Wearable Art: Inspiration in Thread

With CEM’s centennial exhibition, Wearable Art: Inspiration in Thread, the CEM collection becomes the springboard for new creations by contemporary artists and designers. Intended to offer a window into global fashion and to the validate the relationship between the old and the new, the exhibition features fashions by an international group of artists and designers inspired by historical textiles in the museum’s permanent collection. Emphasizing the richness and historical breadth of the CEM collection, the exhibition reveals the ways that contemporary artists and designers can look to the techniques, ideas, and objects of the past to create new expressions that speak to their own time, place, and aesthetic. This dynamic pairing of the old and the new presents CEM’s historic textiles as a living collection and a valuable educational and inspirational resource for the benefit of scholars, artists, designers, and the general public alike.