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Past Exhibition: The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design
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It can be lonely at the top...especially if you're

It can be lonely at the top...especially if you're a 19th-century adventuress! Have a look at @dixonmemphis, the latest venue for our exhibition, *Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960.* We love how our 1890s mountaineering ensemble has been creatively elevated to summit-striking distance...

If you find yourself in Memphis, Tennessee, we hope you'll stop by the Dixon Gallery and Gardens to see the exhibition, on now through October 16...let us know if she reached the peak!
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Let's hear those hands clapping for Patrick Kelly

Let's hear those hands clapping for Patrick Kelly on his birthday! Check out this process video demonstrating how to make a conservation-friendly wire hand; this technique comes in "handy" when you have to prep gloves for exhibition displays. Mannequins have rigid, inflexible fingers which can make putting gloves on tricky; or, sometimes, they have "paddle" hands with no finger articulations. In these cases, we prefer to remove the original hands and make our own!

Photographs were taken by curator Kevin Jones on his recent trip to install this Patrick Kelly glove (Fall/Winter 1986-87, Gift of Steven & Linda Plochocki) at Crystal Bridges—their grand exhibition, *Fashioning America: From Grit to Glamour,* features an entire button ensemble by this designer from our collection. It's one of 17–yes, seventeen—FIDM Museum loans now on view there!
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#patrickkelly @crystalbridgesmuseum @lovefashionhistory #blackdesigners #blackfashiondesigner #blackdesigner #buttons #museumprofessionals #tricksofthetrade #mannequins #fashionbirthday #otd #1980s #80s #1980sfashion #20thcenturyfashion #twentiethcenturyfashion #modernfashion #americanfashion #americandesigner #fashiondesigner #fashiondesign #fidmmuseum #fashionhistory #fashionmuseum #fashioncollection #museumcollection #fashion #fashionliveshere #fashionreel #fashionreels #fashiontiktok

We love a dramatic, autumnal palette, flashing wit

We love a dramatic, autumnal palette, flashing with all the colors of falling foliage...tag your friends if you're excited to get dressed up for fall!
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Shoe & Purse Set by Saks Fifth Avenue, c. 1958
Gift of Mrs. Carita Kadison
2003.792.8A-C
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So, you're saying my hat's too big? Within the re

So, you're saying my hat's too big?

Within the realm of 18th- and 19th-century satirical fashion plates such as this, the more absurd, the better! Poking fun of fashionable foibles typically took aim at the sizes, proportions, and shapes men and women adopted to look their best. Here, the satirist played up the sizable hat gracing the subject's head—large enough to support a bevy of dandies. The caption puns on this arrangement, stating "Our modern ladies heads are fill'd with Bows." Get it?!

Bows or beaux, that's some exceptional millinery!
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Satirical Fashion Print from Beau Monde, 1829
FIDM Museum Special Collections
SC2014.5.109
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How to sizzle on the dance floor: get yourself int

How to sizzle on the dance floor: get yourself into a beaded whisp of jersey by Stephen Burrows!

We’re celebrating @stephenburrowsworld birthday by sharing a recent acquisition: an unusual hand-beaded example of his work from the late 1970s. He fashioned his signature material, silk jersey, into a slim, fluttering slip that skims the (underwear-less!) body, and rises provocatively on one side. Spaghetti straps keep it spare, but that beading is a flash of maximalism perfect for the dance floor. The jewel toned beads of differing textures and sizes are embroidered to fan out over the breasts and dip towards the navel; the pattern seems reminiscent of Egyptian ornament, which was in vogue in this era, and also part of the visual vocabulary of Afrofuturism. Can’t you just imagine @patcleveland shimmying the night away in this at a steamy disco?

This dress seems so timeless and yet so of its time. We'd love to know what you think. Would you wear?
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Evening Dress by Stephen Burrows, late 1970s
Gift of Stephen Porterfield
2022.897.
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On September 5, 2022, both "chapters" of the Costu

On September 5, 2022, both "chapters" of the Costume Institute's latest exhibitions—In America: A Lexicon of Fashion and
In America: An Anthology of Fashion—closed, and our loans will come home to roost. Earlier in the summer, our Digital Media & Content Manager, Leigh Wishner, visited the exhibitions in person to take in the splendor of this nation's fashion spanning from the 19th century to now. Her observations? "As a devotee of 'The American Look' and of designers from across the country, these companion exhibitions gave this American fashion lover much to digest and enjoy! It was especially rewarding to see our loans in such excellent company. Our blue silk Oscar de la Renta evening gown (at right) was featured 'in action' within Tom Ford's dynamic conceptualization of the historic 1973 fashion show known as the 'Battle of Versailles,' the transatlantic fashion face-off which crystalized the moment when the USA seized its rightful spot on the global fashion stage. In a Matrix-meets-martial arts blur, Ford staged this battle within the circular Panoramic View of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles room of the American Wing, and from what we can tell this was the most popular room on social media! Downstairs, I paused for a photo with our Rudi Gernreich unisex jumpsuit from 1970—and was impressed once again by the ultra-contemporary feel of this unconventional, California-based designer's work. This svelte suit was paired with the word 'OPTIMISM' and that sums up how I feel about American fashion." We have every reason to feel optimistic about our stand-out loans being appreciated in these significant Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions!
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Today marks the end of an era: with the passing of

Today marks the end of an era: with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, so, too, comes to a close the longest reign of any British monarch to date.

These photos in our Special Collections of the Queen were captured by Sir Cecil Beaton, who photographed Britain’s Royal Family over four decades. The highlight of his royal commissions came on June 2, 1953 during Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Beaton took the new, 25-year-old Queen’s official portrait, and was given only twenty minutes for the important sitting. Although it looks as though she's seated in Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony occurred, she is actually posed in a drawing room at Buckingham Palace with a painted backdrop behind her. Later portraits shot by Beaton introduced a simple, dramatic aesthetic. The 1960s portrait shows the Queen standing against a plain white background, with contrast and shadow giving additional dimension to the stark setting. The pensive portrait is graceful, thoughtful, and mature–a perfect reflection of the Queen.
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Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Portrait by Cecil Beaton, 1953

Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton, 1960s

Gift of Joan Beer Damask & Donald Damask
SC2013.1250.34 & SC2013.1250.29
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Congratulations to the winners of the annual Emmys

Congratulations to the winners of the annual Emmys Creative Arts awards in Costume Design!

🏆 Winner, Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
Costume Designer: Laura Montgomery
Assistant Costume Designer: Barbara Cardoso
Costume Supervisor: Judy Laukkanen
@theshadowsfx

🏆 Winner, Outstanding Contemporary Costumes
HACKS
Costume Designer: Kathleen Felix-Hager
Costume Supervisor: Karen Bellamy
@hacks

🏆 Winner, Outstanding Period Costumes
THE GREAT
Costume Designer: Sharon Long
Assistant Costume Designers: Anna Cavaliere, Bobbie Edwards
Costume Supervisor: Viveene Campbell
@thegreathulu

The Emmys will be televised on September 12, but we don't need to wait on that to celebrate the achievements of these winning teams. We have selections from each of these (and so many more!) in our Art of Costume Design in Television exhibition—come by and see these winners if/when you're in Los Angeles! Head to our website to plan your visit...
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