Fashion & Textile Collection
Mission
The University of Delaware Fashion and Textile Collection engages and inspires the University community and beyond through its collection and study of the uses and meanings of clothing and textiles.
For more information, contact:
Dilia Lopez-Gydosh, dlopezgy@udel.edu
About
The University of Delaware Fashion and Textile Collection was organized in 1971. Managed by and located in the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, the Collection consists of over 4,000 women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing items, as well as textiles from the 18th through the 21st centuries.
Vision
The University of Delaware Fashion and Textile Collection seeks to provide opportunities for hands-on experiential learning and research to promote the understanding and appreciation of dress as an expression of human creativity, values, and personal identity, a source of technological innovation, and a venue of global economic activity. The Collection seeks to share its results with audiences both within and beyond the University community.
COLLECTION
The Collection consists of over 4,000 items. It features 1,750 garments, including fashion designer apparel and accessories, ethnic apparel, and regional dress and textiles representative of Delaware, the Delaware Valley, and the University of Delaware. Among the earliest gems are a pre-Columbian hat, an 1810 Quaker woman’s dress, a 15th century embroidered chasuble, a late 18th century calash, an 1837 men’s court suit, and a wedding dress from 1845.
The Collection boasts designer pieces from Arnold Scaasi, Adrian, Christian Dior, Valentino, Balenciaga, James Galanos, and Givenchy, to name a few. Garments come from six continents including traditional pieces from countries such as Mexico, China, Japan, Tibet, the Balkans, Russia, and India. Of particular interest are ethnic garments collected by Henry Francis du Pont in his travels, donated by the Winterthur Museum.
The Collection also houses approximately 1,600 accessories. These include 250 pairs of shoes ranging from 1850s women’s side-lacing silk ankle boots to Tibetan men’s yak hair boots; 100 handbags; and 400 hats—from Stetsons to a portrait hat by designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
Digital Exhibitions
"The Way We Wore: An Exhibition of Clothing and Memory"
August 2015
Curated by Sequoia D. Barnes (M.S., Fashion Studies '15) with contributions from Dilia López-Gydosh (Curator of the Collection)
"The Way We Wore" is a digital exhibition launched in August 2015. It features garments from the last seventy years accompanied by conversations with their owners or those close to them. The memories they shared showcase the significance of dress to individual identity and human culture as a whole.
The digital exhibition inspired a physical version with the same title, which featured select garments and excerpts from the conversations.
"Swim Style: A Digital History in Swimwear "
January 2015
Curated by Sequoia D. Barnes (M.S., Fashion Studies '15) with contributions from Dilia López-Gydosh (Curator of the Collection) and Belinda Orzada (Professor, Fashion and Apparel Studies)
Inspired by the Collection's "Let's Swim[wear] through Time" exhibition, this digital exhibition explores the progression of swimwear styles throughout history via print media, video clips, and artifacts from the HCTC. It features the evolution of swimwear, emphasizing its consistent purpose of balancing modesty and utility.
"Nomadic Woman: Bonnie Cashin - A Digital Retrospective"
May 2014
Curated by Sequoia D. Barnes (M.S., Fashion Studies '15)
Nomadic Woman is a digital exhibition highlighting Bonnie Cashin's design aesthetic and some of her innovative contributions to the fashion industry. It features garments and sketches from the Collection's Bonnie Cashin collection.
Collaborations
Inside of the University
The Fashion and Textile Collection collaborates with professors and students at the University of Delaware. Objects from the Collection provide design inspiration, research, and preservation training opportunities.
Outside the University
The Fashion and Textile Collection collaborated with the Chemical Heritage Foundation, for an exhibit entitled "Second Skin, The Science of Stretch." The exhibit explores the history and science behind the innovation of materials to help make the wearer look better, feel better, and athletes perform better with products that stretch. Garments from the Fashion and Textile Collection were selected to show the evolution of stretch in such categories as legwear, swimwear and intimate apparel. Dilia López-Gydosh, curator of the FTC said that "The pieces selected for the exhibit reflect how innovation in fibers and fabrics were interpreted in the trends over the past century".
