Exhibitionism: 50 Years of the Museum at FIT

Exhibitionism: 50 Years of the Museum at FIT celebrates the 50th anniversary of “the most fashionable museum in New York City”. Founded in 1969 by the Fashion Institute of Technology, The Museum at FIT is a specialized fashion museum best known for its innovative and award-winning exhibitions. Since its inception, the museum has presented approximately 200 fashion exhibitions, and this beautifully presented book focuses on some of the most interesting and influential exhibitions during this period.

Edited by Valerie Steele, one of the foremost fashion historians and curators, Exhibitionism uses installation photos, images of individual garments, and detailed explanations of the concepts behind each exhibition.

It narrows down the focus to 33 of Museum at FIT ’s previous shows, including: Fashion and Surrealism (1987), a groundbreaking exhibition that explored the relationship between art and fashion; The Corset: Fashioning the Body (2000), a compelling exploration of the most controversial garment in fashion history; and Fairy Tale Fashion (2016), a magical look at such enchanted and emblematic items as the glass slipper and the red riding hood.

Robert Riley was the founding director of the  Museum at FIT – initially known as the Design Laboratory at FIT. He had previously been curator of the Brooklyn Museum’s Design Laboratory, and in the early days, some of the collection was in fact borrowed from the Brooklyn Museum. This eventually became part of the permanent collection.

As exhibitions gained momentum, the Museum at FIT came into their own in the 1980s and 90s with with shows such as Three Women (1987) and Halston: Absolute Modernism (1992). Valerie Steele was appointed director in 2003, leading the museum to its core mission: to educate and inspire diverse audiences with innovative exhibitions and programs that advance knowledge of fashion.

This book is not only a stunning homage to Museum at FIT, and its 50th anniversary, but offers the ideal opportunity to document and celebrate the museum’s past whilst preparing for its future. This is a fascinating book for all lovers and students of fashion and its colourful history.

Exhibitionism: 50 Years of the Museum at FIT  is published by SKIRA.

To purchase a copy, please visit: Exhibitionism: 50 Years of the Museum at FIT

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