I’m a museum junkie, I confess. When I know I’m going to be traveling, the first thing I check is where there are costume collections, and my fondest memory of Chicago conference is of going with other ASDP members to the exquisite couture exhibit at the Chicago History Museum. We spent hours debating what was under those dresses and how they were put together, as we did gymnastics to see as much as we could without setting off alarms.

I try to include notice of exhibits in all parts of the country, but many of us are too far away or don’t have the time or the money to attend. For this technology issue here are a few online exhibits. These are available to anyone with an internet connection. Some are repeats from last year because they have to be included in any list. Others are new.Enjoy!!

Manchester Art Galleries 

Click on a letter to search the artist collection and choose between all the painters, sculptors, and designers in the museum’s collection. Or check the “costume” box and “list works with images only.” Clicking on Givenchy revealed thumbnails of 6 garments, a pair of glasses, and 2 perfume bottles. Click on an individual thumbnail for date, designer, country of origin, and a description of the garment including some measurements (in centimeters) and functional information (like where the closure is). You can also search by theme or date. Photos are not huge. Descriptions are geared towards members of the public who are interested in fashion history rather than fashion professionals

Virtual Museum of Valentino (new) 

Go to this site and download the tour of a virtual museum dedicated to Valentino. This man knew how to self-promote, was aware of his place in fashion history, and hired masters to mount this site. Make a cup of expresso with a hint of grappa and enjoy.

Kyoto Costume Institute Digital Archives (new) 

Click on a date on the timeline (I clicked on 1850s to 1860s) and thumbnails will give you choices of garments to explore. Click on one garment and see a high resolution photograph with a description that includes a style’s place in history as well as the materials of the individual garment. Click on the garment and a zoom window opens that shows spectacular detail.

Victoria and Albert Collections 

The mother of online costume collections. Pick a century or a designer to search. (There were 45 entries for Givenchy). Many garments have multiple views. Descriptions include who wore the gown, when , where, materials, labels, techniques. Clicking on a photo enlarges it, but not like on the Kyoto site, where you can see individual threads. You can print from the V & A site and can also order high resolution prints.

The V & A catalogue has 140,000 images, so it’s a great place to look for an overview of a designer or fashion house’s work. The museum is currently using crowdsourcing to choose the best images, to eliminate repetition, and to crop images most effectively.

Fashion Museum 

Choose from a period or search by date, material, date, category, and/or name. Some garments have a photo and list material, technique, and date. Others have a more complete description of the garment or its period.

The Museum at FIT Search the Collection (new) 

So far FIT has 850 items in their online collection. Search within a decade or a century and click on lightbox, list or single view to choose how many garments you browse at once. Click on your choice to see the garment on a form with a description. There is information as to designer, brand, medium, date, and country. Clicking on the photo brings up an enlargement. Some garments also have a detail photo.

Kent State University Museum Online catalogue 

Do a “random search” for a surprise or click on object name, creator, culture, medium, date, etc. and click a letter in the alphabet. Click “V” under “creator”, then click a dropdown menu. Scroll to Vionnet (or dozens of other designers under V) and a thumbnail comes up.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge it, then on “full data.” You have to click more times to get to a photo, but you can also print photos from the site. Amount of information varies from one garment to the next, but some have multiple views and nice historical information along with full descriptions.

Metropolitan Museum of New York 

Search by who, what, where, or when, or “in the museum.” A search of the Costume Institute yields 27,623 results with an additional 6,234 from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection.

Within the Costume Institute, choose from the top 100 designers or enter in your own request.

Some garments have front and back views, some have detail photos. Some garments have more detailed descriptions and some have dimensions listed.

There is a bar below the entry which will suggest other garments you might be interested in. Set up a MyMet account and you can go back to your favorites at will.

This is one of my favorite sites.