Fashion Institute of Technology Museum
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The Museum at FIT is the fashion museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Founded in 1969 as the Design Laboratory, it holds collections of clothing, textiles and accessories, and it is counted among a select group of specialised fashion museums worldwide. Its home is the FIT campus at Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, New York, NY 10001-5992.
Fashion Institute of Technology Museum — Explore & Resources
From Design Laboratory to Accredited Museum
The museum began presenting exhibitions in the 1970s, working at first with a collection on long-term loan from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and over time acquired its own collection along with thousands of textiles and other fashion-related material. In 1993, FIT's Board of Trustees, noting the significance of the collections and exhibitions, changed the institution's name to The Museum at FIT. In 2012 the museum was awarded accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums.
The permanent collection now includes more than 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present, with important designers such as Adrian, Balenciaga, Chanel and Dior represented. The collecting policy focuses on aesthetically and historically significant directional clothing, accessories, textiles and visual materials, with an emphasis on contemporary avant-garde fashion. More than 100,000 people visit the museum each year for exhibitions, lectures and other events.
Exhibitions and Gallery FIT
The museum is best known for innovative, award-winning special exhibitions. London Fashion received the first Richard Martin Award for Excellence in the Exhibition of Costume from the Costume Society of America. The Corset: Fashioning the Body explored the most controversial garment in fashion history, and Madame Grès: The Sphinx of Fashion was a monographic retrospective examining a great couturier's methods and aesthetic. Later exhibitions grew still more ambitious, including Gothic: Dark Glamour and A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk.
Alongside the main programme, Gallery FIT — also on the main floor — is dedicated to student and faculty exhibitions, including the Art and Design Graduating Student Exhibition each May, which fills the lower-level gallery and lobbies across campus. Students from FIT's School of Graduate Studies also collaborate with museum staff to mount a professional museum exhibition once a year, making the museum a teaching institution as well as a public one. The majors summary linked from this page covers the degree programmes whose students learn from that collection.
The Museum Among Fashion Museums
The Museum at FIT belongs to a small international company of specialised fashion museums, named alongside the Musée de la Mode in Paris, the Mode Museum in Antwerp and the Museo de la Moda in Santiago. What distinguishes the New York museum is its position inside a working fashion college in the industry's American capital: its exhibitions are mounted blocks from the garment district, its audience mixes the public with students and professionals, and its collecting emphasis on contemporary avant-garde fashion keeps the permanent collection growing in the direction the industry is moving, not only the direction it came from. For visitors, admission to its exhibitions has traditionally been free, making it one of the most accessible major fashion collections in the world.
Common Questions
When was The Museum at FIT founded?
It was founded in 1969 as the Design Laboratory, began presenting exhibitions in the 1970s, and was renamed The Museum at FIT in 1993. It received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2012.
How large is The Museum at FIT's collection?
More than 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present, including work by designers such as Adrian, Balenciaga, Chanel and Dior, collected with an emphasis on significant and avant-garde fashion.
Where is The Museum at FIT?
At the Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, New York City. More than 100,000 people visit each year, and Gallery FIT on the main floor hosts student and faculty exhibitions.