Sites Inventory for Digitized Fashion, Costume, and Dress History Primary Resources
Compiled by Karen Trivette, 2023
1 AFRICA
Lagos Fashion Week, Lagos, Nigeria
https://lagosfashionweek.ng/
Researchers may explore the myriad Lagos Fashion Week (LagosFW) designers via brand biographies, online lookbooks, and links to digital showrooms; these are accompanied by editorial content directly from the designers.
The site also offers two video series; they are Woven Threads and Fashion Business Series.
Google Arts and Culture: Lagos Fashion Week
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/lagos-fashion-week
LagosFW is a multi-day fashion week held in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 2011. It provides a platform for African designers to present their collections to buyers, the media, and fashion enthusiasts.
Mcensal School of Fashion and Design, Nairobi, Kenya
http://msf.co.ke/
The Mcensal School of Fashion and Design was launched in 2009 and is considered a prime educational institution for fashion design; its mission is to influence the fashion industry in all of Africa.
Google Arts and Culture: Mcensal School of Fashion and Design
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/mcensal-school-of-fashion-and-design
ACROSS, Tokyo, Japan
https://www.web-across.com/
The ACROSS “Publicity” subsite offers a survey of street fashion circa 1980-2020 and an array of marketing reports.
Google Arts and Culture: ACROSS
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/across
ACROSS examines and analyzes the city of Tokyo and the youth that gather there. It also facilitates and/or offers “Street Fashion Marketing.” ACROSS documents Tokyo’s young fashion consumers and, since 1980, specifically has researched young people in Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. It claims to be “the only street fashion database” in Japan that enables…keyword searching of fashion items, styles, and trends.
Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Museum of Ethnic Costumes, Beijing, China
http://www.biftmuseum.com/.
Google Arts and Culture: Museum of Ethnic Costumes
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museum-of-ethnic-costumes-beijing-institute-of-fashion-technology
The Ethnic Costume Museum of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) is credited as the first museum specializing in the ethnic costumes of China. The museum is also a cultural research institute for the study of collecting, displaying, researching, and teaching the subjects of fashion, costume, and dress. As a specialized costume museum in China, BIFT has a collection of over 10,000 pieces of costume, accessories, fabric, wax printing, and embroidery. The museum also has a collection of circa 1000 photographs taken during the 1920s and 1930s featuring the ethnic costumes of Yi, Zang, and Qiang nationalities.
Bunka Gakuen Fashion Museum at Bunka Gakuen University, Tokyo, Japan
https://museum.bunka.ac.jp/collection/
The collection of the Bunka Gakuen Fashion Museum (BGFM) supports a western-focused approach to fashion education. However, the main contents of the museum are not only European dresses but also early Japanese clothing and kimono. After World War II, BGFM accepted folk costumes of East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Google Arts and Culture: Bunka Gakuen University
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/bunka-gakuen-university
Bunka Gakuen University (BGU) was founded in 1950. As a pioneer of fashion education in Japan, BGU promotes comprehensive theories in education and research by developing advanced skills in fashion studies.
Google Arts and Culture: Bunka Fashion Graduate University
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/bunka-fashion-graduate-university
Bunka Fashion Graduate University was established in 2006 as an independent, professional graduate school and was the first of its kind in Japan.
China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, China
https://www.chinasilkmuseum.com/zggd/list_21.aspx
The China National Silk Museum claims to be the largest museum of textiles and clothing in China and the largest silk museum in the world; it opened on February 26, 1992 and has been open to the public for free since January 1, 2004. It completed a major renovation in 2016. The museum also provides links to online exhibition content.
Japan Fashion and Lifestyle Foundation, Minato-ku, Japan
http://jflf.or.jp/
Google Arts and Culture: Japan Fashion and Lifestyle Foundation
The Japan Fashion and Lifestyle Foundation strives to promote and preserve information, knowledge, and traditions regarding Japanese fashion, style, and design. It achieves these goals via its resource center, by hosting lectures and seminars, and by supporting young fashion designers.
Kobe Fashion Museum, Kobe, Japan
https://www.fashionmuseum.jp/collection/
Google Arts and Culture: Kobe Fashion Museum
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/kobe-fashion-museum
Kobe Fashion Museum claims to be first museum in Japan to specialize in fashion. Its Library is located on the 3rd floor; it holds various materials related to fashion and is open to the public including students, designers, and industry people engaged in the fashion field.
Kyoto Costume Institute, Kyoto, Japan
KCI Digital Archive
https://www.kci.or.jp/en/archives/digital_archives/
The Kyoto Costume Institute (KCI) offers a digital archive that includes digitized versions of holdings available via the KCI Study Room. Text and visuals are available for all 13,000 items (costume, underwear, accessories, etc.) in the collection. The KCI Digital Archives presents image and text information for approx. 300 objects in the collection, arranged in chronological order.
Simone Handbag Museum, Seoul, South Korea
http://simonehandbagmuseum.co.kr/collection.php
The Simone Handbag Museum was created by London-based fashion curator, Judith Clark. Simone teamed up with Clark to collect 350 handbags, which serve as a specific lens through which to view fashion history. In addition to the handbags, the museum itself serves as a research center for innovative mannequin design.
Google Arts and Culture: Simone Handbag Museum
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/simone-handbag-museum
The Simone Handbag Museum also documents how handbags have contributed to the identity of women.
Australian Dress Register, Australia
https://www.australiandressregister.org/
The Australian Dress Register is a collaborative, online project about dress with Australian provenance. It includes men's, women's and children's clothing ranging from the special occasion to the everyday. Museums and private collectors are encouraged to research their garments and share the stories and photographs while the information is still available and within living memory. The Register encourages people to consider their collections very broadly and share what they know about members of their community, what they wore and life in the past. This provides access to a world-wide audience while keeping their garments in their relevant location.
The site and its extensive resources provides a valuable forum for discussion within the museum community. It is a great resource for schools and universities, designers of fashion, film and television along with researchers in many disciplines. The project is underpinned by training and support for the contributing organisations and private collectors.
Australian Fashion Council, Australia
https://ausfashioncouncil.com/
Google Arts and Culture: Australian Fashion Council
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/australian-fashion-chamber
The Australian Fashion Council (AFC) promotes the growth of the textile and fashion industries in Australia. It is the result of a merging of the former Council of Textile & Fashion, and Australian Fashion Chamber, which share a history of over 65 years of service to the industry. The AFC is a not-for-profit, membership organization, with members drawn from the fashion and textile industries. Members are affiliated with small and large companies, the education sector, and state and national industry associations.
Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane, Australia
https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/
Google Arts and Culture: Museum of Brisbane
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museum-of-brisbane
The Museum of Brisbane is located in Brisbane, Australia and is run by the city. Also known as MoB, it explores the people, places, and stories of Brisbane. Its collection includes the Easton Pearson Archive, which is reportedly the largest collection from a single fashion house held by a public art gallery or museum in Australia.
École supérieure des arts et techniques de la mode (ESMOD), Paris, France
https://www.esmod.com/
Google Arts and Culture: ESMOD International
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/esmod-international
Founded in 1841, ESMOD established itself very early as an important partner in education for the fashion industry. It offers both undergraduate and graduate levels of study that cover the fashion industry in terms of both design and business. In addition to Paris, ESMOD has campuses in France in Bordeaux, Lyons, and Roubaix. ESMOD is also well-represented internationally with campuses in Beirut, Beijing, Dubai, Damascus, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Oslo, Seoul, Sousse, Tokyo, and Tunisia.
