The LSU Textile & Costume Museum offers changing exhibitions of regional, national and international interest. The scope of the museum's collections are global. Included are prehistoric and ethnic textiles and costume, as well as contemporary high fashions and high-tech textiles. Types of items consist of apparel, accessories, household textiles, piece goods, books, patterns, and a variety of items related to textile and apparel production, use, and care. As part of the Department of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising, the museum promotes conservation, research, teach, and public service. Research includes studies of the technical, aesthetic, historic, and sociocultural significance of textiles and apparel. It is a component collection of the Louisiana Museum of Natural History at LSU.
The organization, Friends of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum, supports the goals and functions of the museum by providing funds for artifact purchases, exhibition mounting, educational workshops, and other activities throughout the year.
Woven Louisiana History: Acadian Textiles
A collaborative exhibition on display at Hill Memorial Library
September 23 to December 13, 2024
Gladys Clark weaving in costume, c. 1950
Gladys Clark Papers, Mss. 4953, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, LA.
Opening Reception October 6. 2:00-4:00 pm Hill Memorial Library
Join us for the opening reception and annual meeting of the Friends of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum. Admission is free and open to the public.
Presented with the support of our sponsors:
Pat Alford
Lubna Culbert
Mindy & Greg LaCour
Opening Reception:
- Lecture by Dr. Michael Mamp, Director & Curator of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum, with Leah Jewett, Exhibitions Manager, LSU Libraries Special Collections
- Friends Annual Meeting
- View the Exhibit
- Special viewing of fashion archives from the Hiill Memorial Library
- Refreshments served
Hill Memorial Library is on the LSU Quad at 95 Fieldhouse Dr., Baton Rouge, LA, 70803. The front entrance faces the Quad and is ADA accessible. Parking is available along Field House Drive and in the Indian Mounds Lot (202) behind the building. Permits/gate passes are not required on Sundays. For more information, visit LSU Parking online.
Accession # 1987.003.0020
One of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum’s most treasured holdings is a 1966 woman’s special occasion dress designed by one of the country’s most acclaimed fashion designers, James Galanos (1924-2016). As the recipient of multiple international awards for his design work over his 46-year career span, Galanos was known for his use of couture techniques and fine craftsmanship. May Cross John Baynard, the museum donor of the garment with such a prized label, was a treasure in her own right and a most ardent supporter of the museum in its early days. She was not only a major donor, but was also instrumental in organizing the museum’s support group, the Friends of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum, and hosted the museum’s first gala in 1995. Due to the piece’s importance to the museum, it was selected to be rendered into a fashion drawing format by retired New York Women’s Wear Daily illustrator Steven Stipelman. The image now serves as the museum’s logo.
Women's Wear Daily!
The latest exhibition, Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene, has been featured in Women's Wear Daily!
Parking
The parking lot behind the Human Ecology Building has been taken over by construction crews working on adjacent buildings. Unfortunately this means that visitors to the museum will need to avail themselves of the nearby street parking.
Donation from The Valentine
The LSU Textile and Costume Museum is the grateful recipient of over 400 exceptional artifacts from The Valentine Museum of Richmond, Virginia. This acquisition includes a wide assortment of fashions of the twentieth century from both European and American designers. Included in the vast gift are couture garments by Jeanne Paquin, Christian Dior, and Jeanne Lanvin, among others, as well as examples of lesser-known fashion designers such as Anne Fogarty, Ceil Chapman, Nettie Rosenstein, Stephen Burrows, and Willi Smith.
Three garments from this acquisition were displayed in our most recent exhibition, "Til' Trends Do Us Part: A Retrospective of Changing Fashion in Bridal Wear." These include a homemade wedding gown from 1837, an 1865 gown attributed to the famed couturier Charles Fredrick Worth, and an 1878 bustle-period gown made by New York City dressmaker Mrs. E. Hynes whose shop was located at 90 W. 11th Street, NYC.
