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Admission is free to one of fall's must-see fashion exhibits.
The Museum at FIT's "Ravishing: The Rose in Fashion," explores "how the rose has influenced the way we look, dress, feel, and fantasize" with over 130 rose-centric garments, accessories and more. The first major exhibit in the space since the museum closed in March 2020, "Ravishing" will run through November 28.
Luxurious, hand-woven and embroidered 18th-century silks, 1960s-era stilettos, 1980s Halston gowns, contemporary gender-neutral catwalk trends and more are featured in the galleries.
Photographs will also illustrate and amplify the various uses of roses in multiple forms, to inspire fashion throughout the centuries. Items were selected from the MFIT's world-class collection and also include a large group of hats, many of which are displayed publicly for the first time. The garments and accessories are curated and interpreted in the context of themes such as love, beauty, sex, sin, gendered identities, rites of passage, transgression, degradation, and death.
"The Museum at FIT is reopening to visitors with a spectacular new exhibition on fashion inspired by the imagery and symbolism of the rose—whether crimson, pink, white, yellow, or black. Long associated with love and pleasure, the rose and its thorns can also allude to suffering, purity, and transience," said Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of MFIT. "Drawing on three centuries of fashion, this beautiful exhibition features work by designers from Charles James to Alexander McQueen. I am grateful to Amy de la Haye and Colleen Hill for co-curating what is sure to be one of our most popular exhibitions."
The museum is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from noon to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and masks must be worn at all times inside the museum.