The department of costume and textiles and vintage wedding dresses

With initial acquisitions from the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the Philadelphia Museum of Art launched what has become one of the oldest and largest collections of costume and textiles in the United States. The first textile collections documented the development of design and techniques in Egypt, Greece, Persia, Turkey, India and Europe. In the 1920s and '30s, the Museum acquired extensive groups of 18th- and 19th-century French textiles as complements to its growing presentation of 18th-century French and English period rooms and decorative arts.

The Museum's earliest costume holdings illustrated the "home life, customs, and manufactures of colonial times." These were later joined by major gifts of 18th- and 19th-century material, ranging from weaving pattern books and Pennsylvania German quilts to the clothing of fashionable Philadelphia. In 1956 the Museum received its best known item of clothing, the wedding dress worn by Princess Grace of Monaco, who was, of course, Grace Kelly of Philadelphia. The most important acquisition to date of work by a single designer was Elsa Schiaparelli's gift of seventy-one of her costumes and accessories, including many that are icons of 20th-century fashion.

About The Author:

Skylar Rhodes is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.wedding-dresses-n-gowns.com. Shop online for spectacular wedding dresses and accessories to make the evening perfect.