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Costume Institute’s Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library

Opens Four Special Collections for Research

 

The Costume Institute’s Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library announces the opening for research of four collections of records that document mid-20^th century American designers and complement the Museum’s holdings in the Costume Institute.

 

Steven Arpad shoe sketch collection, 1939: More than 400 sketches of Steven Arpad's shoe designs that relate to 75 prototypes in the Costume Institute’s collection and allow for the identification of some uncredited shoe designs for Balenciaga and Delman as being by Arpad. http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16028coll1/id/36194

 

Bonnie Cashin collection, 1943-2000 (bulk 1950-1976): Among the best-known post-war American designers, Bonnie Cashin specialized in interchangeable ready-to-wear wardrobes that incorporated leather, suede, cashmere, and tweed. She also designed distinctive accessories for the Coach Leatherware Company and other manufacturers. The collection includes correspondence, original designs for gloves, together with photoreproductions of Hollywood costume designs, clippings, ephemera, publicity photographs, and press releases. http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16028coll1/id/36193

 

Norman Norell collection, 1927-1973: Norell’s consistent, decades-long career of producing garments that were both practical and luxurious, incorporating materials from wool to chiffon, designed for both evening and daywear, and available only through high-end retail outlets earned him the moniker “the Dean of American Fashion”. The collection consists of pages removed from a scrapbook that document Norman Norell’s career mainly through original and photocopied tearsheets and clippings from fashion magazines that include Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar,  and Town and Country; as well as a set of photocopied sketches, to some of which are attached fabric swatches. http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16028coll1/id/36195

 

Carolyn Schnurer collection, 1950-1955: During her 20 year career in fashion from 1944 to her retirement in 1964, Carolyn Schnurer was a pioneer in the mid-twentieth century’s newly emerging American sportswear industry. The collection includes correspondence; cost sheets, sketches, and swatches; as well as promotional photographs of models wearing Schnurer’s designs, fashion shows, and store window displays. http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16028coll1/id/36192

 

 

The collections are available, by appointment only, to qualified researchers onsite at the Costume Institute’s Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/the-irene-lewisohn-costume-reference-library).

 

These collections are the second group to be opened for research as part of a two year project to make available more than 25 sets of special collections housed in the Costume Institute’s Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library.

 

 

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Melissa Bowling
Associate Archivist
Museum Archives/Office of the Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel
212 570 3768

 

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