Fashion Institute Museum NY

The Museum at FIT, the museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. It was founded in 1969 to support FIT's educational programs. The museum was first known as the Design Laboratory, and it began presenting exhibitions in the 1970s using a collection on long-term loan from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. It later added a conservation lab in the 1980s and took its current name in the 1990s. It describes itself as the only museum in New York City devoted solely to fashion, and its mission is to advance knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, publications, and public programs. Today the museum's own holdings are substantial. The collection includes more than 50,000 garments and accessories from the eighteenth century to the present, along with thousands of textiles and other fashion-related materials. It is located at Seventh Avenue and 27th Street in Chelsea; admission to the exhibitions is always free, and year-round programming includes conversations with leading designers. Past shows have included Fashion and Surrealism and The Corset: Fashioning the Body, and many have been curated by longtime director Valerie Steele. Exhibitions change often.