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 Ecology Building during the 2024-2025 academic year. The late Dr. Charlotte A. Jirousek was the curator of the CF+TC (formerly the Cornell Costume Collection) and Associate Professor in the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design, 1992 – 2014. Professor Jirousek was passionate about integrating the CF+TC into the educational experience of Cornell students.  During her time at Cornell, she mentored hundreds of students who conducted research, curated exhibitions, and were employed in the CF+TC.  Thanks to a the generous support of alumni and friends, we will be able to support two fellowships in the 2025-2026 academic year.

Eligibility: Cornell University students (freshmen, sophomores, juniors and graduate students) are eligible to apply.  Unfortunately, seniors and graduate students completing degrees during the current academic year are not eligible to apply.  The selected student(s) will be awarded $5000 to mount a fashion exhibition during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Application Procedure & Required Documents:

1. Project Proposal: Include a proposal (no more than 1500 words) describing your research idea and how you anticipate sharing your findings through a curated fashion exhibition.  Please include a list of examples of items you hope to use from the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, as well as other sources (if applicable).
2. Budget: Include a budget outlining how you plan to spend the $5000.  We realize that this budget may change as your research and exhibition design develops.  Please indicate how you anticipate spending the money.  For example: you may need to travel to another museum, library, or archive to conduct further research; you may wish to borrow items from another museum or private collection (in which case you may have to pay a loan fee, transportation, and insurance costs on the items); you may wish to purchase an item to include in your exhibition (in this case, all items purchased with research funds must be accessioned as part of the CF+TC collection).  In addition, the student is responsible for installation costs related to the exhibit: e.g., printing high quality photographs, backdrops, labels, costs associated with photograph permissions and other materials required for installation (e.g., insect pins, adhesives, display props, etc.). If your budget deviates from the proposal significantly, a revised budget will be requested.
3. Timeline:  Please include a timeline that indicates how much time is needed to complete various project milestones, and the proposed date of exhibit installation.  Please outline how much time is required for research, research travel (if applicable), sourcing objects, exhibition design, and exhibition installation.  Please indicate the date you would like to begin installing your exhibition, and the ideal opening date. Please note that the earliest date for an exhibit opening is October 2025, and the latest date to propose opening your exhibit is May 2026.
4. References: Please include the names and contact details of two faculty references (letters of reference are not required).

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Catherine Kueffer Blumenkamp (ckb67@cornell.edu) to schedule a meeting. She will be happy to answer your questions, help you to understand what is available in the collection, and provide guidance about creating a budget, curatorial design, and etc.

Proposals are due Friday, 6 December 2024.  Students will be notified of the decision within one month, after the CF+TC Collections Advisory Committee and Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship Committee have been able to meet and review applications.

Previous Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship recipients include:

• Iris Luo, PhD Candidate (2024-2025) The Making of Barkcloth: Place, Gender & Trans-Local Community (September – November 2024)
• Dyese Matthews, PhD ’24 (2023-2024) Harlem Noire: Fashion, Movement, Moment & Memory (May – September 2024)
• Kat Robrts, PhD ’23 (2022-2023) The Past and Present Lives of Upcycled Fashion (May – September 2023)
• Colette Jarrell, ’25 (2022-2023) Life After: Material Manifestations of Loss (February – May 2023)
• Danielle Harris, ’22 (2021-2022) BEING FASHION | FASHION BEING, funded in part by Laura Bowman Gray (May – July 2022)
• Sophie Wang, ’21 (2020-2021) The Prep (May – August 2020)
• Audrey Perlman ’21 (2020-2021) Clothing Amidst Conflict: Womenswear During WWII (May – September 2021)
• Athanasiou Geolas, PhD ’22 (2019-20) Standards for a New Womanhood: Gender, Race, and Expertise (December 2020 – February 2021)
• Sian Brown, MA ’20 (2019-20) Black Excellence: Fashion that Prevails (February – May 2020)
• Tori Pietsch, ’19 (2018 – 2019) Revolution and Restraint: Reconstructing Masculinity Through Menswear (May – September 2019)
• Rachel Doran, ’19 (2017-2018) Go Figure: The Fashion Silhouette & the Female Form (November – May 2018)
• Kennedy Rauh, ’17 (2016-2017) Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue (February – July 2017)
• Samantha Stern, ’17 (2015-2016) Heavy Metal: The Malleability of Fashion (September – December 2015)