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
https://madparis.fr/
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs has grown over the decades to hold circa 60,200 pieces in its fashion and textile collection. Prominent designers include Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent among many others. The collection encompasses costumes, accessories, and textiles; there are also many photographs and works of graphic art.
Google Arts and Culture: Musée des Arts Décoratifs
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-des-arts-decoratifs
Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Paris
http://collection.museeyslparis.com/ws/collection/app/plugin/museum/ysl
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent preserves and exhibits the couturier's work and is located in the historic YSL fashion house. The online collection of images total 2586 at the time of this writing and provides access not only to images of sketches, artworks, correspondence, and photographs but also access to virtual exhibitions of the archive.
Palais Galliera, Paris
https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/collections/collections
The Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la ville de Paris preserves and makes accessible some of the richest fashion specimens in the world. As of this writing, it is estimated to hold circa 200,000 works across the following departments and/or collections: 18th-Century Dress, 19th-Century Costumes, Fashion of the first half of the 20th-Century, Haute Couture, Contemporary, Undergarments, Accessories, Prints and Drawings, and Photography.
Parsons The New School, Paris
MA, History of Design and Curatorial Studies (also offered at Parsons The New School/Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York)
Please see Parsons New York, NY entry for details.
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
https://www.centraalmuseum.nl/en/explore/collection/fashion-and-costums
The Centraal Museum was established in 1838, it is the oldest municipal museum in the Netherlands, and holds nearly 50,000 objects. The online collection provides access to thousands of objects from the larger collection and is continuously updated. Visitors will discover images of fashion sketches, garments, trimmings, and plates from historical periodicals, among other items. As of this writing, most of the object information is only available in Dutch.
Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, Łódź, Poland
https://cmwl.pl/public/informacje/kolekcja-odziezy,31
The clothing collection of the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź dates to 1975 and includes over 4500 pieces. The pieces are of women's and men's fashion and mainly from the 20th century. That said, the collection also includes accessories including hats, handbags, shoes, and jewelry. The collection also includes older examples from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as those of mass-produced fashion of the current century, The collection includes documentation related to the fashion industry such as designs, photographs, drawings, and catalogs. The online exhibition archive reaches back to 2018 and includes installation photographs across each representative exhibition.
Google Arts and Culture: Central Museum of Textiles in Lodz
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/central-museum-of-textiles-in-lodz
While the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź holds many fashion, costume, and dress content, it is devoted to textiles in all its aspects. The museum was founded in 1960 in Lodz as a city that was a center of textile industry in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa, Getaria, Spain
https://www.cristobalbalenciagamuseoa.com/descubre/exposiciones-fuera-del-museo/exposiciones-digitales/
Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa offers visitors three online exhibitions; they are: 2011-21 Sharing a Legacy; Cristóbal Balenciaga. Fashion and Heritage; and Balenciaga and the Popular Costume. A fourth link will bring visitors to the Google Arts site mentioned below.
Google Arts and Culture: Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/cristobal-balenciaga-museoa
Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa opened in 2011 and is located in the town of Getaria, Spain. It was the world’s first museum of its type dedicated exclusively to a single couturier. Its mission is “to disseminate and highlight the importance of the figure and work of this brilliant designer in artistic creation in general and in the world of fashion and haute couture in particular.”
Deutsches hutmuseum (German Hat Museum), Lindenberg im Allgäu, Germany
https://www.deutsches-hutmuseum.de/
Google Arts and Culture: German Hat Museum
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/german-hat-museum
At the German Hat Museum, visitors can get a targeted glimpse of the history of the hat. Three hundred years of hat fashion as well as that of headgear is presented.
Fashion Museum, Riga, Latvia
http://www.fashionmuseumriga.lv/eng/
Google Arts and Culture: Fashion Museum
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fashion-museum
Riga’s Fashion Museum is located in the heart of the city. It offers interactive, hands-on exhibits for children and adults that showcase clothing styles over the centuries.
Fondazione Gianfranco Ferré (Gianfranco Ferré Foundation), Milan, Italy
http://www.fondazionegianfrancoferre.com/home/intro.php
Google Arts and Culture: Fondazione Gianfranco Ferré
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fondazione-gianfranco-ferre
The Gianfranco Ferré Foundation, located in Milan, was established in February 2008. It preserves, organizes, and makes available to the public -- especially in digital form -- materials that document the designer’s professional activity. It also promotes and carries out projects that relate to Ferré’s philosophy and culture of design.
Fondazione Micol Fontana (Micol Fontana Foundation), Rome, Italy
http://www.micolfontana.it/homepage.php
Google Arts and Culture: Fondazione Micol Fontana
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fondazione-micol-fontana
The Micol Fontana Foundation was founded in 1994. It is a registered member of the region of Lazio's cultural institutions and has been declared of "notable historical interest" by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.
Fondazione Pitti Discovery (Pitti Discovery Foundation), Milan, Italy
https://www.pittimmagine.com/
Google Arts and Culture: Fondazione Pitti Discovery
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fondazione-pitti-discovery
The Pitti Discovery Foundation mission is “to reflect on the relationships between fashion, art, architecture, [and] communication…the Foundation promotes and enhances cultural research and artistic productions, analyzing those areas where fashion finds its creative inspirations and forms of experimentation.”
Global Fashion Agenda, Copenhagen, Denmark
https://www.globalfashionagenda.com/
Global Fashion Agenda
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/copenhagen-fashion-summit
The Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) is a global forum on fashion sustainability. It was founded in 2016 and is “anchored around Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s leading event on sustainability in fashion for industry decision-makers.” The GFA mobilizes the international fashion community to transform its production and consumption of fashion.
International Library of Fashion Research, Oslo, Norway
Collection
https://fashionresearchlibrary.com/
Founded in 2020, the Library will become the world’s most comprehensive repository of specialized fashion research and contemporary fashion publications. We will fill a much-needed gap in the preservation of and critical engagement with fashion’s printed culture at an institutional level, and build a free, globally accessible resource for fashion researchers, industry professionals, and amateur enthusiasts. International Library of Fashion Research is actively working not only to preserve fashion’s past, but to understand its present and contribute to its future.
Kunstbibliothek Berlin (Berlin Art Library), Berlin, Germany
https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/kunstbibliothek/home/
Google Arts and Culture: Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/kunstbibliothek-staatliche-museen-zu-berlin
The Kunstbibliothek Berlin, including its Lipperheide Costume Library, is one of “largest museum libraries dedicated to all facets of art history and cultural studies.” It offers diverse and vast holdings including fashion designs.
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Museum of Decorative Arts, State Museums in Berlin), Berlin, Germany
https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/kunstgewerbemuseum/home/
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/kunstgewerbemuseum-staatliche-museen-zu-berlin
The Kunstgewerbemuseum houses examples of European arts and crafts, including finely embroidered textiles.
Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands
https://www.kunstmuseum.nl/en/collection/search?origin=gm&search=Mode
Lette Verein, Berlin, Germany
https://www.letteverein.berlin/
Google Arts and Culture: Lette Verein Berlin
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/lette-verein-berlin
The fashion design education at Lette Verein Berlin focuses on linking skills in fashion design and fashion illustration with garment manufacturing. The “craftsman's perspective" is the educational principle by which the Lette Verein students learn to design collections from concept to draft to prototypes and sample collections.
MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy
https://www.maxxi.art/
Google Arts and Culture: MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/maxxi-museo-nazionale-delle-arti-del-xxi-secolo
MAXXI is a museum dedicated to contemporary creativity. It produces and hosts art, architecture, design and photography shows, as well as fashion, cinema and music projects, theater and dance performances, lectures and meetings with artists, architects. It declares itself a platform open to all vocabularies of creativity.
MoMu Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
https://services3.libis.be/momu/s/studiecollectie/page/welcome
The online MoMu Study Collection holds 2053 digital objects, some of which have been contextualized in an informationally-rich “Twenties” story.
Google Arts and Culture: MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/momu
MoMu is located in Belgium's fashion epicenter of Antwerp. Since 2002, MoMu’s mission has been “to collect, conserve, exhibit, and foster the creation of Belgian fashion.”
Museo del Tessuto (Textile Museum), Prato, Italy
https://www.museodeltessuto.it/en/collections/
Prato’s Textile Museum holds digital treasures across the following categories: Historic textiles; embroidered textiles and artifacts; extra-European textiles and garments; archeological textiles; company samples; sketches and artists’ textiles; contemporary fabrics; machinery; fashion illustrations; and garments and accessories.
Google Arts and Culture: Museo del Tessuto
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museo-del-tessuto
The Museo del Tessuto is a cultural center in Italy that is dedicated to the promotion of historical and contemporary textile production and art. It especially has a mission to represent the historical memory and culture of the Prato district, which has been involved with textile production since the middle ages and boasts over 7,000 textile companies.
Museo del Traje (Museum of Garment), Madrid, Spain
https://www-culturaydeporte-gob-es.translate.goog/mtraje/colecciones/moda-indumentaria.html?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
The Museo del Traje holds and cares for circa 30,000 pieces of clothing and fashion in its collection. The collection's growth mirrors the growth in the public's interest in fashion within the larger contemporary culture. The collection's ancient garments and fabrics co-mingle with the most modern of fashion designs.
Google Arts and Culture: Museo del Traje
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museo-del-traje-madrid
The Museo del Traje’s basic aim is to promote an understanding of the historical development of costume. The scope of its collection covers four centuries of fashion history from the 17th century to today.
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Firenze, Italy
https://www.ferragamo.com/museo/it/archivio-mostre
Ferragamo’s incredibly rich store of imagery via its “Exhibition Archive” brings both thematic presentations and the storied past of the business to life. Online offerings range from 1985's The Protagonists of Fashion. Salvatore Ferragamo (1898-1960) to Sustainable Thinking, which was presented from 2019-2021.
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museosalvatoreferragamo
The Ferragamo family founded the museum in May 1995; its mission was and is “to acquaint an international audience with the artistic qualities of Salvatore Ferragamo and the role he played in the history of not only shoes but international fashion as well.”
Museu del Disseny, Barcelona, Spain
https://cataleg.museudeldisseny.cat/?lang=en
By visiting the “Online Collections” subsite of the Museu del Disseny’s website, visitors will discover sub-collections with hundreds of online imagery; sub-collections include: Fashion Collection; Fashion photography; Graphic arts; Decorative Arts; Costumes; Costume complements; Costume accessories; Textiles; and Liturgical ornaments.
Google Arts and Culture:Museu del Disseny
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museu-del-disseny-de-barcelona
The Disseny collections in total number more than 70,000 objects including the decorative arts, textiles and clothing, and graphic arts.
Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, Hungary (Iparművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, Magyarország)
https://collections.imm.hu/gyujtemenyek/textile-and-costume-collection/3?order=default&start=0
The seventeen thousand items in the Textile and Costume Collection are mainly from Europe, but several other continents are well represented. They embrace many periods of textile art and textile production techniques. Historical technical devices also feature in the collection. The earliest items making up a coherent group are Coptic textile fragments. There is a remarkable and quite substantial collection of medieval and early modern chasubles, and the embroidery collection embraces a vast array of European patterns and is particularly strong in úrihímzés – embroidery by Hungarian noblewomen from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Old tapestries are small in number but of outstanding quality, and there are a large number of modern tapestries from the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century. The largest section is of European woven silks from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, mainly samples and fragments, which are of particular interest to textile specialists. The lace collection covers nearly every type of needle and bobbin lace. The department also holds the world’s second-largest collection of Ottoman Turkish rugs (after the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul). Among them are the fine “Transylvanian” rugs named after the region where many of them were held. There is also a remarkable collection of Iranian, Caucasian, Turkmen and European woven and knotted carpets.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Fashion and Costume Collection
http://emp-web-35.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=exhibition&objectId=467&viewType=detailView
The Röhsska Museum's fashion collection contains garments from the 19th century to the present, and many of the foremost fashion designers of the 20th century are represented with creations of high artistic quality. The Röhsska Museum wants to work for a deepened and nuanced interest in fashion. Today, both contemporary fashion design and older garments are acquired. The museum collects both fashion costumes and accessories but also other expressions that can be linked to fashion. The museum mainly collects contemporary material that we believe will have a great impact on the development of form. At the heart of the museum's fashion collection is a donation from fashion historian Tonie Lewenhaupt, who in 1997 donated his private collection to the museum.
Google Arts and Culture: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museum-boijmans-van-beuningen
A visit to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is a journey through the history of art. Dutch and European masterpieces provide a comprehensive survey of art from the early Middle Ages to the 21st century, from Bosch, Rembrandt and Van Gogh to Dalí and Christo.
Röhsska Museum (Swedish Museum of Design and Crafts), Göteborg, Sweden
https://rohsska.se/
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rohsska-museum
Röhsska Museum is Sweden’s museum of design, fashion and decorative arts, which offers exhibitions, educational programs, lectures and tours. Röhsska’s design history displays exhibits from the early 19th century industrial society, the welfare state of the 20th century and today’s information society. Here are utility goods and everyday objects, as well as unique, spectacular models by Swedish and international designers. Falk Simon’s donation is a permanent exhibition of older gold and silver objects of great art-historical value.
University of Applied Arts Vienna, Vienna, Austria (Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Wien, Österreich)
Art Collection and Archive Database (Kunstsammlung und Archi Datenbank)
https://emp-web-90.zetcom.ch/eMP/eMuseumPlus
Today, the holdings of the Collection of Costumes and Fashion at the University of Applied Arts Vienna include about 8000 objects (clothing, accessories, textiles) from the 18th century to the present. The collection mainly focuses on works by (former) teachers and graduates of the former School of Applied Arts and today's University of Applied Arts, but also encompasses works from the Viennese region and from non-European contexts. Its most significant convolutes are rare historical garments (e.g. from collection of Mileva Roller), works by Gertrud Höchsmann (1902-1990, professor from 1959-1972) and Fred Adlmüller (1909-1989, professor from 1973-1979) and a collection of hats by Adele List (1893-1983). In addition, the collection includes works of graduates and prize-winners of the University of Applied Arts and of internationally renowned fashion designers. Since 2020, new emphasis is put on works of artists and designers since Modernism whose practice is situated at the boundaries of art and fashion. The collection is continuously amended and enlarged through donations and purchases.
