The Most Fashionable Museum: The Museum at FIT
Fashion has never appealed to the masses more since Project Runway came to television. New York City is a fashion mecca from its Madison Avenue boutiques to Fashion Week twice a year. It’s only right that New York City also have a museum dedicated to fashion: The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
The Museum at FIT is a tiny slice of the Fashion Institute of Technology, part of the State University of New York. The museum’s mission is to “collect, conserve, document, exhibit, and interpret fashion.” The museum’s permanent collection includes over 50,000 articles and is divided into an accessories collection, a costume collection, and a textile collection that date from the 18th-century to present. The museum is always acquiring new items, some of its newest acquisitions include a beautiful white organza, silk tulle, and feather dress by Rodarte. Rotating exhibitions feature photography, clothing, textiles, and accessories. Student art from FIT is also shown at the museum.
The current temporary exhibition is Arbiters of Style: Women at the Forefront of Fashion. The exhibition focuses on the women who have shaped the course of fashion: from the work of female designers to clothing and accessories worn by female department store executives, influential clients, magazine editors, muses, and models. Items included will be a gown, circa 1770, designed by Anna Maria Garthwaite and a Chanel suit worn by legendary fashion photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Arbiters of Style: Women at the Forefront of Fashion will be on display through November 8, 2008.
The best bargain in fashion can be found at the Museum at FIT, free admission!
Location: Museum at FIT, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street (map), (212) 217-4560
Subway: 1 to 28th Street; R, W to 28th Street
Days and Hours: Tuesday-Friday Noon-8pm; Saturday 10am-5pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays.
Cost: Free
Check out last week’s Museum Monday post on the Merchant’s House Museum. Museum Monday continues next week with a post on the the New York Transit Museum.
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Central Park, NY
June 18th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
For a second there I thought I saw MIT. LOL. Oooh Chanel!!
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
[...] out last week’s Museum Monday post on the Museum at Fashion Institute of America. Museum Monday continues next week with a post on the the New Museum of Contemporary [...]
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Hi Jenny, Too funny! Though a museum at MIT may have some interesting things as well!