Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice
The rich history of fashion and textiles has inspired an exciting new field of study and diverse interpretations. But what makes FIT’s Master of Arts program unique is the best-in-class object-based training that turns theory and history into practice.
You’ll have access to The Museum at FIT, world-renowned for its comprehensive holdings, and the Gladys Marcus Library, with its extensive Special Collections supporting original research in fashion studies. Not to mention that you’ll be in the heart of New York City, home to a vast array of museums, galleries, and cultural institutions.
Information Sessions
Information Sessions will take place on the following dates. Click on a date and time to register for the session.
Program
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice MA
Combine the study of fashion and textile history with hands-on training in the conservation, storage, and display of costumes and textiles. You’ll engage in rigorous historical research based on primary sources and you’ll learn how to identify fibers and weaves, the best practices for handling and storing costumes and textiles, and how to mount textiles and dress mannequins. You’ll also study collections management and exhibition planning and design, and you’ll apply these skills in a required internship. By the end, you’ll work with fellow students to plan and implement an exhibition in The Museum at FIT.
Our Work
Discover how our students, alumni, and faculty blend theory, practice, and creativity to bring fashion history to the world.
Beyond Utility, an exhibition organized by 15 Fashion and Textile Studies students, explored what happens when garments that are designed for protection, durability, and labor move beyond necessity and into the realm of fashion.
Sponsored by FIT's School of Graduate Studies and the Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice MA program, Fashion Over 50: Women’s Self-Images, Shopping Frustrations, and Solutions explored how to better design for and market to this underserved demographic, with insights from experts in fashion forecasting, image consulting, design, media, and retail.
Looking for a unique gift? Visit Friends NYC, a Bushwick shop co-founded by Emma Kadar-Penner, Fashion and Textile Studies MA ’14. She and her team source their eclectic finds through moodboards, research, and buying trips—from major trade shows to hidden gems in places like Mexico City and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Fashion and Textile Studies chair and dress historian Hilary Davidson delivered a historical lecture on a topic on which she literally wrote the book: fashion in the age of Jane Austen.
In their second year, students collaborate with The Museum at FIT to create an exhibition.
The Women of Harper's Bazaar examined the three women who transformed the magazine from 1936 to 1958.
At Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Michelle Finamore ’97 curated groundbreaking exhibitions such as Gender Bending Fashion.
April Calahan ’09 and Cassidy Zachary ’12 launched Dressed, a fashion history podcast that Vogue called “Arguably the gold standard of fashion podcasting.”
Impact
Conserve. Curate. Create … Studying the history of fashion and textiles opens a world of opportunity to keep artifacts and art accessible for future generations.
Beyond the Degree
Graduates find positions as curators, collections managers, historic house directors, fashion and textile historians, costume and textile conservators, and consultants to the film industry, among many others.
Reconstructing George Washington's Inaugural Suit
Philip DePaola, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, '25, combined his interest in Colonial Williamsburg with his passion for tailoring by recreating one of George Washington’s silk suits from 1789.
Learn From the Best
Hilary Davidson is a dress, textiles, and fashion historian and curator, associate professor, and chair of Fashion and Textile Studies. Hilary trained as a bespoke shoemaker in her native Australia before completing a Master's degree in the History of Textiles and Dress. As a skilled and meticulous hand-sewer, she has created replica clothing projects for a number of institutions, including a ground-breaking copy of Jane Austen’s pelisse.
Over 20 years at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, June Burns Bové helped create many of the most memorable fashion exhibitions ever staged in New York, such as The Eighteenth-Century Woman, Vanity Fair, and The Belle Epoque. Burns Bové is textile conservator for Yeshiva University Museum and has been an adjunct member of the faculty since 1991, where her specialty is costume exhibition.
As an archivist, Byrd has worked on a wide range of projects for both private clients and large corporations including Condé Nast and Ralph Lauren, where she helped develop the menswear archive. She teaches graduate students and professionals at several institutions and is co-founder of the Fashion Studies Alliance.
Contact Us
Fashion and Textile Studies
Hilary Davidson