VDMD Würzburg, Germany
VDMD – Association of German Fashion and Textile Designers
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/vdmd-association-of-german-fashion-and-textile-designers
The VDMD is the strongest professional representation for fashion and textile designers in Germany. More and more design is viewed as a key factor in the economic success of a product. The numerous activities of the Association serve to better anchor the design performance in the awareness of the company to the outside and the network of competent advice and profound information offered inside. An important goal of the VDMD is to increase the recognition and creative potential of its members, their professionalism and experience in industry and trade, the media, politics and the public, thereby strengthening the industrial creative competence of the entire textile industry. We offer our members, freelance and employed designers, as well as young professionals with a great range of services, assistance and security in all job-specific problems such as legal, tax, fee and contract questions. Equally important is the non-competitive exchange between us. The VDMD is an intermediary between the industry and the designers. He promotes interdisciplinary contacts and cooperation with ministries, business, culture and politics as well as with other design divisions. We are also the contact point for training centers, design centers and design-oriented institutions.
College of Engineering and Design, Ramat Gan, Israel
The Collection Rose Archive for Fashion and Textiles
https://rosearchive.shenkar.ac.il/collection
Rose Archive is a unique research and learning center situated at Shenkar and housing Israel's only collection dedicated to the study of Fashion and Textile as a social-cultural phenomenon. Established in 1986, as an outcome of successful collaboration with the Fashion Institute of Technology and their significant donation of garments, the archive today features over 5000 fashion pieces, textiles and accessories. By now, the items represent designs from 67 countries, the earliest dating to the 1780s and the most recent ones entering from the latest fashion shows. Of special interest, is the unique Israeli collection, consisting of garments and accessories, ranging from the end of the 19th century until today, showcasing the history of local fashion, its origins, roots and development over the years.All items are duly cataloged, documented and arranged in professional museum-standard conditions at the storage space on Shenkar campus, built in 2018 especially for the needs of the collection.
Fashion History Museum, Cambridge, Canada
Digital Exhibitions
https://www.fashionhistorymuseum.com/digital-exhibits
The collection spans five centuries and boasts strong holdings of 19th and 20th century French, British, American, and Canadian clothing and accessories. Numbering over 10,000 pieces, the collection has been recognized as one of the finest in Canada.
Google Arts and Culture: Fashion History Museum
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fashion-history-museum-cambridge-ontario-canada
Founded in 2004 by Jonathan Walford and Kenn Norman, the Fashion History Museum became a federally incorporated not-for-profit registered charity in 2009. The collection consists of over 10,000 artifacts dating primarily from the late 18th century to the present but also includes earlier pieces, from examples of ancient textiles and archeological jewellery to a shoe reputedly worn in New Amsterdam (New York) in c. 1660. The museum considered several locations across Canada, from Niagara Falls to Victoria B.C. before a pilot site in 2013 confirmed Cambridge, Ontario as the best fit to locate. Historically, the region was a textile and clothing manufacturing centre; today Cambridge flanks the highway 401 corridor and is at the centre of a large population base. The museum quietly opened the doors at its present location, the old post office in the former town of Hespeler (now north Cambridge), in June 2015. The official launch was held March 10, 2016.
McCord Museum, Montréal, Québec
Collections and Research
http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/scripts/search_results.php?Lang=1&keywords=departmentID:00013
The McCord Museum is renowned for its rich collections of objects, images and documents from the past three centuries. The Museum was initially created to showcase the collection amassed by David Ross McCord, which centered on Indigenous peoples and key events in Canada’s past. For a full century since then, the Museum’s collecting practices have sought to document the social dimensions of Montreal’s position as a hub of Canada’s economic and cultural life, as well as the vitality of Indigenous cultures. In 2013, the Museum’s holdings were enriched by the Stewart Museum’s outstanding collection of objects and documents covering five centuries of political, scientific and cultural history.
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Art & Culture: Global Fashion & Textiles
https://collections.rom.on.ca/search/*/objects?filter=department%3AArt%20%26%20Culture%25255C%3A%20Global%20Fashion%20%26%20Textiles#filters#filters
The Royal Ontario Museum is home to a world-class collection of 13 million artworks, cultural objects, and natural history specimens, featured in 40 gallery and exhibition spaces. Our online collections are a working database with a team of experts continuously adding new objects. With a collection as large and diverse as the ROM’s, some catalog records may not reflect the current state of knowledge.
Ryerson School of Fashion at Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario - Ryerson Fashion Research Collection Online Database
https://ryersonfashion.pastperfectonline.com
The FRC encompasses several thousand objects related to fashion, including garments and accessories as well as photographs and ephemera. Not all objects have been cataloged yet. The oldest object (FRC2014.07.488) is a sprigged muslin dress that dates to around 1815. The FRC also includes a range of garments by contemporary designers including Balenciaga, Dior, Issey Miyake, Pucci, Wayne Clark and others.
Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, Ontario
Collection
https://collections.textilemuseum.ca/
The Textile Museum of Canada’s collection consists of more than 15,000 objects from over 200 regions of the world.
Textile Museum of Canada
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/textile-museum-of-canada
Dedicated to expanding knowledge, creativity and awareness, the Textile Museum of Canada (TMC) plays a leading role in Canada and beyond facilitating access to material culture as well as to interdisciplinary practices that embrace art, design and fashion. As an international repository of cultural heritage with a collection encompassing more than 13,000 artifacts, archaeological to contemporary, the TMC is uniquely positioned to speak to evolving experiences in a global context as well as to our increasingly global communities. Located in Toronto’s downtown core, the Museum addresses the nuances of cultures and identities through a dynamic exhibition program based on our collection as well as the work of Canadian and international contemporary artists.
University of Alberta Museums, Edmonton, Alberta
Browse Items and Collections: Objects/Specimens
https://search.museums.ualberta.ca/search?initial_collections[0]=13&initial_submit=true&type_view=items&items_view=list&item_groups_view=list
This unique collection houses more than 23,000 clothing and textile-related artifacts with local, national, and international significance. Founded in 1972, the Anne Lambert Clothing and Textiles Collection in the Department of Human Ecology includes everyday wear and designer clothes for men, women and children from different continents and spanning over 350 years of history. In addition to examples of textiles from different continents, artifacts that depict clothing and relate to the production and embellishment of cloth are also part of our holdings. These include looms, spindles, needlework tools, patterns, historical fashion magazines and photographs.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
General Library Catalog: https://catalogo.iib.unam.mx/F/-/?func=find-b-0&local_base=BNM
Hemeroteca Nacional Digital de México (HNDM): Digitized archive of magazines (including some 19th and early 20th century fashion magazines):
http://www.hndm.unam.mx/consulta/publicacion/visualizar/558075be7d1e63c9fea1a36e?intPagina=0&tipo=publicacion
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL)
Hemeroteca Digital UANL: https://hemerotecadigital.uanl.mx/
Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, California
Autry’s Collections Online
http://collections.theautry.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=home
Through the Autry’s unique collection, we enrich the public’s understanding of the historical and contemporary American West and the diversity of the indigenous cultures across the Americas. Protecting and preserving our collection for future generations is one of our greatest responsibilities. With more than 600,000 objects and cultural materials, our collection contains art, firearms, saddles, Hollywood Western memorabilia, and Native American baskets, ceramics, jewelry, and textiles animating the following themes: California History, Native America, Environment and Western Resources, Ranching and Cowboys, Archaeology and Anthropology, and Popular Culture.
