In the days ahead, all of us at the FIDM Museum understand how important it will be to find connection virtually with your favorite cultural institutions. We are happy to provide several ways to interact digitally with our Museum; in addition to the resources listed below, we are excited to announce that our website and blog are undergoing a full redesign, and will launch later this year with a fresh new look. In the meantime, we invite you to join us online:
Start your journey right here on the FIDM Museum Blog, which launched in 2009- a forerunner in the Museum blog space! It is an essential part of our mission to share the FIDM Museum collection with the world, and the blog is the perfect medium to provide in-depth research about our 15,000+ objects. We also feature exhibition photos, costume designer interviews, event recaps, intern reports, and designer profiles; after 11 years of posts, we’ve covered extensive ground, making this the perfect place to dive into a research project.
The FIDM Museum is proud to be part of the Google Arts & Culture ‘We Wear Culture’ initiative, which includes digital collections from 180 fashion institutions around the world. This rich and comprehensive resource has 360 tours of our gallery spaces, online exhibitions, and photo albums of objects organized by category – including examples from the Michel Arnaud Fashion Photography Archive.
The FIDM Museum Online Collections is a digitized database where you can find object images and relevant information such as date, designer, and material. The database is divided into nine sections: Permanent Collection, Study Collection, Rudi Gernreich Archive, Versace Menswear Archive, Textile Collection, Jewelry Collection, Hollywood Costume Collection, Fragrance Collection, and Special Collections. For detailed instructions on utilizing this resource, visit this introductory post as well as our Frequently Asked Questions. The database represents only a portion of our total collection, but we are continuously adding to it – make sure to check back frequently!
Of course you can follow the FIDM Museum on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for up-to-date engaging content – exhibition tours, event announcements, detailed object photos, and so much more. We are particularly proud of our Unboxing Series, available to watch on Instagram Highlights. Each week, a FIDM Museum team member takes you behind-the-scenes of our storage to ‘unbox’ and explain an object, giving exclusive insight and access to the collection. Now at 50+ episodes, why not start with the first and catch up?
Perhaps you’re looking to settle in with more traditional media – we’ve got you covered there too! Curators Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson have authored two exhibition catalogues (with another on the way this year), both available via the FIDM Museum Shop. FABULOUS! Ten Years of FIDM Museum Acquisitions, 2000 – 2010 covers an extraordinary decade of collecting for our institution. This lavish book presents a selection of these acquisitions organized chronologically, representing over 200 years of fashionable men’s, women’s, and children’s attire. High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture celebrates the wardrobe of Betsy Bloomingdale, a FIDM Museum founding donor and International Best Dressed Hall of Fame icon. The catalogue features haute couture ensembles by designers such as Marc Bohan, Hubert de Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as fashion sketches and contemporary photographs. Bonus: watch The Couture Process, an excerpt from the accompanying High Style documentary!
However you decide to connect to the FIDM Museum, know that our team is here to share our collection and remain your trusted source for the study of fashion: past, present, and future.
FABULOUS! exhibition at the FIDM Museum, 2011
