The Museum at FIT will open new ‘Denim’ exhibit this fall

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Sep 30, 2015

This fall, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology will open its denim exhibit entitled, Denim: Fashion’s Frontier.

Denim: Fashion’s Frontier is an exploration of the history of denim from the 19th century to the present, from work wear to high fashion. The exhibit will take attendees through different eras in time to illustrate the evolution of denim. The fabric was used for naval and prison uniforms in the early 20th century, was considered “play clothes” in the 1940s, became controversial in the 1950s after being adopted by biker gangs, started a cultural craze due to Italian and French designs in the 1970s, and eventually became a high fashion statement in the late 90s.
 
Denim will feature 70 objects from the museum’s permanent collection including Levi Strauss & Co. jeans from the California gold rush, denim dresses by EDUN and Junya Watanabe, Roberto Cavalli ensemble, a haute couture blouse by Elsa Schiaparelli that imitates the look of denim and even denim work pants that predate Levi’s. Other designers’ works that will be featured include Ralph Lauren, Rag & Bone, Dries Van Noten, Chloë and Sacaï.

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Denim: Fashion’s Frontier will open to the public on December 1, 2015 and will run through May 7, 2016.