A Visit to the Fashion Museum NYC

The Museum at FIT Helps Visitors Understand History through Fashion

Entering the Museum at FIT (fully known as the Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York City, I am not really certain what to expect. Clothes, of course. But would outfits from past and present be enough to keep someone not remotely involved in the fashion industry interested? Will not particularly fashionable visitors be sustained by what they see? And can someone not especially knowledgeable about couture or clothing in general really appreciate a display of it?

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A Small Museum in Manhattan Focuses on Fashion

The Museum at FIT is a small museum, and admission is free. I happen to catch the Fabric in Fashion exhibit, which is running through May 11, 2019. Women’s clothing from the 1700s to the present teaches museum-goers a bit about the past and the present.

Mannequins wearing poofy, layered, long dresses from the olden days stand near more contemporary ones adorned in mod wool coats. Pick your era—which one’s fashion do you prefer? And which era’s fashion would you fit into?

Some of the pieces from the 1700s and 1800s feature impossibly small waists.

Fashion Consciousness: What Is Your Dress Made Of?

Details about fabrics used in the various ensembles are explained throughout the exhibit. Consumers in eras past seem to have been much more knowledgeable about differences in fabrics, about variations in their uses, about their steadfastness and color-fastness, than those of today.

That people then knew so much about fabric makes sense.

Consumers in centuries past likely were involved in the selection of cloth and the actual making of a garment, even if they were outsourcing its manufacture to a professional.

Imagine talking to a dress maker today about the merits of tulle versus taffeta!

Contemplate the likelihood of what you wear every day—or even on special occasions—surviving intact for another 200 years. Would you be able to Marie Kondo your closet if you had sewn everything in it? Or would you be disinclined to dispose of possessions made by someone you know?

 

History and Politics in Fashion

I appreciate most the exhibit’s discussion of cotton, which mentions the use of slave labor in the United States. Some unfortunate decisions the British Empire made after overtaking India also are covered. Even fashion, and fabric, is not without politics and war and exploitation.

The exhibit’s placards offer glimpses into the past. Sometimes those exhibit notes feature amusing explanations. Velvet used in an 1890s dress is described as fur-like and welcoming in a society where human touching was frowned upon. But these anecdotes, and the contrast of styles through the centuries, do indeed make this novice linger and appreciate the evolution of fashion and technology’s role in its development.

Fashion Tourism?

The clothing displayed brings people from the past more to the present. Seeing what predecessors wore, and observing similarities between what we wear and what they had, makes them more real and understandable. Maybe other museums should incorporate the clothing of the times and of people of all strata into their own exhibits.

I probably spend an hour looking at all of the outfits and find the time to be well-spent.

Museum at FIT Fashion Tips

• Visitors to the Museum at FIT may photograph the Fabric in Fashion Exhibit.
• The Fashion Institute of Technology is a state university of New York.
• Check out the campus bookstore after visiting the museum for FIT gear, books on crafts and fashion, and art supplies.
• The traveling set might think about how well clothes—their own or fashions from the past—travel. If you have a big poofy long dress, do you cram it into carry-on luggage? Do you steam or press clothing when traveling? Or is your wardrobe wash-and-wear?

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at West 27th Street, New York, N.Y. 10001.

—Lori Tripoli

Lori Tripoli is the editor and publisher of Bashful Adventurer. Based in the New York City vicinity, she writes about travel for a variety of publications. Contact Lori at loritripoli@bashfuladventurer.com.

Are you looking for small museums in Manhattan? You might like these posts:

• Make Time for the Tenement Museum
• Melting-Pot Museum
• The Unexpected at the New York Historical Society
• Rainy Day Manhattan: Museums for when the Met Is Too Crowded
• Beyond the New York Public Library: The Morgan

 

Have you visited the FIT Museum? What did you like about it?