Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology Presents HEAD TO TOE — Preview

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WHEN:

Thru May 8, 2022
Wednesday-Friday: 12:00p.m.-8p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 10a.m.-5p.m.

WHERE:

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
227 West 27th Street
New York, NY

TICKETS:

Free
For more information, visit the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology website.

Head to Toe is a Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology exhibition exploring the history of the Euro-American women’s fashion from the early 1800s through the early 21st century by examining the role of accessories in the total ensemble. The show features approximately 30 garments and over 200 accessories, organized chronologically to illustrate the etiquette and intricacies in the evolution and changing social context of Western women’s fashion over two centuries.

Head to Toe aims for viewers to examine and contemplate the history and changing roles of women’s accessories and their ongoing importance in individual style and sociocultural movements by looking at influences like youth culture, war, and consumer revolution.  The show curators explain that accessories have become an important component of fashion that allow women to express their identities, including race, class, power, sexuality, modesty, femininity, modernity, and illuminate broader changes in the social landscape.

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology HEAD TO TOE
Black Sequin Set

The introductory gallery at Head to Toe features juxtapositions of contemporary and historic accessories to make connections over time. For example, a modern woman picks up a pair of sunglasses to protect herself from the sun, but a woman in the mid-nineteenth century would have used a parasol. The first half of Head to Toe focuses on 1800-1940 and showcases accessories particularly important during that time, for example, reticules (small fabric handbags). The latter half of the exhibit focuses on the new woman of the early twentieth century who has a more relaxed style, drawing inspiration from menswear. During this time, women are encouraged to buy more practical clothing, such as the little black dress, and use accessories such as leather pumps to enliven their plain clothing. Today, bags and shoes reign supreme in the accessory’s world.

Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Fendi, Pierre Balmain, Roger Viver, Lilly Daché, Claire McCardell, Tréfousse, Judith Leiber, and André Courréges are some of the featured designers.

For more information, visit the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology website.

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology HEAD TO TOE
Silk Satin Pouch

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Images courtesy of Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology

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