October 26, 2006 – May 19, 2007

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Feathers, Leathers, and Fur: A Fashion History was an exhibition in the Geraldine Schottenstein Wing for the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection at The Ohio State University that explored the historical use of fur, along with non-fur skins and feathers, as clothing items and adornment. Human cultures in all corners of the globe have looked to nature for inspiration in ornamenting the body and have often borrowed the more decorative outer coverings of many of nature’s creatures. The more unusual, fine, and rare of these items often reached the level of luxury status within a society.

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Oct 20, 2005 – May 20, 2006

What does children’s clothing tell us about how we as a society appreciate our children? How have these views changed over time? These are two questions which curator Gayle Strege of The Ohio State University’s Historic Costume & Textiles Collection’s addressed in the exhibition Toddlers, Teens and Tweens: 250 Years of Children’s Fashion.

Drawing from over 550 items of children’s clothing within the Collection’s archives, the exhibition illustrated not only the history of children’s clothing styles, but also explored society’s views of child care and their resulting influences on children’s clothing fashions.

Among the themes for the exhibition are:

• The 18th century practice of swaddling and its residual existence in the 19th and 20th century.
• Dressing both girls and boys in skirts when they were babies and toddlers.
• Children dressed as miniatures of adults.
• Fashions specifically for children and their special needs: school and play.
• The introduction of the marketing terms ‘teen’ and ‘tween’ in the 20th century.
• Children’s fashions for 2005.

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January 22 – June 25, 2005

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Architecture versus fluidity in the artistic creation of fashion is the theme of the new exhibition that opened on January 22, 2005, at the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection located in the College of Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Co-sponsored by the Columbus Museum of Art and supported by a grant from the Ohio Arts Council, Sculpture and Drapery: The Art of Fashion displays rare works by the designers Charles James and Charles Kleibacker, whose artistic visions led them to use the same medium, fabric, in different processes to create contrasting works of art. [Read more…]

October 1 – 31, 2004

Recent Acquisitions of the OSU Historic Costume & Textiles Collection features artifacts representing three of the Collection’s major strength areas:

• Designer couture and off-the-rack designer garments will be represented by such items as a 1996 silver metallic horizontal-striped evening gown by Badgley Mischka with rhinestones and glass beading at the neckline.
• Ethnographic or traditional folk dress will be represented by a variety of artifacts including embroidered everyday garments from the Hill Tribes of the Golden Triangle area of Thailand.
• The Collection’s historic fashion artifacts will be represented by such garments as a late 19th century print silk and velvet-trimmed day dress made by a Newark, Ohio, modiste.

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October 29, 2003 – May 15, 2004

• View the exhibition catalog (pdf).

Costume Exhibit Highlights Historic Columbus Fashion

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Between 1851 and 1965, the F&R Lazarus Company retail store dominated the trade and physical landscape of Columbus. Capital Fashion 1851-1965, the new exhibition at the College of Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, explores the fashion industry in Ohio’s capital city during the middle 100 years of Ohio’s bicentennial.

The exhibition will open to the public at no charge starting on Wednesday, October 29, 2003, and will run through May 15, 2004. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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