The stories told by art hold the ability to overcome temporal distances and to drift across continental borders. Throughout history, man has relied heavily on art to unveil fading cultural trajectories, regarding it as a monumental recollection of the past that eventually leads into a foreshadowing of repetition and nuance. The artifact that grasped my […]
21st Century Fashion History
Winter Wedding in Pink
The Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection was founded in 1915 by Professor Beulah Blackmore to better educate students about world dress, couture fashion, functional design, ready-to-wear, and textile arts. We continue to collect items that exemplify these goals and occasionally we receive pieces that not only encapsulate fashion’s reach but also commemorate the makers and […]
APPLY for the Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship in the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection
We invite Cornell students to apply for the Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship in the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC). Award winners will be given the opportunity to conduct research about a topic of their choice and curate a fashion exhibition in the Human Ecology Building Display Cases, located on Level T of the Human […]
The Perfectly Imperfect Circle
Blog post by Allie Malakoff ’20 and dedicated to the class of 2020. It is physically impossible to draw a perfect circle. Inevitably, one half will be lopsided or the point where each end meets is revealed by the slight adjustment of one side to reach the other. As an elementary school kid with the […]
Aloha Shirts
Blog post by Georgia Hausmann ’21. It is not uncommon to see a plethora of viscose or cotton-polyester Aloha or Hawaiian-style shirts on the way to the beach, or when walking into the resort section of a clothing store. In fact, I would say it’s a common sight. I once loved digging through boxes of […]
WOMEN EMPOWERED: Fashions from the Frontline
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 7, 2018 Contact: costume@cornell.edu Location: Human Ecology Building, Level T Display Cases Hours: 8 AM – 8 PM on weekdays, 9 AM – 4 PM on weekends We are always free and open to the public! Exhibition, WOMEN EMPOWERED: Fashions from the Frontline, features items worn by prominent activists, politicians, artists, […]
Nixon Speaker Preview: Shravan Kummar
Blog post by Samantha Kirsch ’18. Back in January, sixteen FSAD students had the opportunity to visit India to look at the apparel supply chain. We visited both large factories and small scale production facilities, and I was personally drawn to the stories of those working to revitalize traditional craft and textile production. The revival […]
Undergraduate Research Assistant Profile: Rachel Doran ’19
Name: Rachel Doran Class year: 2019 Major: Fiber Science and Apparel Design – Fashion Design Management When did you begin working in the collection and what inspired you to join the CCTC? I started working in the collection spring semester of my freshman year. I actually found out about the collection when I was visiting […]
Dykes in the City: An interview with founder, Nicky Cutler
Blog post by Denise N. Green ’07 It was the summer of 2006 and I was in the thick of curating a costume exhibition about Ithaca’s fashioned youth subcultures when I met Nicky Cutler. Nicky had started a clothing brand, DITC (Dykes in the City), and back in 2006 you couldn’t throw a rock in […]
From the Runway to the Bleachers: A Review of #thenewCFC
Review by Amanda Denham, MA ’17 *The opinions expressed in this blog post are of the author, Amanda Denham, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection* It was an evening of high drama. After all, fashion has the potential to disrupt, transform, excite, amuse, betray, beautify, and to destroy. […]
The Cornell Fashion Collective & The Cornell Costume and Textile Collection: An Ongoing History
Blog post by Katie Williams ’20 From folding tables taped together to make a runway to a professional production and staged show, the Cornell Fashion Collective has transformed over the past 34 years. The Cornell Fashion Collective, formerly the Cornell Design League, is a student-run organization that was founded to provide members of the Cornell […]
The Power of a Winter Coat
Blog post by Amanda Dubin ’18 As all Cornell students and alumni know, surviving a harsh Ithaca winter is challenging. The streets are constantly covered in snow, which soon turns to slush and eventually freezes over into ice. Going to school in Ithaca, NY, it is no surprise that students pile on layers just to […]