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Monday 7:30am - 8pm Tuesday 7:30am - 8pm Wednesday 7:30am - 8pm Thursday 7:30am - 8pm Friday 7:30am - 8:30pm Saturday 8am - 4pm Sunday 8am - 4pm

Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection

Name: Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection
Address: Human Ecology Building (Level T), 37 Forest Home Drive Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, US
Telephone: +16072559371
Price range: Not Applicable

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The CF+TC advances knowledge of the cultural, historical, scientific and aesthetic aspects of fashion & textiles through exhibition, research and teaching.

The CF+TC advances knowledge of the cultural, historical, scientific and aesthetic aspects of fashion & textiles through exhibition, research, and teaching.

10/14/2026

Excited to be part of this exhibition!

09/29/2026

In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez loaned her campaigning shoes to our student-curated exhibition, “Women Empowered: Fashions from the Frontline.” Their worn-through soles made visible the physical labor of political participation: walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors, and working to be heard.

That exhibition was not only a celebration of women’s achievements, but addressed and included other works confronting sexual violence and misogyny—recognizing that a history of women’s empowerment must also address the inequalities and harm that make such struggles necessary.

On Sunday evening, September 27, we attended Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall in Ithaca, where she addressed the horrifying allegations of sexual violence involving Cornell students and called for accountability.

Hearing those remarks here, in the community where we presented Women Empowered, brings the exhibition’s questions into the present. What does empowerment mean if the right to learn, to participate, and to move through the world safely is not protected?

As a university collection, we cannot treat women’s empowerment only as a story to tell about the past or a quality to celebrate in public figures. It must also inform what we ask of our own institution.

We stand with survivors and support the demand for safety, care, and meaningful accountability. Every student deserves an education free from sexual violence, just as every human being deserves a life free from violence of any kind. No one’s clothing, identity, or circumstances diminish that right.

Women’s empowerment cannot end at the edge of a display case.

Confidential support is available through the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County. Its 24-hour hotline is 607-277-5000.

09/14/2026

We have incredible news to share: the Ralph Rucci archive has found a home at Cornell, where it will be preserved as one of the most comprehensive archives of an American fashion designer. It includes nearly 500 garments alongside more than 8,000 original sketches, 3,000 patterns, thousands of textile swatches, hundreds of photographs, and other records documenting Rucci’s design process and métier.

The archive is stewarded across two Cornell repositories: the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection in the College of Human Ecology and the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives in Cornell University Library. It is an extraordinary record of an exceptional couturier — arguably America’s greatest — alongside the atelier he built and the remarkable clientele for whom he created. It reminds us of what American-made fashion can be: breathtaking, sumptuous, glamorous, chic, and beautifully constructed.

Here in the CF+TC, nearly 500 garments representing more than 350 looks preserve Rucci’s exacting approach to design — and they will take your breath away.

We begin and end this first glimpse with Bil Donovan’s watercolors, which highlight a selection of Rucci’s designs now in the Cornell archives.

A major retrospective, Ralph Rucci: Taking Dictation, will open at Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in 2027. It brings garments, archival materials, and Rucci’s own artworks into conversation with the Johnson’s collections to explore Rucci’s inspirations and design practice. We are thrilled to welcome you to the opening in the first week of May.

For now, this is only the beginning.

The archive lives.

09/12/2026

The Gold Gallery (MVR 1250) is open all weekend, so don’t miss your chance to see Approaching America: Myth, Dress and Belonging, which is on view through September 16. We had a wonderful reception last Thursday, complete with a live fashion show featuring pieces from the extraordinary private collection of Ken West. MVR Hall building hours are 8 am - 6 PM on weekends for those who would like to stop in to see the mounted exhibition ❤️🤍💙

09/07/2026

What is a myth, if not a story worn so often that it begins to feel like fact?

Students in FSAD 6451: Curating Fashion Exhibitions present their first collaboratively curated show: Approaching America: Myth, Dress, and Belonging, which opened today in the Gloria Protaz and Suzanne Protaz Gold ‘75 Gallery (MVR 1250).

This exhibition explores how American fashion constructs stories about who belongs in the national imagination and what that looks like. Visitors move from familiar ideas of freedom, patriotism, and self-made success toward a more complicated understanding of the labor, land, histories, and people behind these national myths.

Through garments and accessories selected by 16 student curators, Approaching America reveals how individuals encounter, challenge, and continually reshape the stories America tells about itself through the clothes we wear. Come visit and discover a more complex and ever-changing vision of American identity.

