New Acquisitions
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Juan Pereira and Andrés Jordan, the designers behind the Bolivian fashion label Juan
de la Paz, are committed to working with Indigenous communities to preserve ancestral
techniques and bring visibility to artisans. By partnering with artisans, Juan de
la Paz provides them with a voice, agency, and economic opportunities.
Artisans from several communities of the Kallawaya Nation collaborated to create this
cape, each responsible for a different aspect of its manual production. Over six months,
they hand-sheared the wool, applied natural dyes, and used traditional weaving techniques,
making group decisions at every step. To honor this collective endeavor, Juan de la
Paz named the cape after the Kallawaya Nation.
This cape was on view in the 2023 exhibition Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design.
Among the "typical" dreams Sigmund Freud cited were "embarrassing dreams of being
naked." But why should nakedness be embarrassing? It is true that the naked human
body has often been associated with shame, while clothing has been justified on the
grounds of modesty. However, in ancient Greece, nakedness was sometimes idealized.
Young male athletes performed nude publicly, but female nudity was largely restricted
to the private sphere – and to art. This Lanvin dress features the image of a classical
Greek statue of a nude, pointing to the two ideal fantasies – one clothed, one not.
This dress was on view in the 2025 exhibition Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis.
Helmut Lang launched a denim line in 1996 at a time when jean jackets were coming back into fashion. His version stayed true to his design sensibility, which paired simplicity with a hint of subversion. The wide, rolled cuffs that bedeck this otherwise classic style became one of the designer's signatures.
This jacket was on view in the 2024 exhibition Statement Sleeves.
Aristide Loua named his Birth of Cool collection for American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis's 1957 album as "an ode to the cultural, musical achievements of Africans and the African Diaspora in the post-colonial era." The vibrant colors of the fabrics, hand-woven by Ivorian artisans, are bold celebrations of diasporic musicians from Fela Kuti of Nigeria to Americans John Coltrane, Nina Simone, and Curtis Mayfield. Loua emphasizes music's vital role in celebrating Black solidarity and resilience, "These legends were ready to live and party all night and day, and amidst the ongoing terrors of systemic racism and neo-colonialism."
This suit was on view in the 2024 exhibition Africa's Fashion Diaspora.
Below are the types of objects in the collections of The Museum at FIT.
The accessories collection consists of approximately 15,000 objects that date from the mid-17th century to the present day. The collection has a particularly strong emphasis on designer accessories from the second half of the 20th century.
The accessories collection is supported by the Solomon-Sloan Endowment Fund, which was established in 2005 to facilitate the acquisition, conservation, documentation and exhibition of accessories.
- The footwear collection contains more than 4,000 pairs of shoes, boots and sandals. It includes examples by designers such as Manolo Blahnik, Roger Vivier, Herbert Levine, and Salvatore Ferragamo.
- The millinery collection contains more than 3,000 hats by famous milliners such as Caroline Reboux, Lilly Daché, Halston and Philip Treacy. There are also many examples from designers such as Christian Dior, Balenciaga and Jacques Fath.
- <The handbag collection includes fine examples by luxury houses such as Hermés and Gucci as well as examples by Roberta di Camerino, Judith Leiber and Bonnie Cashin for Coach.
- Other accessories include fans, gloves, belts, hosiery and costume jewelry.
The Costume Collection consists of more than 50,000 objects dating from the mid-18th century to the present. The strength of the collection lies in its 20th-century holdings and, particularly, in couture and ready-to-wear women's clothing. The collections are currently being computerized to facilitate research.
- The costume collection includes fashion by designers such as Azzedine Alaïa, Balenciaga, Chanel, Comme des Garçons, Dior, Galanos, Halston, Charles James, Norell, Paul Poiret, Yves Saint Laurent, and Vivienne Westwood.
- The Halston Archives and Study Room hold designs, patterns, and related records documenting this important designer's life work.
- The menswear collection features some 2,000 garments ranging from formal to activewear, including suits, coats, vests, and uniforms.
- Also included are swimwear, lingerie, outerwear, and knitwear.
The Textile Collection consists of more than 30,000 textiles dating from the fifth century to the present, and includes the work of artists and designers such as Junichi Arai, Salvador Dali, Raoul Dufy, and William Morris.
- The textile collection includes apparel and home furnishing fabrics, embroideries, and shawls.
- The collection also includes a number of ribbon sample books.
- The J.B. Martin Velvet Room archives handwoven and production velvets spanning a 125-year period.
The Photography Archive features the work of fashion photographers Louise-Dahl Wolfe (1895-1989), who produced 86 cover images and thousands of interior shots for Harper’s Bazaar magazine, and John Rawlings (1912-1970), who had more than 200 Vogue and Glamour magazine covers.
Image: Louise Dahl-Wolfe photograph of model Sandra Payson. Featured in Harper’s Bazaar, March 1947, page 205, gift of Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 74.84.54
For those looking for the Herman Landshoff collection, the archive has been transferred
to:
Munchner Stadtmuseum
Sammlungsleiter Fotomuseum
St.-Jakobs-Pl. 1
80331 Munchen
The contact for the collection is:
Dr. Ulrich Pohlmann
Tel.: 089/233-22948
Fax.: 089/233-27969
email.: [email protected]