain to publish a catalogue of its costume collection.

Costume is interesting because it is splendid, ridiculous, useful, pompous, dignified, sombre, gay, fantastic - because, in short, it is human.
REM Wheeler, Keeper and Secretary of the London Museum, 1933

Fashion and accessories

The aim of the dress and textile collection is to represent London's role as a centre for the production, design and consumption of clothes. It contains over 23,000 objects from the Tudor period to the present day. The majority of dress and textiles from the 16th century to the 19th century consist of fashionable dress and accessories, while objects from the more recent period represent a broader spectrum of society.

Key material

Clothing by London-based couture houses and designers including Lucile, Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Victor Stiebel, Mary Quant, Katharine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood.

Garments made by London ready-to-wear manufacturers and dressmakers.

Menswear produced by London tailors and designers.

Clothes sold in London department stores, boutiques and other retail outlets.

Sportswear and clothing related to hobbies and London societies.

Occupational clothing including household livery, civil and ceremonial uniforms.

Garments worn by members of the royal family from Charles I to the mid-20th century.

Costume and accessories associated with the theatre, music hall, opera, ballet, circus, cabaret and television from the late 18th century to 1970.

Banners, clothes and accessories related to The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift.

Fancy dress.

Textiles manufactured in London, such as silks woven in Spitalfields and printed textiles.

Suffrage and other banners represent London's role as a centre for the fashion and clothing industry, from education through to design, production, promotion, retail and wear.

Dolls dating from the late 17th to the late 20th century.

Costume and fashion prints

The dress and textile collection is complemented by related material in the social and working history, photograph and printed ephemera collections, and the museum library. These holdings include the Harry Matthews Collection of costume and fashion plates consisting of around 3,500 prints dating from the 16th century to 1829.

Costume Society Patterns of Fashion Award

Unfortunately we can no longer accommodate request from students to view the Janet Arnold garments as they are too fragile. Photographs of the objects can be viewed on Collections Online.

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Dress and textiles collection | Museum of London

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The focus of this collection is clothes and textiles made, sold, bought and worn in London from the 16th century to the present. The collection ranges from garments made at home to those produced in the studios of London couturiers, from gowns worn at grand occasions to clothes worn every day.

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Among the Theatre and Performance collections there are over 3,500 stage costumes and accessories - ranging from complete outfits to individual headdresses. All are a tribute to the creativity and skills of designers and costume makers from the mid 18th century to today, in every kind of live performance - drama, opera, dance, musicals, pantomime, rock and pop, music hall, cabaret, circus.

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Among the Theatre and Performance collections there are over 3,500 stage costumes and accessories - ranging from complete outfits to individual headdresses. All are a tribute to the creativity and skills of designers and costume makers from the mid 18th century to today, in every kind of live performance - drama, opera, dance, musicals, pantomime, rock and pop, music hall, cabaret, circus.

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The History of Fashion in a 100 objects @ Fashion Museum Bath 

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The History of Fashion in a 100 objects @ Fashion Museum Bath 

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One hundred star objects from the Fashion Museum collection