SEVEN SUNDAYS’ PRESENTS:
Preserving the Past While Inspiring the Future: The Drexel Historic Costume Collection

WHEELING, W.Va. (April 10, 2009)- - With more than 5,000 objects, The Drexel Historic Costume Collection (DHCC) in Philadelphia richly illustrates society life from the late 1800s to the present and is filled with pristine examples of Parisian haute couture and prestigious American designers. Local residents can get a “behind-the-scenes” look at this one-of-a-kind collection and the greater community of historic costume design from the Collection curator as Oglebay Institute opens is 2009 Seven Sundays to Remember Lecture Series.

Curator Clare Sauro will present “Preserving the Past: While Inspiring the Future: The Drexel Historic Costume Collection,” at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 26 at the Mansion Museum in Oglebay.

Formed to serve as an educational resource for fashion design students and an inspirational resource for the fashion industry, the Collection contains articles of clothing encompassing 200 years of historic costume and fabric design. It includes amazing textiles ranging from special occasion daywear to couture eveningwear to ceremonial robes and cultural costumes.

“In the world of fashion, continuous change and innovation are essential for commercial success. Ironically, this change is sometimes a reinterpretation of historic styles and traditional construction methods. Over the years designers have mined the past for inspiration,” Sauro said.

She said that museums like the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Brooklyn Museum and The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art were among the first to operate as inspirational resources for the fashion industry. Today, many large museums and universities have costume collections, which are popular draws for the general public as well as specialized audiences.

Sauro’s lecture will cover topics such as the role of historic costume collections in museums and universities, the history and highlights of the DHCC, the impact of technology on historic costume collections and the future of historic costume collections.

In addition to serving as curator of the DHCC, Sauro teaches courses in the history of fashion. Prior to this position, she supervised the Accessories Collection and worked as assistant curator in the Costume Collection at the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology.) She has contributed to several exhibitions including The Tailor’s Art and Arbiters of Style: Women at the Forefront of Fashion. In 2005 she co-curated the exhibition Dutch at the Edge of Design: Fashion and Textiles from the Netherlands.
Sauro is a frequent lecturer on the history of fashion and has contributed essays to the Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion and Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessness.

Fashion lectures at the Mansion continue each month through October and complement the Victorian fashion exhibit “Dressing Wheeling from the Inside Out: 1840 – 1910,” which opens April 24.

To register for the April 26 Seven Sundays’ lecture or for a complete list of programs, call the Mansion Museum staff at 304.242.7272 or visit on the web at www.OIonline.com