Anna Wintour Costume Center facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Anna Wintour Costume Center

Savage Beauty Exhibition, 2011
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Established	2014
Location	1000 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City 10028
Public transit access	Subway:   to 86th Street Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M79, M86

The Anna Wintour Costume Center is a special part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. It holds the amazing collection of the Costume Institute. This part of the museum focuses on fashion and costume design.

The center is named after Anna Wintour. She is the longtime editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine. She also leads the museum's yearly Met Gala event, which started in 1995. The center received money from Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch to help it get started. As of August 2017, Andrew Bolton is the main person in charge of the collections.

The center officially opened on May 5, 2014. The First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama was there for the opening. Many famous people from the fashion world also attended.

The Story of the Costume Institute

Robe à la française from the 1740s, shown in an exhibit

The story of the Costume Institute began in 1902. Two sisters, Irene and Alice Lewisohn, started volunteering at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York. This was a community center helping immigrant families. Alice taught drama, and Irene worked on dance shows.

In 1915, the sisters opened the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. It became known for its creative plays. A theater designer named Aline Bernstein worked there, creating costumes and sets.

After the Playhouse closed in 1927, the Lewisohns started the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 1928. It became a school for actors and dancers.

From Playhouse to Museum

Over the years, the sisters gathered a lot of knowledge about theater and costumes. In 1937, Irene Lewisohn opened the Museum of Costume Art on Fifth Avenue. This museum was a home for their collection and knowledge. Aline Bernstein was its first president.

After Irene Lewisohn passed away in 1944, Lord & Taylor president Dorothy Shaver helped move the collection. She wanted it to join the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She believed this would help the American fashion industry. She raised $350,000 to make the move happen.

In 1946, the Museum of Costume Art became part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was renamed The Costume Institute. At first, it ran on its own. But in 1959, it became a regular department within the museum. The Met now has the Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library.

The Met Gala and New Collections

Since 1946, the Costume Institute has hosted the yearly Met Gala. This big event helps raise money to run the institute. Fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert helped start this tradition.

In 2009, a large collection from the Brooklyn Museum joined the Costume Institute. This was called The Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was expensive for the Brooklyn Museum to keep and show its collection. This was the main reason for the move.

The Brooklyn Museum's collection is older. It started in 1903 with a dress from 1892. Before the move, 23,500 items from the Brooklyn collection were scanned into computers. Now, both museums share these images. When the Brooklyn collection joined, the Met's costume collection had 31,000 items from the 17th century onwards.

The first big show in the new center in 2014 featured the work of Charles James. He was an important designer in New York fashion in the 1940s and 1950s. His work is part of the Brooklyn collection.

In 2015, Andrew Bolton became the new Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute. He had been working there since 2002.

In May 2017, the Costume Institute showed an exhibit featuring the designs of Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons. This was the first time the institute focused on a living designer since Yves Saint Laurent in 1983.

Past Exhibitions