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Institutional Repository - Historic Clothing Collection
https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/IRPoliSci/search/order/publis/ad/asc
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York
Libraries and Archives: Fashion and Costume Sketch Collection, 1912-1950.
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/archives/set/198
Images found in The Digital Library Collection represent scans from books and other documents held in the Brooklyn Museum Library.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
Explore the Collection: Fashion Arts and Textiles
https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection/fashion-arts-and-textiles/
The Cincinnati Art Museum has been collecting fashion and textiles since its founding in 1881. Holdings of approximately 15,000 objects span centuries and encompass the work of renowned French couturiers, pioneering American fashion designers, dress, textiles and dolls from around the world.
The Fashion Arts and Textiles collection is broad-ranging including women’s, men’s and children’s dress and accessories from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Highlights include fashionable examples by groundbreaking European and American designers, such as Charles Frederick Worth, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, Gabrielle Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Halston, Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo, as well as traditional dress from diverse cultures around the globe. The museum holds a significant collection of the work of twentieth-century American designer, Elizabeth Hawes.
The textile collection is cross-cultural ranging from fifth-century Coptic textiles to contemporary fiber art. In-depth collections include Flemish, French, and English tapestries, nineteenth-century quilts, an impressive collection of Kashmiri and paisley shawls, Javanese batiks and printed designs by William Morris and Herman Miller among others. The collection also holds outstanding examples of Neo-classical and Etruscan-revival jewelry with a collecting emphasis on the work of mid-twentieth-century modernist jewelers.
Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California
Fashion Plate Collection, 19th Century
https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/fpc
The Myrtle Tyrrell Kirby Fashion Plate Collection comprises 650 images of nineteenth-century fashion plates from the Macpherson Collection of the Ella Strong Denison Library at Scripps College. The collection was donated to the Denison Library in 1948 by Scripps Trustee Benjamin Kirby (1876-1957) and is named for his first wife, Myrtle Tyrrell Kirby (1881-1942). In addition to the Myrtle Tyrrell Kirby collection, the digital collection includes 65 fashion plates donated to the Denison Library by Elliot E. Lawrence.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Search the Collection: Textiles
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/collection/search?i=1&only-open-access=1&filter-collection=Textiles
Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois
Fashion Study Collection Online Database
https://fashioncolumbia.pastperfectonline.com/
The Fashion Study Collection at Columbia College Chicago is an exceptional collection of designer garments, fashion history, and ethnic dress. A hands-on, academic, and inspirational resource for students and the public, the collection was founded in 1989 and has grown to house more than 6,000 items.
Condé Nast, New York
https://www.condenast.com/
Google Arts and Culture: Condé Nast Archive
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/conde-nast-archive
With over eight-million assets amassed from more than 50 magazine titles, the Condé Nast Archive is both unique and extensive. The collections, representing more than 100 years of history, are photographs, illustrations, cartoons, slides, correspondence, video, printed matter, and ephemera that touch on subjects from fashion and interior design to cooking and travel. All communicate the excellence for which the company has been known, since its founding in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast.
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Cornell Fashion and Textile Collection
https://cornellfashion.pastperfectonline.com/webobject?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_criteria=&searchButton=Search&only_images=on
The Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC) includes more than 10,000 items of apparel, accessories, and flat textiles dating from the eighteenth century to present, including substantial collections of functional clothing, technical textiles, and ethnographic costume. The collection is used for exhibition, research, and teaching. A gallery displaying selections from the CF+TC is located on the first floor of the Human Ecology Building and is free and open to the public during normal weekday business hours when the University is in session.
Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection
https://drexel.edu/foxcollection/
The mission of the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection is to educate and inspire through the documentation, exhibition, and preservation of historic costume.The Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry was founded by financier and philanthropist Anthony J. Drexel in 1891. Drexel believed that the study of art and design was essential to a well-rounded education and earmarked one million dollars, equal to more than 26 million dollars today, specifically for the purchase of art and artifacts.
The Drexel Digital Museum Project
https://digimuse.westphal.drexel.edu/ddm/
The Drexel Digital Museum Project (DDM) is an international, interdisciplinary group of researchers focused on production, conservation and dissemination of new media for exhibition of historic fashion. Collaborators include: Drexel’s Colleges of Media Arts & Design, Computing and Informatics, the Hagerty Library iDEA E-Repository, and the Fox Historic Costume Collection; Seoul National University; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; the Fulbright Foundation; and the Costume Society of America.
Google Arts and Culture: The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-robert-and-penny-fox-historic-costume-collection-at-drexel-university
Heralded as a “world-class collection of fashion and textiles” by the Wall Street Journal, the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection (FHCC) at Drexel University contains more than 14,000 garments, textiles, and accessories. The FHCC has strong holdings of Parisian haute couture and international high-style garments from the late 19th and 20th centuries. Recent acquisitions have included Alexander Wang, Prada, and Chado Ralph Rucci.
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles, California
FIDM Museum Collections
https://fidmmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/
The FIDM Museum Collections span more than 15,000 fashion objects dating primarily from the eighteenth century to the present, and 200,000 Special Collection artifacts. Collections include: women's haute couture and ready-to-wear, menswear, accessories, textiles, jewelry, fragrance, film costumes, and world dress, as well as fashion magazines, photographs, and design archives.
Google Arts and Culture: FIDM Museum And Galleries
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fidm-museum
The FIDM Museum and Library, Inc. collects, preserves, and interprets fashion objects and support materials with outstanding design merit. It fosters student learning, public engagement, and recognition of the creative arts and entertainment industries by providing access to the collections through exhibitions, publications, and other research opportunities.
Fashion Institute of Technology/Gladys Marcus Library, Special Collections & College Archives (SPARC), New York, New York
SPARC Digital
https://sparcdigital.fitnyc.edu/
“SPARC Digital is a platform created by the FIT Library's Special Collections and College Archives to showcase the rare and unique materials from our collections that have been digitized. Our goal is to make our collections more widely available online to the FIT community and the general public. SPARC Digital features images from dozens of collections in the form of original fashion sketches, photographs, illustrations, and historic fashion plates. These collections contain many fine examples of women's wear, menswear, children's wear, millinery, footwear, jewelry, and costume created between the 18th and 20th century.”
Fashion Institute of Technology/Digital Image Library (FITDIL), New York, New York
FIT Digital Image Library
https://fitdil.fitnyc.edu/
The FIT Digital Image Library (FITDIL) is a digital repository consisting of about 150,000 images. This visual collection includes student and faculty work, exhibitions, and instructional resources. FITDIL provides access to images and accompanying metadata to meet the classroom and research needs of the FIT community while serving as an archive of the creative and intellectual output of the College.
