Exhibitions

Current Special Exhibitions Gallery September 10, 2025 – January 4, 2026

Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis

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photograph of seated woman wrapped in translucent tulle, eyes covered with embroidered eyes, pearls for teeth, and holding a pink knit doll

Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis is the first exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis. Curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT, the exhibition will feature approximately 100 looks by designers such as Alexander McQueen, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni and Donatella Versace, John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture, Rick Owens, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, and many more. Described by Suzy Menkes as "the Freud of Fashion," Steele has spent more than five years working on this exhibition and the accompanying book, which draws on the evolution of psychoanalytic ideas about sexuality and the unconscious, with sections devoted to themes such as the mirror stage, the skin ego, desire, and sexual difference.

Image: Photograph by Elizaveta Porodina of artist Alisa Gorshenina. Courtesy of photographer.

Upcoming Goodman Lobby September 18 – October 12, 2025

Cut & Miss: From Binary Draft to Woven Textile

6 pieces of woven fabric, each with a different multicolored, geometric design

This exhibition showcases the journey of Textile/Surface Design students, from foundational weaving techniques to cutting-edge digital applications. Cut & Miss features a diverse range of projects, highlighting the evolution of skills and creative expression across introductory and advanced levels. Traditional hand woven samples are displayed alongside fabric developed through digital weaving and manufactured at an American textile mill. Process sketches, drafts, and digital images display the marriage of design and technical skill required to create woven fabrics.

The exhibition includes a loom with scheduled weaving demonstrations by students and faculty. This interactive feature offers a live glimpse into the craft and provides an opportunity for visitors to connect with the Textile Surface Design department.

Weekend Weaving Demonstrations will be at the following times: 
Saturday: September 20th, 12-2 PM
Sunday: September 21st, 1-3 PM
Saturday: September 27th, 12-2 PM
Sunday: September 28th, 1-3 PM
Saturday: October 11, 12-2 PM
Sunday: October 12, 1-3 PM

Image courtesy of Nana Osako

UPCOMING Special Exhibitions Gallery February 18 – April 19, 2026

Art X Fashion

tshirt with red sleeves and printed illustration of black man wearing a green shirt with red sleeves
Art X Fashion is a major exhibition exploring the entangled and shifting relationship between fine art and fashion—typically considered a "decorative" or "applied" art. Curated by Dr. Elizabeth Way, curator of Costume and Accessories, and featuring 140 garments, textiles, and accessories from The Museum at FIT’s permanent collection, this exhibition traces fashion and art's parallel aesthetics from 18th-century rococo to late-20th-century postmodernism. Utilizing the theoretical framework developed by art and fashion historian Dr. Christopher Richards, Art X Fashion invites viewers to consider the much-asked question, "Is fashion art?" through historic and contemporary examples. Further themes explore the overlapping art-and-fashion work of artists, such as Salvador Dalí, Sonia Delaunay, Kerry James Marshall, Antonio Lopez, and Pablo Picasso, and fashion designers, including Hussein Chalayan, Issey Miyake, Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Vivienne Tam, as well as the ways artists use fashion to shape their identities and expand their cultural significance.

Image: Wales Bonner X Kerry James Marshall, cotton T-shirt reproducing "Lost Boys: AKA Black Sonny" (1993) by Kerry James Marshall, spring 2023, museum purchase, 2022.55.1
shoes a-z book cover

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Museum Publications

MFIT on the Road

The Museum at FIT often loans objects from its permanent collections to other institutions for use in exhibitions. Check out what venue is featuring MFIT on the road.
What's traveling?
Floor-length evening dress on a mannequin in color block, layered chiffon tiers.
Stephen Burrows evening dress, polyester, 1973, USA, gift of Mrs. Savanna Clark, 99.15.1

There’s no shame in living in the past

We have an archive of over ten years of exhibition websites. Take some time to explore our curatorial history!
Catch up on past exhibitions

 

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