What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 11am - 5pm Wednesday 11am - 5pm Thursday 11am - 5pm Friday 11am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 4pm

Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising

Name: Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising
Address: 216 E Lake Street, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, US
Telephone: (970) 491-1983
Price range: Not applicable

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Fort Collins, CO
Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising

Colorado State University's museum of historic fashion and textiles where threads of the past weave the future.

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■The collections are comprised of some 20,000 artifacts including 19th and 20th century garments and accessories, flat textiles, and non-Western dress with special interests in Central Asia, India, China and Japan.

■Special collections include designer dresses from Calvin Klein, Arnold Scaasi, James Galanos, Carolina Herrera and Mr. Blackwell, self-proclaimed arbiter of fashion and author of

the annual Worst-Dressed List.

■ Located in the University Center for the Arts (UCA), the Avenir Museum public spaces presently includes a gallery with an established schedule of exhibits. Lectures are held in conjunction with each exhibit. Significantly expanded exhibition galleries and collections care areas, in a new building adjacent to the UCA opened in 2017.

06/20/2026

Grab your party hats and join the Avenir Museum for a Bug Party to celebrate International Insect Week! 🪲

Inspired by our collaborative exhibition “The Fashion ‘Bug’: Insects In and On Our Cloth,” the Bug Party will have craft activities like coloring, collaging, and stamp printing. Complete a collage to win a raffle ticket to enter for a chance to win a clay beetle by local artist Senett Smith.

Find all the exhibition insects on a new scavenger hunt to win a bug lollipop prize and learn all about insects from bug ambassadors like the Butterfly Pavilion, CSU Entomology Club, and CSU Native Bee Watch.

This event is free and open to visitors of all ages! Join us for this fun-filled and educational event from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. next Saturday, June 27.

Bug Party! at the Avenir Museum
Saturday, June 27
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
216 E. Lake Street
Fort Collins, CO

06/17/2026

The Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising will be closed this Friday, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth.

We look forward to seeing you when we reopen with regular hours on Saturday, June 20!

06/12/2026

The Avenir Museum from CO 🛫 to NC

Part of the Avenir Museum team traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina last week for The Costume Society of America’s 52nd annual symposium! (Costume Society of America )

They enjoyed a week of thought provoking research presentations, keynote speakers, and networking with colleagues and peers who share the same passion for fashion, textiles, and history. The team presented three research topics of their own:

✨ ”Thanks! It Has Pockets” by Paula Alaszkiewicz, PhD (Avenir Museum Curator and Asst. Professor in Design and Merchandising)

✨ “The Material Lives of Sarasa in Early Modern Japan” by Vidhita Raina, PhD (The Linda L. Carlson Research Chair and Asst. Professor in Design and Merchandising)

✨ “Fashions for Flying” by Brooklyn Wenzel, MS (Avenir Museum Visitor Engagement Coordinator and Collections Assistant)

Join us in congratulating the Avenir Museum team on a successful conference trip!

06/11/2026

Come with me to explore the new Janet J. Else Education Center in the University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University. ✨

The Janet J. Else Education Center is a brand new space presented by the Avenir Museum, built specifically to bring textiles and sustainability to life for visitors of all ages.

You can drop-in during open hours for a self-led exploration of the informative exhibition which includes multiple touchable examples for a hands-on learning experience. There is also a loom wall where you can try your hand at different weave structures using recycled t-shirt material.

This drop-in space is located in Room 115 in the University Center for the Arts at 1400 Re*****on Street and is open from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., 7 days a week.

05/29/2026

Are you ready for a party...a bug party? 🎉🐜🦗🐝

Join us for a fun-filled Saturday in celebration of International Insect Week! Stamp print your own bug-themed handkerchief, join us for collage and coloring, enter giveaways, and enjoy some fun snacks! Plus, meet an array of insect ambassadors and community organizations, such as the Denver Butterfly Pavilions, and the Northern Colorado Wildlife Center, among others.