Fashion Institute of Technology/The Museum at FIT, New York, New York
https://fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu/objects/images
The Museum at FIT has many objects from its collections on view via the link above. We hope you will take some time to discover and learn about fashion through this amazing resource. Every month we add new pieces to the Online Collections, so come back often! The Museum is aggressively building its permanent collection, focusing on "directional" fashion, i.e., the kind of fashion that makes fashion history. The permanent collection of The Museum at FIT currently includes more than 50,000 garments and accessories, dating from the 18th century to the present, with particular strength in modern and contemporary women's fashion. Represented are the major figures in fashion history, such as Azzedine Alaïa, Cristobal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Halston, Charles James, Norman Norell, Paul Poiret, Yves Saint Laurent, and Vivienne Westwood as well as contemporary avant-garde designers, such as Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons and Rick Owens. Among the 15,000 accessories there are more than 4,000 pairs of shoes alone, including examples by Manolo Blahnik, Ferragamo, Perugia, and Roger Vivier. There are also 30,000 textiles, dating from the 5th century to the present, including the work of artists and designers such as William Morris, Salvador Dalí, Raoul Dufy, and Junichi Arai. A small archive of fashion photography contains works by Louise Dahl-Wolfe and John Rawlings.
Google Arts and Culture: The Museum at FIT
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/The-museum-at-fit
The Museum at FIT is one of only a handful of museums in the world devoted to the art of
fashion.
Fashion Institute of Technology/History of Art/Fashion History Timeline
Fashion History Timeline
https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/
“The Fashion History Timeline is an open-access source for fashion history knowledge, featuring objects and artworks from over a hundred museums and libraries that span the globe. The Timeline website offers well-researched, accessibly written entries on specific artworks, garments and films for those interested in fashion and dress history. Started as a pilot project by FIT art history faculty and students in the Fall of 2015, the Timeline aims to be an important contribution to public knowledge of the history of fashion and to serve as a constantly growing and evolving resource not only for students and faculty, but also for the wider world of those interested in fashion and dress history (from the Renaissance scholar to the simply curious).”
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Online Collection
https://www.kent.edu/museum/online-collection
The Kent State Museum contains important collections of fashion and decorative arts. Its eight galleries feature changing exhibitions of work by many of the world's great artists and designers. Closely linked to the Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising at Kent State University, the Museum provides students with first-hand experience with historic and contemporary fashions, as well as costumes representing many of the world's cultures. An extensive collection of American glass, fine furniture, textiles, paintings and other decorative arts combine to give context to the study of design.
LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Los Angeles, California
Fashion, 1900-2000
https://collections.lacma.org/node/589000
Lasell University, Newton, Massachusetts
Lasell Fashion Collection
https://lasell.pastperfectonline.com/
Established in 1996, the Lasell Fashion Collection (LFC) contains approximately 3,000 artifacts spanning 200 years of fashion history. This growing assortment is comprehensive in its scope – from haute couture to indigenous dress; a notable array of costume accessories; and supporting collections including textile sample books, archival materials, periodicals, and fashion illustrations and advertisements.
Metropolitan Museum of Art - Costume Institute, New York, New York
The Met: Watson Library Digital Collections
https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search/collection/p16028coll1!p15324coll12/order/title/ad/asc
This collection contains ephemeral and archival collections from the Institute and its Irene Lewisohn Costume Institute Library, with subsets highlighting fashion plates, sketches, and exhibition binders.
Search the Collection: Costume Institute
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!?department=8#
The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
Textile and Fashion Arts Collection
https://collections.mfa.org/collections/315176/tfatextile-and-fashion-arts-collection/objects
Textile and Fashion Arts collection: The MFA has been collecting textiles since it opened in the 1870s, and in 1930 a separate Textile Department with dedicated curatorial staff was formed. Today, the Textile and Fashion Arts collection includes magnificent examples from ancient times through the present day, from cultures throughout the world. Mind-bogglingly complex ancient Peruvian weavings, the finest Persian carpets, luxurious Italian Renaissance velvets, dramatic Japanese Noh play costumes, and twentieth-century couture by designers like Geoffrey Beene are just a few of the treasures that can be found here.
Fashionable Dress
https://collections.mfa.org/collections/419373/tfafashionable-dress;jsessionid=4365A43CFD8C0A7759BDF5A4188DBB2F/objects
Fashionable Dress collection: In 1877, the MFA received its first gift of costume: an 18th-century brocaded court gown donated by Italian art dealer Alessandro Castellani. Since then the Museum has collected thousands of examples of fashion and fashion accessories by many of the world’s most significant designers. The Textile and Fashion Arts department collects menswear, 20th-century haute couture, fashion exploring technology and innovation, and work by contemporary and emerging designers.
Google Arts and Culture: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museum-of-fine-arts-boston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world with a collection that exemplifies the breadth, richness, and diversity of artistic expression, from prehistoric times to modern day.
Museum of History and Industry, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, Washington
Browsing items in: Museum of History and Industry
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/search
MOHAI’s extensive photography Collection includes great moments in Seattle, Puget Sound, and Pacific Northwest history. The Collection spans the history of photography, from delicately rendered nineteenth-century daguerreotypes to digital images created yesterday. Highlights include photographs from the 1962 World’s Fair, celebrations throughout the years, as well as some of Seattle’s favorite former businesses, institutions, and landscapes.
Museum of the City of New York, New York, New York
https://collections.mcny.org/: Circa 1200 assets regarding the subject “fashion;” 2629 assets regarding the subject “clothing;” 3222 assets regarding the subject “dress;” and 11293 assets regarding the subject “costume.”
New York Public Library, New York, New York
Creators Studios Fashion Illustrations
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/creators-studios-fashion-illustrations#/?tab=navigation
Collection of over 8,000 fashion design drawings produced by Creators Studios, a New York City Seventh Avenue fashion business that marketed ready-to-wear designs to clothing manufacturers across the country. The plates date from the 1950s-1970s and showcase the distinctive cuts, colors and fabrics that transformed American fashion. Stored for many years in a warehouse in bound volumes and loose sheets, the designs of the company were eventually donated to several New York City educational institutions with connections to the fashion industry, including the New York Public Library and Fashion Institute of Technology. A previous collaboration between the latter institutions resulted in the digitization of a substantial portion of sketches from Andre Studios, an earlier competing firm taken over by Creators Studios in the 1970s. Both collections offer a comprehensive resource for fashion historians, aspiring designers, and anyone interested in American popular culture.
Costume of the Ladies of England
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/costume-of-the-ladies-of-england#/?tab=about
André Fashion Illustrations from NYPL’s Picture Collection
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/andr-fashion-illustrations-from-nypls-picture-collection#/?tab=navigation
Collection of approximately 1,200 fashion drawings and sketches produced by André Fashion Studios between 1930 and 1941. The company sold fashion drawings on a subscription basis to clothing manufacturers and garment industry professionals throughout North America. The designs incorporated elements of contemporary couture fashion into a basic silhouette in order to produce concepts for manufacture into ready-to-wear clothes. Most of the designs are of women's suits and outerwear; many are heightened with color. The sketches in the section "1930s Fashion Drawings Import Adaptation" refer to several famous Parisian couture designers of the time and may be straight copies of their designs used to create the subscription drawings.
Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, New York
The New School Archives and Special Collections: Digital Collections
https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/
The New School Archives Digital Collections presents born-digital and digitized images, text, audio and video from The New School Archives & Special Collections, home to primary source materials documenting the history of all divisions of The New School.
Fashion Design Collections in the Kellen Design Archives
https://guides.library.newschool.edu/kellen_fashion_design
The Kellen Design Archives, a subset of The New School Archives and Special Collections, has many collections available for researchers who want to examine archival documents pertaining to fashion design, education, illustration, and marketing. This guide lists the collections under four categories, although there is often cross-over from one category to the next.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Costume (including accessories)
https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?searchTxt=&searchNameID=&searchClassID=23&searchOrigin=&searchDeptID=&keySearch2=&accessionID=&page=1
Dorance H. Hamilton Center for Costume and Textiles- Currently numbering more than 30,000 objects, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s costume and textiles collection is one of the largest and oldest in the country. The holdings, remarkable in their depth and breadth, encompass art of great quality from diverse eras and around the globe.
