Comprised of some 30,000 objects, the Museum's collection of Costume and Textiles is one of the oldest and largest in the country.
The collections include woven and printed textiles and embroidery and lace, as well as iconic fashions.
Strong in woven and printed fabrics as well as embroidery and lace, the Museum’s textiles collection includes exceptional American quilts, coverlets, and samplers; as well as Middle Eastern and Asian archeological textiles. Recent acquisitions also include important groups of Asian material.
The extensive costume holdings feature outstanding examples of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dress, undergarments, and accessories such as hats, gloves, bags, and shoes. Iconic twentieth-century fashions are also present, with particular strength in the designs of Elsa Schiaparelli. One of the most popular objects in the Museum’s collection is the wedding dress worn by Princess Grace of Monaco, the former Grace Kelly of Philadelphia.
Because of sensitivity to light and other conservation concerns, the objects on view in the Costume and Textile galleries rotate frequently.
