Behind the Music
In honor of Museum Week, we are excited to share the story behind one of the most exquisite and rare objects in our collection: Austrian composer and pianist Johann Hummel's three-piece court suit, dating to 1810-14! The ensemble was donated by a... Read Article ››

Museum Week
FIDM Museum is proud to participate in Museum Week, an international social media initiative to go behind-the-scenes of your favorite cultural institutions. From March 28 to April 4, a daily theme will bring you new insight about the inner-workings of... Read Article ››

Butterflies By Night
While butterflies often symbolize springtime, lightness, and new beginnings, these pieces in the FIDM Museum collection refashion them as creatures of the night, equally at home in the darkness of winter. Evening SuitElsa Schiaparelli, ParisFall/Winter... Read Article ››

Ralph Rucci
Ralph Rucci's (b. 1957) designs are as monumental as they are intricate, meant for a cerebral clientele. His inspirations often come from the fine art world–Cy Twombly paintings or Richard Serra sculptures. Rucci launched his eponymous line, Chado... Read Article ››

Shaping the Romantic Era
Set between the glories of Napoleon Bonaparte's rule and Queen Victoria's namesake era was the age of Romanticism, a time of heightened emotional expression, intense nationalism, and widespread interest in the medieval period. Delicate bonnets and... Read Article ››

Vain as a Peacock
Society ladies maintained highly structured social lives in the years leading up to World War I, requiring many different types of clothing. After doffing her morning dress, a lady might change into an afternoon suit for a stroll, choosing an outfit that... Read Article ››

What I Wish I Wore on My Summer Vacation
American clothing manufacturers looked to Europe for design inspiration in the years before World War II; London for tailored daywear and Paris for elaborate eveningwear. Not until combat closed France's borders were American designers, such as Claire... Read Article ››

Just Add Water, Part II
In keeping with this week's beachy blog theme, here is a very different swimsuit, made of equally impractical materials. The publicity surrounding the scandalous bikini (introduced in 1946) had subsided by the 1960s, but not the carnal delight in gazing... Read Article ››

Just Add Water, Part I
It's the first day of summer vacation for FIDM students! Where better place to spend it than the beach? This Jazz Age man's swimsuit from the FIDM Museum collection is hardly recognizable as beachwear today. Gender-segregated swimming hours were... Read Article ››

Color to the Max
Stephen Burrows (b. 1943) became one of the first African-American fashion designers to achieve international fame when he participated with four other American designers in a fashion show held at the Palace of Versailles in 1973. The landmark... Read Article ››

Lazy Daisies of Summer
A native of Georgia, milliner Archie Eason served in the Coast Guard before becoming a stock boy in the Cohen Brothers department store in Jacksonville, Florida, in the early 1950s. With no formal training or experience, he quickly earned a promotion to the... Read Article ››

From Farm to Fashion
Improvements in European agriculture during the first decades of the nineteenth century resulted in a glut of straw, a by-product of cereal crops such as barley and wheat. Straw found its way from the farm to fashion due to its seemingly endless supply,... Read Article ››
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