Pratt Institute, New York, New York
Pratt Institute Fashion Plate Collection
https://www.lunacommons.org/luna/servlet/PRATTPRT~12~12
The Fashion Plate Collection consists of hand-colored fashion plates from the French periodical La Gazette du Bon Ton (considered the most influential fashion magazine during its existence from 1912 to 1925) and its American edition, La Gazette du Bon Genre, distributed by Conde Nast. The plates in Pratt’s collection date from 1922, were created by such prominent French artists as George Barbier, Pierre Brissaud, and Georges Lepape, and anticipate the Art Deco movement of the mid-1920s.
Google Arts and Culture: Pratt Institute Fashion Design
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/pratt-institute-fashion-design
From Pratt’s inspirational campus in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, the Fashion Department offers students a concept-led, craft-based education at the heart of one of the world's cultural epicenters.
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
Collection: Fashion
https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection?field_type=121
Our collection currently contains more than 100,000 works of art and design dating from ancient times to today. Of these objects, 2,274 of them are on view in the museum now. 82,458 of them are available online. There are 937 recent acquisitions. All of our collection records are living documents. They are frequently revised and enhanced.
Special Collections
https://library.risd.edu/departments/special-collections.html
Special Collections includes over 20,000 important and rare printed books, periodicals, and artists' books that date from as early as the 14th century to the present. Historical as well as contemporary materials cover the fine arts, architecture, photography, decorative arts, and design. These collections provide primary resources and inspirational materials for the RISD community and outside researchers.
Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia
SCAD Permanent Collection
https://www.scadmoa.org/about/permanent-collection?active=0
The SCAD Museum of Art's permanent collections are exceptional in terms of their quality, depth and historic relevance, comprising the most important humanities collections at the university. With more than 4,500 works from established visual artists of international acclaim, the museum's permanent collections include: The 19th and 20th-Century Photography Collection and the SCAD Costume Collection.
Google Arts and Culture: SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion and Film, SCAD Atlanta
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/scad-fash-museum-of-fashion-and-film
SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film celebrates fashion as a universal language, garments as important conduits of identity, and film as an immersive and memorable medium. Situated within the SCAD Atlanta campus at 1600 Peachtree St. NW, SCAD FASH focuses on the future of fashion design, connecting conceptual to historical principles of dress — whether ceremonial, celebratory or casual — and welcomes visitors of all ages to engage with dynamic exhibitions, captivating films and educationally enriching events.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Fashion Resource Center Collections
https://digitalcollections.saic.edu/frc
The Fashion Resource Center is a hybrid research hub for faculty and students in SAIC's Fashion Department as well as the school's larger community. Its collection of unique late twentieth and twenty-first century designer garments and accessories, represent innovations in construction, materials and embellishments. Our digital collections provide a catalog of the FRC's garments and accessories, with descriptive data and multiple images of each item. The database is a work in progress, with new records being added on a consistent basis, to ultimately represent the full breadth of the FRC's 2000+ collection.
University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
Texas Fashion Collection
https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/TXFC/
The UNT Texas Fashion Collection is dedicated to the preservation and documentation of historically significant fashion, and serves as an educational and inspirational resource for students, researchers, and the general public. This vital resource is part of the UNT College of Visual Arts + Design.
University of Rhode Island, North Kingston, Rhode Island
MS, Textiles, Fashion Merchandising, and Design, with a concentration in Historic Fashion and Textiles, Textile Conservation, and Cultural Analysis
Historic Textile and Costume Collection
https://uritextilecollection.omeka.net/
The mission of the Historic Textile and Costume Collection supports teaching in the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design, as well as other departments on campus; encourages research by students, faculty, and visiting scholars; and provides artifacts for use in class, exhibitions in the Textile Gallery, and loans at other museums.
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Fashion Plate Collection
https://content.lib.washington.edu/costumehistweb/index.html
The original fashion plates collected by Blanche Payne and others have been cataloged and carefully stored for preservation purposes in archival housing. Many of these plates are from some of the leading French, British, American, and other continental fashion journals of the 19th century and early 20th century: Belle assemblée; Le bon ton; Le Follet, courrier des salons; Journal des dames and des modes; Godey's lady's book and magazine, and others. They are primarily hand-colored engravings although some of the plates after 1885 are colored lithographs. A project was undertaken by the Digital Initiatives Program to digitize and provide online access to selections from this collection. The 417 digital images cover many stylistic periods in French and English history. These include the Empire (1806-1813), Georgian (1806-1836), Regency (1811-1820), Romantic (1825-1850), Victorian (1837-1859), Late Victorian (1860-1900) and Edwardian (1901-1915). Although the original items are available for viewing by appointment through the Special Collections Division, providing web access increases the visibility and use of such unique resources.
Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington: The Henry is internationally recognized for bold and challenging exhibitions, for pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and culture, and for being the first to premiere new works by established and emerging artists. Through individual experiences with art, we inspire visitors to upend their expectations and discover surprising connections.
In the 1930s, faculty in the Home Economics department and School of Drama began collecting costumes and textiles, and in 1958, the Costume and Textile Study Center, the first study center of its kind, was established. Elizabeth Bayley Willis, with help from Virginia and Prentice Bloedel, provided the first major donation—a gift of more than 1,800 textiles and costumes from India—to the Center.
In 1982, the Costume and Textile Study Center and the School of Drama’s historic costume collection were formally transferred to the Henry. Now numbering more than 18,000 objects—ranging in date from 1000 BCE to the present from countries around the world—these works are an important regional resource for the study of fashion, clothing, and design.
The Valentine, Richmond, Virginia
Costume and Textiles Collection
https://thevalentine.org/collections/costume-textiles/
The Costume and Textiles Collection at the Valentine comprises dress, accessory, and textile objects made, sold, worn or used in Richmond from the late 18th century to the present day. A unique material cultural record of the region, this collection enjoys a national reputation among fashion and textile scholars.
Select objects from this collection are on public view in the museum’s permanent core exhibition and in an annual special exhibition in the Nathalie L. Klaus and Reynolds Family Galleries. Research appointments are available for visitors interested in studying specific costume and textile objects not on view in the galleries.
N/A
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British Council, London, United Kingdom
http://collection.britishcouncil.org/
Google Arts and Culture: British Council - Fashion Design
https://artsandculture.google.com/search/asset/?p=british-council&em=m02qqd4n
Since 1934, the British Council has existed to create a basis of friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and the wider world. Our work in the arts has been central to this mission for more than 80 years, seeking to find new ways of connecting with and understanding each other through creativity.
British Fashion Council, London, United Kingdom
https://www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/
Google Arts and Culture: British Fashion Council
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/british-fashion-council
The British Fashion Council (BFC) is a not-for-profit organization that aims to further the interests of the British fashion industry and its designer businesses by harnessing and sharing collective knowledge, experience and resources of the sector.
