OCTOBER 13, 2007 - JANUARY 5, 2008
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Chic Chicago
provides the rare opportunity to see 50 of the greatest couture
treasures from the collection of the Chicago History Museum,
ranging from Gilded Age gowns by Worth and Pingat to modern
masterpieces by Chanel and Schiaparelli. Naturally, there are
also fashions by Chicago’s own great designers, Charles James
and Mainbocher. Although the Chicago History Museum originally collected these objects for the purpose of documenting their city’s history, they also illuminate the history of fashion. It is because they belong to the canon of great fashion masterpieces that they were chosen for this exhibition. At a time when museums’ fashion exhibitions arouse tremendous popular interest, the Chicago History Museum’s emphasis on provenance provides important and fascinating information not always available in other exhibitions, often drawn primarily from the designers’ personal archives. Among the ensembles that testify to Chicago’s sense of style are Mrs. Robert McCormick Adams’ Lanvin wedding dress, several lavishly embroidered Callot Soeurs dresses from the wardrobe of Mrs. Potter Palmer II, and a Balenciaga evening gown worn by Clare Booth Luce. Indeed, the entire exhibition is a testimony to the great women of style who supported innovative fashion designers and entrusted their clothes to a museum that would preserve them for future generations. Chic Chicago is a true museological
collaboration which was jointly organized by the Chicago History
Museum and The Museum at FIT. Knowing that fashion is a subject
of tremendous popular interest, and believing that the couture
treasures of the Chicago History Museum deserve to be seen by
the widest possible national and international audience, we
decided to pool our strengths. Since New York City is America’s
fashion capital and the Museum at FIT is New York’s most
fashionable museum, this seemed to be an ideal venue to showcase
Chicago’s exceptional collection. Only a few individual pieces
from CHM have ever been shown in New York City (most recently in
the Poiret exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Even
in Chicago, there has never been a comparable exhibition of
couture masterpieces from the permanent collection. |
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Website design by Tamsen Schwartzman |
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