🐝🎉Avenir Museum Bug Party
📅Saturday, June 27
⌚10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
📍Avenir Museum
216 E. Lake Street

Be sure to check out ‘The Fashion ”Bug”: Insects In and On Our Cloth,’ a collaborative exhibition with the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at Colorado State University, on view now through August 1 at the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising.

05/22/2026

A single strand of silk. Cochineal nestled on a prickly pear cactus. Silk moths emerging from their cocoons.

What do each of these things have in common?

All are descriptions of handmade dioramas by CSU alumnus Leo Mountainwatch, on view in our current exhibition “The Fashion ‘Bug’: Insects In and On Our Cloth,” developed in collaboration with the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at CSU.

Plan your visit to the Avenir today by visiting our website 🔗https://col.st/x1mde

05/20/2026

Tools and Textiles: Bobbin lace

Bobbin lace production began in Europe in the 16th century and is still practiced today. Handmade bobbin lace requires the use of:

1️⃣ a padded support, such as a lace pillow or bolster
2️⃣ a pattern on cardstock or paper (sometimes called a “pricking”)
3️⃣ pins to keep the pattern in place and hold the lace down as the pattern is worked
4️⃣ thread, often in a natural material like silk, linen, or cotton
5️⃣ and finally the bobbins, which are elongated spools that hold the thread and create tension while being twisted and crossed according to the pattern

When making bobbin lace, the lace pillow is placed on a table or the lap of the lacemaker. The pattern is pinned to the pillow, then pre-pricked to make holes where the in-process lace will be pinned periodically to hold the textile in place. Bobbins are wound in pairs, with one bobbin at each end of a length of thread. The bobbins are hung on starting pins at the top of the pattern. Once the pillow, pattern, and bobbins have been prepared, lace making can begin.

This example from the Avenir Museum collection is an in-process length of bobbin lace on a bolster-style lace pillow.

05/13/2026

Details from our newest exhibition. 🔍

Want to see the whole picture? Plan your visit to the Avenir Museum today. 🖼️

imagiNation: Fashioning A Nation, 1776 - 2026

In the 1770s, Americans were cut off from British textiles and left to develop an independent style. Since then, fashion and textiles have served as vehicles for national identity, commemoration, and nostalgia. This exhibition explores this intersection at 50-year intervals since 1776 and asks, as Americans look ahead to the next 50 years, how will they wear the legacy of the Revolution?

On view through December 19, 2026.

05/09/2026

Name a more iconic duo....we’ll wait! 🐙⚓

🐙Surprise! The Avenir Museum () and Octopi of CSU () are teaming up to support the Avenir’s current exhibition “Anchors Aweigh: Sailor’s Dress and American Women’s Fashion, 1900 - Present.”

⛵This exhibition curated by graduate student Evan Stackpole explores the influence of naval heritage on fashion, tracing how maritime silhouettes, symbolism, and style have made their mark on mainstream fashion.

The rules are simple....be the first to visit the Avenir Museum (216 E. Lake Street) and correctly answer the trivia question related to the exhibition below, and you will walk away with your very own “Anchors Aweigh” themed crochet octopi!

❓How long has the “sailor look” been a recurrent style in American fashion?

05/08/2026

Textiles 🤝 Insects

The connections between these two seemingly disparate topics may surprise you. Listen to curator and Avenir Museum collections database coordinator Gabrielle Friesen discuss the inspiration behind ‘The Fashion ”Bug”: Insects In and On Our Cloth,’ a collaborative exhibition with the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity.

Thanks to BarnFly Productions for filming!

🪲🦗🦋

The Fashion “Bug”: Insects In and On Our Cloth
On view now through August 1, 2026.

From shimmering silk to the deep reds of cochineal dye, insects have always been involved in the act of making textiles, just as humans have been bitten by the fashion bug throughout history. Join us to explore insects’ impact and inspiration on what we wear.

Address

216 E Lake Street
Fort Collins, CO
80523

Opening Hours

Tuesday	11am - 5pm
Wednesday	11am - 5pm
Thursday	11am - 5pm
Friday	11am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

(970) 491-1983

Website

http://www.avenir.colostate.edu/

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