Past Annual Meetings

(first gathering 1959)

3 and 6 July 1962, The Hague, The Netherlands.

22-24 and 28 September 1965, New York, United States of America.
Venue: Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lectures on museums of this category.
A working session on the problems of the conservation of costumes.

29 July-9 August 1968, Cologne, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany.
Theme: Museum and Research.

30 August- 2 September 1971, Paris, Grenoble, France.
Theme: The Museum in the Service of Man Today and Tomorrow

7 July 1973, Copenhagen, Denmark.

16-18 September 1975, Zurich, Switzerland.

10 April 1976, Norwich, United Kingdom.
Meeting of the Working Group on Catalogue Information and Terminology.

27-30 September 1976, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

18-28 May 1977, Leningrad, Moscow, Former USSR. General Conference
Theme: Museums and Cultural Exchange.

22-27 September 1978, Lisbon, Portugal.

18-21 September 1979, Nuremberg, Federal Republic of Germany.

25 October-4 November 1980, Mexico City, Mexico. General Conference
Theme: The World’s Heritage-The Museum’s Responsibility.

24-29 May 1982, Stockholm, Sweden.

23 July-2 August 1983, London, United Kingdom. General Conference

1984, Nafplion, Greece.

1985, Turku, Finland.

28-31 October 1986, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
General Conference of ICOM.

3-7 May 1987, New York, United States of America.
Theme: Costume Research.

14-19 March 1988, Milan, Florence, Italy.
Theme: Dress, a Mirror of Society; Care of Costume, an Important Mission.

August-September 1989, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Theme: New Forms of Presentation. General Conference of ICOM.

3-9 June 1990, Budapest, Hungary.
Theme: Fashion of the 19th Century.

13-20 October 1991, Madrid, Spain.
Theme: 20th Century Costume.

19-26 September 1992, Quebec, Canada. General Conference.
Theme: New Forms and New Themes.

11-17 July 1993, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Theme: Reinterpreting Costume Collections.

11-16 April 1994, Kyoto, Japan.
Theme: ”Japanisme”.

28 June-8 July 1995, Stavanger, Norway. General Conference
Theme: Museum and Communities – Aspects of Ethnic Dress.

29 September – 7 October 1996, Prague, Czech Republic, hosted by the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague.

1-11 June 1997, Paris, Lyons, France.
Theme: Costume: Reality, History and Fiction. Approach by Artists, Fashion Creators, Histoirans and Conservators.

12-14 October 1998, Melbourne, Australia. General Conference
Theme: Tradition, adaptation, interfertilisation.

6-12 September 1999, Athens, Nafplion, Greece.

1-12 October 2000, Lisbon, Portugal.

2-4 July 2001, Barcelona, Spain.
General Conference of ICOM.

6-12 October 2002, Oakland, California, USA
Theme: Many Costumes: Clothing Traditions Transplanted to and from California.

28 September-3 October 2003, Krakow, Poland.
Theme: Poland and Other Crossroads in Dress.

4-6 October 2004, Seoul, Republic of Korea. General Conference of ICOM.

13-17 June 2005, Berlin, Germany.
Theme: On Men…

8-13 October 2006, Copenhagen, Denmark and Lund, Sweden.
Theme: Costume Decoration and Design.

20-22 August, 2007, Vienna, Austria.
Theme: Costume and heritage. 21st General Conference of ICOM.

6-10 October, 2008, Santiago, Chile.
Theme: Colonial Fashion.

4-9 October, 2009, Lyon, France.
Theme: Costume and the Textile Trade.

7-10 September, 2010, Munich, Germany. Working meeting.
Theme: Clothes tell stories.

7-12 November, 2010, Shanghai, China. 22st General Conference of ICOM.
Theme: Chinese Costume: Materials, Techniques and Style.

25-31 September, 2011, Belgrade, Serbia.
Theme: In Between: Culture of Dress between East and West.

20-27 October, 2012, Brussels, Belgium.
Theme: Lace, Fashion and Transparency.

10-17 August, 2013, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Theme: Costume in Portraits.

7-13 September, 2014, Athens/Nafplion, Greece.
Theme: Dress and Politics.

8-13 September, 2015, Toronto/Canada.
Theme: Exhibitions and Interpretation.

3-7 July, 2016, Milan/Italy.
Theme: Museums and Cultural Landscapes.

26-29 July, 2017, London/Great Britain.
Theme: The Narrative Power of Clothes.

10-15 June, 2018, Utrecht/Netherlands.
Theme: Fashion and Innovation.

1-7 September, 2019, Kyoto/Japan.
Theme: Costume as a Cultural Hub: The Future of Tradition.

2020 Versailles was cancelled due to Covid 19.

30-31 August, 2021, Online.
Theme: The making of Luxury.

20-28 August 2022, Prague/ Czech Republic.
Theme: The ritual power of Clothing.

24-28 September 2023, Edinburgh/Scotland.
Theme: All the colours of black.