The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection

02/11/2022

Please join us next Wednesday for a presentation on the style and impact of jazz icon Bessie Smith!
You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Feb 16, 2022 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: BESSIE SMITH, EMPRESS OF THE BLUES, IN 1920s PHILADELPHIA: Modern, Transformative, and Unsung… See more

06/02/2021

This Friday, June 4 at 9 a.m. ET, join Drexel’s Design History Forum for a talk with Clare Sauro, Director & Chief Curator, Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection, Drexel University. Clare Sauro will be speaking on 2020: The Clothes We Wore and the Stories They Tell, a recent online exhibition at the Fox Historic Costume Collection. A Q&A will follow the presentation. Interested in attending? Please email Professor Joseph Larnerd at [email protected] for the Zoom invitation.

05/21/2021

Join us!

On Friday, June 4 at 9 a.m. ET, join Drexel’s Design History Forum for a talk with Clare Sauro, Director & Chief Curator, Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection, Drexel University. Clare Sauro will be speaking on 2020: The Clothes We Wore and the Stories They Tell, a recent online exhibition at the Fox Historic Costume Collection. A Q&A will follow the presentation. If you would like to attend, please email Professor Joseph Larnerd at [email protected] for the Zoom invitation.

05/12/2021

History Happy Hour: Tiki Thursday
Thursday, May 20th, 5:00 p.m. ET
Register for the Zoom link

https://drexel.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ifh_DO21QyyisNOukkCDQw

Monica Stevens Smyth, Collections Manager of Drexel’s Fox Historic Costume Collection, will host Anya Kurennaya, scholar and doctoral candidate in Drexel University’s Media, Culture and Communication PhD program, for a History Happy Hour on Thursday, May 20th, at 5 pm.

Join Anya and Monica as they discuss the history of the American "tiki bar" and the 20th-century trend of tropical-inspired fashion and design. Anya will discuss the historical and cultural context of the bar and its fashions, and Monica will share pieces from the collection that reflect the era's cultural embrace of tropical aesthetics and cocktail culture. And of course, no History Happy Hour would be complete without a Mai Tai tutorial!

05/01/2021

As part of the "Gateway to the University: the Collections" at Drexel special exhibition, opening in fall this year at the Paul Peck Alumni Center Gallery, three Drexel scholars came together to create a video around the celebrated Arts and Crafts designer William Morris (1834–96) and his use of natural dyes, especially indigo, which during the 19th century was imported from India. On Tuesday, May 4 at 7 p.m. ET, Clare Sauro, Debjani Bhattacharyya, and Robert Peck will be joined by other Drexel colleagues for a webinar conversation about Morris’ design philosophy, his use of botanical books as source materials, and the punitive conditions in Bengal under which indigo was grown.

Participants:
• Debjani Bhattacharyya, Associate Professor, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences
• Joseph Larnerd, PhD, Assistant Professor of Design History, Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
• Marina McDougal, Interim Chief Learning and Engagement Officer, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
• Heather Moqtaderi, Adjunct Faculty, History of Modern Design, Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
• Robert Peck, Curator of Art and Artifacts and Senior Fellow, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
• Clare Sauro, Director & Chief Curator, Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection
• Lynn C. Waddell, Director, The Drexel Collection

Register here: https://drexel.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__puHIljTQO-IdqzLtZS63g

04/25/2021

Society & Culture What Drexel Does — and Doesn’t — Have From the 1918 Pandemic By: Alissa Falcone April 20, 2021 One of the combs purchased by Naomi Ford, on top of the original holly wrapping paper. Photo credit: Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection. Credit: Gift of Mrs. Anne Wrig...

03/29/2021

Our first online exhibition is now live!

2020: The Clothes We Wore and the Stories They Tell is the first online exhibition from the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University (FHCC). The objects included in this exhibition were submitted by members of the Drexel community as the most reflective of their...

02/26/2021

The Couture Accessory Redux: A Conversation with Caroline Rennolds Milbank

Join us for a conversation with fashion historian Caroline Rennolds Milbank about some of her favorite couture accessories in the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University.

Caroline Rennolds Milbank’s work in fashion history has included stints as an auction house expert (Sotheby’s and Doyle New York), appraiser, and consulting curator. However, she is perhaps best known as the author of several definitive volumes on fashion history such as Couture: The Great Designers, New York Fashion, and Fashion: A Timeline in Photographs.



One of her most beloved publications is The Couture Accessory, a book that celebrates the visionary hats, bags, shoes, belts, scarves, gloves, and jewels fashioned by designers of the 20th century, beginning with Poiret, Vionnet, Chanel and Schiaparelli and continuing through to Azzedine Alaia, Jean Paul Gaultier, Moschino and Vivienne Westwood. Many of the accessories featured in the publication are now housed in the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection.

This program will be hosted via Zoom. You will receive additional details upon registration.

https://drexel.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_orDzTSnPSBCct-XZ21zmhQ

02/04/2021

We are excited to announce the first online exhibition from Drexel’s Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection, “2020: The Clothes We Wore and the Stories They Tell,” an exhibition curated with the help of the Drexel community. The clothes we wear are more than mere decoration – what we choose to wear, or not wear, speaks volumes. Whether you shifted your wardrobe to match the changing environment during a global pandemic, or you used clothing to further express yourself during a year filled with racial, social and political unrest, the Fox Historic Costume Collection wants to hear about it and document a year many of us would like to forget.

The Fox Historic Costume Collection is looking for 20 garments (t-shirts, hats, masks, tote bags, etc.) that best represent the events of this past year. This request of loan objects (to be photographed and returned) and a statement (60 words or less) explaining the significance of the submitted garment to the wearer during 2020’s tumultuous events is open to all Drexel University students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

The deadline for submission is Friday, February 19, 2021. Share your submission with the Fox Historic Costume Collection using this link!

https://drexel.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3fW10mV1bLqZ3Zb

06/02/2020

To our community in Philadelphia and across the nation navigating both the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic injustice: We hear you. We support you. We stand with you.