Exhibitions

CURRENT Virtual Exhibition Ongoing

All That Glitters...

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torso detail of dress made of glittery and metallic beige/gold tone rectangles chained together

FIT's School of Graduate Studies, in collaboration with The Museum at FIT, presents All That Glitters…, a virtual exhibition conceived and organized by graduate students in FIT's MA Fashion and Textiles Studies program. All that glitters is not gold—it can be any medium that catches the light, shines, and reflects. The post-World War II era saw a blossoming of new textiles and technologies that changed the relationship between fashion materials and light. All That Glitters… explores surfaces that shine, focusing on themes of material production, social and financial values, and conservation. It examines not only the bright side of these materials, but also their darker side–including their environmental impact and their use in protests, such as "glitter bombing."  

Image: Paco Rabanne, evening dress, plastic and metal, 1969, France, gift of Montgomery Ward, 81.48.2

Upcoming Goodman Lobby June 14 - July 13, 2025

Syndicate XVI

illustration of lightning tower being struck with lightning

The 2025 MFA Illustration Visual Thesis Exhibition, Syndicate XVI, represents the culmination of three years of graduate study for the FIT MFA candidates. Over two semesters, each graduating student develops and executes a unique body of work that showcases the technical exploration, artistic growth, academic research, and professional focus developed during their time in the program. The exhibition consists of traditional and digital illustration, animation, video games, entertainment production art, graphic novels, and picture books. 

Upcoming Special Exhibitions Gallery September 10, 2025 – January 4, 2026

Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis

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photograph of seated woman wrapped in translucent tulle, eyes covered with embroidered eyes, pearls for teeth, and holding a pink knit doll

Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis is the first exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis. Curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT, the exhibition will feature approximately 100 looks by designers such as Alexander McQueen, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni and Donatella Versace, John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture, Rick Owens, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, and many more. Described by Suzy Menkes as "the Freud of Fashion," Steele has spent more than five years working on this exhibition and the accompanying book, which draws on the evolution of psychoanalytic ideas about sexuality and the unconscious, with sections devoted to themes such as the mirror stage, the skin ego, desire, and sexual difference.

Image: Photograph by Elizaveta Porodina of artist Alisa Gorshenina. Courtesy of photographer.

 

UPCOMING Special Exhibitions Gallery February – April 2026

Art X Fashion

tshirt with red sleeves and printed illustration of black man wearing a green shirt with red sleeves
Art X Fashion is a major exhibition exploring the entangled and shifting relationship between fine art and fashion – typically considered a "decorative" or "applied" art. Curated by Dr. Elizabeth Way, Curator of Costume and Accessories, and featuring 140 garments, textiles, and accessories from The Museum at FIT’s permanent collection, this exhibition traces fashion and art's parallel aesthetics from 18th century rococo to late-20th century postmodernism. Utilizing the theoretical framework developed by art and fashion historian Dr. Christopher Richards, Art X Fashion invites viewers to consider the much-asked question, "Is fashion art?" through historic and contemporary examples. Further themes explore the overlapping art-and-fashion work of artists – such as Salvador Dalí, Sonia Delauney, Kerry James Marshall, Antionio Lopez, and Pablo Picasso – and fashion designers, including Hussein Chalayan, Issey Miyake, Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Vivienne Tam, as well as the ways artists use fashion to shape their identities and expand their cultural significance.

Image: Wales Bonner X Kerry James Marshall, cotton t-shirt reproducing Lost Boys: AKA Black Sonny (1993) by Kerry James Marshall, spring 2023, museum purchase, 2022.55.1

 

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Museum Publications

MFIT on the Road

The Museum at FIT often loans objects from its permanent collections to other institutions for use in exhibitions. Check out what venue is featuring MFIT on the road.
What's traveling?
Floor-length evening dress on a mannequin in color block, layered chiffon tiers.
Stephen Burrows evening dress, polyester, 1973, USA, gift of Mrs. Savanna Clark, 99.15.1

There’s no shame in living in the past

We have an archive of over ten years of exhibition websites. Take some time to explore our curatorial history!
Catch up on past exhibitions

 

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