Kent State University Museum Collections: A World of Fashion and Decorative Arts
The Kent State University Museum stands as a unique intersection of academic rigor and public engagement, offering a diverse collection of historic, contemporary, and world fashions alongside American glass, furniture, paintings, and other decorative arts. Welcoming students, researchers, and the general public, the museum provides a space for viewing, studying, and researching its extensive holdings.
A Treasure Trove of Fashion History
At the heart of the museum's permanent collection, which features over 20,000 objects, lies its renowned fashion collection. This collection showcases costumes and textiles spanning from the 18th century to the present day, including featured works by iconic designers such as Channel, Balmain, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Courreges, Valentino, Halston, and Miyake, among others. The collection offers a comprehensive overview of fashion history, tracing the evolution of styles and silhouettes while contextualizing the pieces with relevant political, technological, and cultural developments.
The "Fashion Timeline," a permanent and rotating exhibition within the museum, exemplifies this approach. Encompassing over two centuries of fashion history, the exhibition is designed to show the evolution of styles and silhouettes while contextualizing the pieces with relevant political, technological and cultural developments. Visitors can wander through this exhibition of garments from the museum’s vast collection. Spanning two centuries of fashion history, each ensemble is placed in the context of political, social and cultural milestones to demonstrate how changes in society influenced the way people dressed.
Beyond Fashion: Decorative Arts and Special Exhibitions
While fashion forms a cornerstone of the museum's identity, its collections extend beyond clothing and textiles to encompass a wide range of decorative arts. American glass, furniture, and paintings contribute to the museum's diverse offerings, providing visitors with a broader understanding of material culture and artistic expression.
In addition to its permanent collections, the Kent State University Museum hosts special exhibitions that highlight specific themes, designers, or historical periods. These exhibitions provide opportunities for deeper exploration of particular aspects of fashion and decorative arts, often drawing upon the museum's extensive holdings or featuring loans from other institutions.
Read also: Exploring Kent Denver School
For instance, the museum paid tribute to Aileen Mehle, a friend of the museum founders and widely syndicated society columnist, in honor of its 40th anniversary. The exhibition featured evening dresses and jewelry from Mehle that were displayed in the museum’s historic Higbee Gallery. Mehle, who wrote under the pseudonym Suzy Knickerbocker and enjoyed a career spanning five decades, from the 1950s until her final column, left an indelible mark on the world of fashion and society reporting.
A Resource for Research and Education
The Kent State University Museum serves as a valuable resource for students, researchers, and anyone interested in learning more about fashion and decorative arts. The museum welcomes students and the general public to view, study and research from its collection of historic, contemporary, and world fashions. Its location on the campus of Kent State University, which boasts one of the best fashion schools in the country, further enhances its role as a center for education and scholarship.
The museum offers research appointments for individuals who wish to examine specific objects or garments that may not be currently on display. "We have students doing their honors theses with objects from our collection," Spinner said. This allows researchers to delve deeper into the museum's holdings and gain a more intimate understanding of the objects themselves.
Expanding Access and Engagement
Since joining the museum in July 2024, Director Sarah Spinner has focused on expanding the museum’s engagement both across campus and the broader community, as well as increasing the amount of programming offered around its exhibitions. "When I got here, it was really thinking through at every level, how do we open access?
The response has been enormous, she said. “In my first year here, we've doubled visitorship and we're seeing increased visitorship every day,” Spinner said. “We're all seeing a real need for this type of platform, for this type of gathering place, and it's really inspiring our work every day.”
Read also: Kent State Athletics Logo
Another change is the way the museum hosts openings for new exhibitions. Emmy, Tony and Oscar award-winning designer and Akron native Paul Tazewell visited fashion students in September and later spoke to a crowd of more than 600 people. Two costumes from the film “Wicked” were recently displayed in the museum’s lobby and drew a large crowd, accompanied by a visit from the designer himself.
“Now when we invite people and advertise an opening, we actually have to cap the number of people we can take because we don't even have enough space for all the guests who want to celebrate,” Spinner said. “That's an incredible feeling working for a museum knowing that you're having that kind of impact.”
Bianka Hausknecht is the museum’s special assistant and sees the effects of these changes firsthand, not only in her daily work but also as a resident of Kent.“I actually live within walking distance. And when I'd say where I work, there's a lot of people that would say, ‘Oh I didn't know you were here,’” Hausknecht said. “I feel like we're being seen more. People are realizing we're here, they want to come here and they want see what we have to offer.”
Fostering a Community
In her early days at the museum, Spinner propped open her office doors and invited students in for an event she called Donuts with the Director. It wasn’t just free pastries (what college student could resist?) but an informal opportunity for them to get to know more about Spinner and the museum.
“The most joy I get in my job is the opportunity to engage with students and to really understand what they're interested in, the issues that they're thinking about, and how we can use that to shape the future of the museum,” Spinner said.
Read also: Next Steps at Kent State
Chloe Brosch, now a sophomore majoring in fashion merchandising, attended that first event and has been actively involved with the museum ever since. Recently, she’s worked with a handful of other students to create the Kent State Museum Society.
“Our first thought was, ‘How can we create a community for students here at the museum?’” Brosch said. “So, it's all about getting students involved … having students attend events, having students come to meetings, having them meet with designers. That's where the community starts.”
From Private Passion to Public Treasure
Museums ultimately result from the desire to collect but their collections are not exactly comparable to those of individuals. When a private collection is absorbed into the larger collection of a museum, its original integrity and internal logic is obliterated in favor of the mission of the larger whole. While the original donor of each item is always acknowledged when the object is displayed, rarely is the coherence of the original collection evoked.
Museums generally have clearly articulated guiding principles that govern what they collect: their mission. Integral to a museum’s mission is the educational purpose of the institution. In sharp contrast to a museum collection, rarely does the purpose of the private collection involve being viewed. For many collectors, the acquisition and possession of related objects is a goal in itself. In becoming part of the collection, the objects lose any meaningful function. Not only are they not used for their original purpose, but, in many instances, they do not even serve a decorative purpose. Collectors who amass too many objects often have no reasonable way to display their pieces. The objects must be stored in whatever space is available - such as in boxes and under beds.
The Kent State University Museum’s collection began with a donation of thousands of garments, accessories and decorative objects to Kent State University in the early 1980s by fashion designers Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman, forming the foundation of the museum's collection.
tags: #kent #state #university #museum #collections
