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.