Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, was invited by the Kobe Fashion Museum, Japan, to curate the exhibition “Treasures of Fashion”. The display is organized in several mini exhibitions: 1) Rococo, based on the Kobe Fashion Museum 18th-century dress collection; 2) Chanel and her Rivals, in two parts – one on the 1910s-1939 during the golden age of the couturiere when her rivals were mostly women like Schiaparelli, Vionnet, and Lanvin, and part two, on the post-war era when Chanel competed mostly with men like Dior, Balenciaga, and Givenchy; 3) Japan and western fashion, about the influence of kimono on western dress; and 4) object and image, based on the museum’s terrific collection of fashion photography, but also ending with three examples of late 20th-century Japanese avant-garde fashion, alluding back to the influence of Japan.

The exhibition is NOW on view!

More information and a short movie about the exhibtion here: https://www.fashionmuseum.or.jp/

Exhibition part 1: Rococo

Exhibition part 2-1: Chanel and her Rivals (1910s-39)

Exhibition part 2-2: Chanel and her Rivals (post-war era)

Exhibition part 3: Japan and Western fashion

Exhibition part 4: Object and Image

All images copyright ©The Kobe Fashion Museum