Central Saint Martins, London, England
Digital Collections: CSM Museum and Study Collection
https://digitalcollections.arts.ac.uk/collection/?code=CSM
The Museum and study collection at Central Saint Martins has been taking objects into the classroom for more than a hundred years. We have also been collecting work by staff, students and alumni. The resulting collection is full of inspiring objects across the range of disciplines taught at the College, and includes posters, costume designs, prints, architectural drawings, garments, textiles and jewelry, photographs, paintings and early printed books. The Museum also houses the College archive.
Google Arts and Culture: Central Saint Martins
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/central-saint-martins
Central Saint Martins, UAL, is a world-leading centre for arts and design education, based in King’s Cross, London. With a history of radical practice, Central Saint Martins is safe ground for the restless creativity of the future. From fine artists and fashion designers to architects and material innovators, the college community inspires students to question accepted norms and test the boundaries of their discipline.
Commonwealth Fashion Council, The Commonwealth
https://commonwealthfashioncouncil.org/
Google Arts and Culture: Commonwealth Fashion Council
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/commonwealth-fashion-council
For the first time, The Commonwealth came together to showcase a wealth of design and artisan fashion talent across its 53 countries. Selected design talent included major names such as Karen Walker representing New Zealand, Bibi Russell representing Bangladesh and Burberry and Stella McCartney representing the UK. Participating designers and artisans collectively represented all 53 commonwealth member countries in a major new initiative in the run up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London during April 2018. The ‘looks’ created through the Fashion Exchange were showcased at a special reception at Buckingham Palace during London Fashion Week in February.
De Montfort University, Leicester, England
Fashion: Home
https://library.dmu.ac.uk/fash/home
Welcome to the Fashion Subject Guide. This guide provides you with information and links to enable you to find out more about Library resources and support in your subject area.
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England
Search the Collections: Fashion
https://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/?collections-search=fashion
Manchester Art Gallery has one of the largest British collections of fashion and clothing. The Gallery of Costume was founded at Platt Hall, a separate building two miles south of the city center, in 1947 when Manchester acquired the large private collection of Drs Willet and Phillis Cunnington. The Cunningtons amassed their collection during the 1930s, concentrating on 19th century middle-class and ordinary dress, alongside a large archive and library of fashion related material. Manchester had started collecting clothing and accessories in the 1920s and, with its textile history, provided the perfect home for their collection. It still forms the nucleus of the Gallery’s costume collection today.
Museum of London, London, England
Collections Online: Fashion
https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/search/#!/results?terms=fashion
Our unique collections include over a million objects from thousands of years of London’s history.
National Museums NI, Northern Ireland (multiple locations)
Costume and Textiles
https://www.nmni.com/collections/art/costume-and-textiles/all
National Museums NI holds Ireland’s largest public collection of costume and textiles.
Over 50 years of fieldwork, research and donations has created a collection rich in both content and context. It represents the full spectrum of textile history in Ireland, from the thrifty recycling of everyday clothing into quilts and rag rugs, to the most fashionable of dress and world-famous linens. The collection covers four broad themes: Historic Costume, Contemporary Fashion, Fashion Accessories, and Textiles.
The John Bright Collection, London, England
The John Bright Historic Costume Collection Revealed
https://www.thejohnbrightcollection.co.uk/explore/
This website is a catalog of key items from the collection of original garments and textiles belonging to award-winning costume designer John Bright. He began to collect these historic pieces over fifty years ago in order to study their cut, construction and fabrics, and to develop the authentic style of costume design for which he and his costume house, Cosprop, are internationally renowned.
The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
MSc, History of Art, Theory and Display
Image Collections
https://images.is.ed.ac.uk/
Archive and Manuscript collections contain documentary evidence for understanding a wide range of people, places, knowledge and learning. They contain a strong focus on Scottish culture and detailed pioneering research, and literary,scientific and medical work through the University's own archive and Lothian Health Services Archive.
University of Brighton, Brighton, England
University of Brighton Design Archives
https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/brightondesignarchives/category/browse-our-archives/
The University of Brighton Design Archives is an internationally significant research base with a curatorial team that initiates and promotes collaborative activity through a programme of projects. Founded on a scholarly resource focusing on British design and global design organizations in the twentieth century, we have been contributing substantially to the research profile of the University for over 20 years. The Design Archives welcome scholars and students from many academic disciplines researching the designed environment, the design profession and design practice.
University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, England
Goldsmiths Textile Collection & Constance Howard Gallery
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/CHS/search
The Goldsmiths Textile Collection & Constance Howard Gallery began life as the Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles (CHRRCT), which opened to the public for the first time in 2003. The Centre was awarded a three-year Resource Enhancement Grant from the then Arts and Humanities Research Board. In 2011 the CHRRCT was renamed Goldsmiths Textile Collection & Constance Howard Gallery and came under the auspices of Special Collections, Goldsmiths Library. The Collection was formed in the 1980s by Audrey Walker, the then head of the Department of Textiles. At the Collection’s core are the personal and prized textiles of Constance Howard, an avid collector and the College’s first tutor in textiles (after whom the Gallery is named), as well as her teaching notes and experimental samples, created by her students at Goldsmiths from the late 1940s until her retirement in 1975.
UAL (University of the Arts London) - London College of Fashion, London, England
https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-fashion
UAL - London College of Fashion - The Woolmark Company
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/LCFWOOL/search
The International Wool Secretariat, now The Woolmark Company, was established in 1937 to undertake research and the global promotion of wool. To that end, they built up a large library of promotional photographs and accompanying press releases which they generously donated to the London College of Fashion in the 1980's when they relocated and were short of space. The two thousand or so black and white photographs date from the 1940's through to the early 1980's and capture both the fashion of the time and the style of photography.The press releases, which in some cases are still attached to the photographs, give additional information about the garments, designers/manufacturers, the photographer and any points of interest reflecting the promotional style and language of the time.
UAL: London College of Fashion - Victor Stiebel Archive
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/LCFVS
The London College of Fashion Victor Stiebel Archive includes three sketch books: Sketch Book of 1960-1961, Sketch Book of 1962 and 1963, and Victor Stiebel Ground Floor Collections 1961-1963. They were from his couture house in 17 Cavendish Square London W1 opened in 1958 and closed when he became ill in 1963. The sketches are in watercolor, pen and pencil and show full length front view books, with smaller sketches of the back and other details. Each sketch measures 17.5 x 21.5 cms .The are sub-divided into seasons and then suits and blouses, day dresses, (Ascot) and cocktail dresses, evening dresses and finally coats, with normally two sketches per page. The books were presented to the London College of Fashion by John Cavanagh (a contemporary of Stiebel) in 1997.
Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection
https://vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/ZR/search
The Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection provides unique open online access to images of 500 of the designer's iconic garments, for use in learning, teaching, and research. These designs were selected out of thousands of garments in the private archive of Zandra Rhodes, and cover her entire creative career from the late 1960s to the present day, with particular focus on her landmark collections of the 1970s and 1980s.
Google Arts and Culture: London College of Fashion
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/london-college-of-fashion
London College of Fashion, UAL is a world leader in fashion design, media and business education. We have been nurturing creative talent for over a century, offering courses in all things fashion.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Fashion
https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion
Spanning five centuries, our Fashion collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of dress in the world. Key items in the collection include rare 17th century gowns, 18th century ‘mantua’ dresses, 1930s evening wear, 1960s daywear and post-war couture.
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