The mission of the Historic Textile and Costume Collection supports teaching in the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design, as well as other departments on campus; encourages research by students, faculty, and visiting scholars; and provides artifacts for use in class, exhibitions in the Textile Gallery, and loans at other museums.
Featured Item
Woman's Bonnet
This is a spoonbill bonnet dating between 1850 and 1860. The brim of a spoon bill bonnet flares out to frame the face, maintaining the bavolet popular…
Featured Collection
The Kaleidoscope of Textiles: Dress as Multidimensional Cultural Documents
"Show me the clothes of a culture and I can write its history" - Anatole France (1844-1924)Material culture is the world of things that people – all…
Featured Exhibit
One American Family: A Tale of North and South
Inspired by the 2018 publication of An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery, by URI's Rachel May (PhD '15),...
Recently Added Items
Woman's Ultrasuede Dress by Halston
Roy Halston Frowick (1932-1990) began his design career as a free-lance milliner in Chicago in the early 1950s. During this time he adopted the use of…
Women's Suit by Chanel
Known for transforming comfort into luxury, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883-1971) was a revolutionary designer who set a high standard for women’s…
Woman's Brocade Dress with Jacket by Givenchy
Hubert de Givenchy (1927-2018) can be remembered as one of the greatest couturiers in twentieth-century fashion history. His inspiration often came…
Woman's Suit by Balenciaga
This two-piece women’s suit was donated by Michael McKenna and Carlos Benevides, owners of Artifice of Warwick, Rhode Island. The suit is comprised of…