Since we’ve been thinking about the ways that fashion histories are constructed, let’s take a look at how influential institutions, like museums and universities, build their collections of primary source garments.
- First, read the article “The Incredible Whiteness of the Fashion Museum Collection” by Vanessa Friedman. This article was published by the New York Times in September 2020.
- Then, think about the following questions:
- What are some of the reasons why fashion collections in museums are so Eurocentric?
- How does this impact how we understand fashion history, as scholars?
- What do you see as some possible solutions to this problem?
- Next, read the article “Should These Clothes Be Saved?” which Friedman wrote in April 2019.
- Think about the following questions:
- How are the clothes in this collection acquired?
- What can the clothes in this collection tell a researcher that some of the clothing items in an institution like the Metropolitan Museum of Art cannot?
- Do you think the collection of women’s clothes at Smith should be saved? Why or why not?