📍 Gloria Protaz and Suzanne Protaz Gold ‘75 Gallery, MVR 1250
🗓️ Sept. 7th - 16th, 2026
🪩 Reception with live fashion show Sept. 10 at 4 PM

07/15/2026

We were delighted to welcome the Textile Society of America to Cornell Human Ecology last month as part of its flagship Textiles Close Up program! 🪡

Visitors enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at the research, collections and creative spaces that make the Department of Human Centered Design a leader in textile innovation. Highlights included:

- A tour of the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, home to more than 10,000 garments, accessories and textiles spanning the 1700s to today. Student curators showcased remarkable pieces ranging from vintage corsets and intricate lace to a recently restored golden silk slip dress.

- A visit to the Hybrid Body Lab, where researchers are developing innovative materials and wearable technologies that seamlessly integrate textiles and electronics, including knit and woven e-textiles.

- Stops in our apparel and knit studios, where faculty and students are partnering with local farmers to help build a sustainable New York farm-to-fashion wool pipeline.

It was a pleasure to share our spaces, research and creative work with textile scholars and practitioners from around the world. We look forward to welcoming them back in the future!

Photo Credit: Darcy Rose

05/24/2026

Congrats to our CF+TC and India + Sri Lanka trip graduates! From the CF+TC: Erin Yoon, Maya Abrol, Sophia Peck, Sarah Orsinger, Tabitha Mueller-Schrader, and Ashley Kim ❤️ From our India + Sri Lanka trip: Sabrina Kogan, Dara Frankel, Imani Bodet, Alexis McMurray, Julia Schanen, Adrienne Correia, and Sarah Orsinger 🇮🇳 🇱🇰 We are so proud of all of you and grateful to have spent these last years learning, creating, exploring, and growing together. We will miss you on campus, but we know that you will do incredible things out in the world!

05/18/2026

Join us Tuesday, May 19th at 4:30 PM in HEB T45 Gallery for the opening reception of “Who Owns What?” curated by Ashley Kim ‘26. The exhibition investigates fashion’s relationship with identity through the various perspectives of those who may refer to themselves as “The Owner.” The exhibit is divided into three sections: “The Creator,” “The Wearer,” and “The Steward.” “The Creator” explores design process, brand identity, labor, and consumerism. “The Wearer,” reveals how clothing can become intimately personalized. “The Steward,” raises questions about the slipperiness of meanings over time. Through a series of vignettes, identity becomes something owned and shown in a multitude of ways. Funded by the Charlotte A. Jirousek fellowship.

05/01/2026

Extended by popular demand ‼️ through October 1 ❤️ If you’re coming to campus for graduation, reunion, CAU, summer session courses, or just enjoying a visit to Ithaca in the coming months; or if you’re a new student (or returning from abroad), you’ll have the opportunity to view “Fashioning Justice: Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘54 and the Power of Presence” in the Rachel Hope Doran ‘19 Level T Display Cases in the Human Ecology Building. Thanks to everyone who made this possible ❤️ Come by and check it out!

04/27/2026

There’s still time to apply for a Master’s of Professional Studies - deadline is Friday, May 1! If you are interested in building a career at the intersection of fashion, curation, collections, design, innovation, and human thriving, the MPS in Human Ecology offers a specialization in Fiber Science and Apparel Design. For students drawn to the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, the MPS can support focused study in fashion collection management, curation, fashion history, material culture, and textile conservation, with the opportunity to expand expertise in areas such as fiber science, apparel design practice, wearable technology, sizing and fit, functional apparel, branding, sourcing, supply chain management, trend forecasting, mass customization, and other digital and technological areas of innovation.

The program includes 30 credits of graduate coursework, with up to 6 of those credits dedicated to an independent project, allowing students to develop a focused professional project aligned with their interests, expertise, and career goals.

Potential career pathways include museums, archives, fashion and textile collections, curation, fashion history, apparel design, product development, fashion business, sourcing and supply chain management, wearable technology, and textile innovation.

Learn more about Cornell’s MPS in Human Ecology with a specialization in Fiber Science and Apparel Design and how to apply (by May 1!) through the link in our bio or contact [email protected] 📧

Address

Human Ecology Building (Level T), 37 Forest Home Drive Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
14853

Opening Hours

Monday	7:30am - 8pm
Tuesday	7:30am - 8pm
Wednesday	7:30am - 8pm
Thursday	7:30am - 8pm
Friday	7:30am - 8:30pm
Saturday	8am - 4pm
Sunday	8am - 4pm

Telephone

+16072559371

Website

http://costume.cornell.edu/

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