Costume Exhibition Catalogues

Select a catalogue to read in full.

Silver Screen to Mainstream: American Fashion in the 1930s and ‘40s (April 8, 2019–January 21, 2020)
This exhibition tracked how Hollywood’s glamorous reach extended to mainstream society in the 1930s and 1940s and featured thirty garments by designers such as Chanel, Vionnet, Valentina, Paul du Pont, Howard Greer, and Adrian.
Curator: Virginia Heaven

Making Mainbocher: The First American Couturier (October 22, 2016–August 20, 2017)
Chicago-born Mainbocher established a fashion empire serving royalty, Broadway icons, and the social elite in the twentieth century but also designed uniforms for the United States Navy, the Girl Scouts of America, and Chicago’s Passavant Hospital. Featuring thirty garments, fashion illustrations, and photography, this exhibition explored his life and legacy.
Curator: Petra Slinkard

Chicago Styled: Fashioning The Magnificent Mile® (November 15, 2014–August 16, 2015)
This stunning exhibition featured more than twenty ensembles from the Museum’s costume collection to tell the story of the city’s legendary North Michigan Avenue shopping district, featuring garments from designers such as Norell, Adolfo, Lacroix, and Chanel.
Curator: Petra Slinkard

Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair (March 16, 2013–May 11, 2014)
Featuring more than sixty high-fashion creations, this exhibition told the story of the country’s most popular traveling fashion show and the inspirational woman behind it, Eunice Johnson. Garments included those by designers like Oscar de
la Renta, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Patrick Kelly, and Christian Lacroix, dating from the early 1960s to the twenty-first century.
Curators: Joy Bivins (CHM) & Virginia Heaven (then of Columbia College Chicago)

Charles James: Genius Deconstructed (October 22, 2011–April 16, 2012)
This exhibition displayed spectacular clothing designed by the couturier, whose mother hailed from a prominent Chicago family, including replicas of three of his iconic pieces. James’ creativity, passion, and unrelenting obsessions are legendary, but his genius is not widely understood. As part of the exhibition research, Museum staff x-rayed some of the garments to better understand the couturier’s construction methods.
Curator: Timothy A. Long

I Do! Chicago Ties to Knot (May 22, 2010–January 3, 2011)
This stunning exhibition included forty-five wedding dresses, as well as accessories, corsets, men’s attire, photographs, and videos from Chicago weddings.
Curator: Timothy A. Long

Bertha Honoré Palmer (May 23, 2009–January 4, 2010)
For the 160th anniversary of Bertha Palmer’s birth, the Museum presented an intimate show of her family photographs, souvenirs from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition made in her honor, and stunning jewelry, accessories, and clothing.
Curator: Timothy A. Long

Chic Chicago: Couture Treasures from the Chicago History Museum (September 27, 2008–July 26, 2009)
Featuring a dazzling group of sixty couture items, including a newly acquired Chanel gown from Oprah Winfrey, the exhibition was touted by Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Women’s Wear Daily, and Vogue Patterns.
Curators: Timothy A. Long, CHM, and Valerie Steele, Fashion Institute of Technology

Dior: The New Look (September 30, 2006–May 28, 2007)
The first exhibition to occupy the 1,300-square-foot Costume and Textiles Gallery. An unparalleled collection of clothing by Christian Dior showcased the nostalgia, fantasy, opulence, and femininity associated with the designer who revolutionized the fashion industry in the 1940s and ’50s.
Curator: Timothy A. Long

What George Wore and Sally Didn’t: Surprising Stories from America’s Past (November 7, 1998–August 30, 1999)
George Washington’s vest and Sally Rand’s fans and other remarkable pieces from CHS’s collection were displayed to highlight whimsical, unusual, and incredible stories from the past.

Becoming American Women: Clothing and the Jewish Immigrant Experience 1880–1920 (March 6, 1994–January 8, 1995)
This exhibition explored how clothing was both agent and symbol of the assimilation of Eastern European Jewish immigrant women into American society.

Fitting In: Four Generations of College Life (November 22, 1991–April 1, 1992)
This exhibition explored nearly a century of collegiate dress and campus life by recreating college scenes from the 1890s, 1920s, 1940s, and 1960s, tracing how each generation interpreted the campus experience and developed its own style.

Eight Chicago Women and their Fashions, 1860–1929 (1978)
Some of Chicago’s most influential women from 1860 to 1929 were featured through an interpretive display of their clothing and accessories, along with an accompanying publication from CHS by curator of costumes Elizabeth Jachimowicz.