About the Historical Costume Collection

The collection's permanent exhibition space is in part of the Walter and Olive Stiemke Memorial Hall on the second floor of Notre Dame Hall.

Exhibits are free to the public and are usually open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The exhibitions promote the appreciation of aesthetic, historical and cultural issues expressed by dress. Annual changing exhibitions are developed around themes which show the changing silhouettes of time. Exhibitions are mounted on campus as well as in community venues.

Fashionable Milwaukee

The Historic Costume Collection presents "Fashionable Milwaukee" for 2009-2010. This exhibition examines the four important elements for shaping fashion: production, promotion, selling, and consumers. Milwaukee owes its origins to fashion; she began as a fur trading post supplying fur for European hats. By 1964, Wisconsin ranked fourth in the nation as a producer of women’s apparel. Milwaukee’s fashion industry was larger than her beer industry. Although fashion production has been leaving the state since the 1970s, Milwaukee’s fashion industry continues to employ thousands of people.

Milwaukee’s fashion press has a distinguished history. The Milwaukee Journal’s Aileen Ryan was the first regional newspaper editor allowed in New York and Paris fashion shows beginning in the 1930s. Included in the exhibition are the Journal’s photographs from the 1950s and 1960s. Also included are original fashion illustrations by Dickie, an artist for the Milwaukee Journal.

Milwaukee’s retailers are represented by garments from prominent stores such as Marshall Fields, Hixon’s, Zita’s, T. A. Chapman, and Aversa.

Milwaukee’s fashionable consumers include men and women from prominent families. This section features evening wear; many garments were purchased in Europe or New York. A beautiful example is a 1948 couture gown custom made for style-setter Polly Stone at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. She and her husband donated their decorative arts collection to the Milwaukee Art Museum and funded the Chipstone Foundation.

Milwaukee’s fashionable designers and manufacturers include Florence Eiseman, Jack Winter, JH Collectibles, Harley-Davidson, and Canvasbacks. Leather goods from Amity Leather and Rolf’s are also on display.


For further reading on Milwaukee's fashionable past, seeThe Making of Milwaukee by John Gurda; Producing Fashion edited by Regina Lee Blaszczyk.

Images from the 2009-2010 exhibit - "Fashionable Milwaukee," on display until July 2010.

Early 1950s leopard print cotton day dress by Nettie Rosenstein worn by Jane Bradley Pettit.	Pink 1980s cocktail dress by Jean Louis worn by Jane Bradley Pettit.

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The Mount Mary College Historic Costume Collection serves as an educational, scholarly, and artistic resource for Mount Mary students and the Milwaukee community. The collection preserves and exhibits historically significant garments and accessories, as well as fashion art, tools and periodicals. The exhibitions promote the appreciation of aesthetic, historical and cultural issues expressed by dress.

The Mount Mary College Historic Costume Collection contains over 9,000 objects for children and adults dating from 1750 to the present. Objects are accepted from local, national, and international donors. The collection's strength lies in its holdings of 20th century women's couture and ready-to-wear garments.

Notable Wisconsin women are represented by extensive collections of their garments; these include the chanteuse Hildegarde, designer Florence Eiseman, and actress Lynn Fontanne. The New York designer, Charles Kleibacker, recently donated his large historic costume collection increasing the depth of the collection. This donation added works by many important designers including Chanel, Patou, Adrian, Irene, Charles James, Madame Gres and Karl Lagerfeld.

Past Exhibits at Mount Mary College:

Chic Shapes: The Architecture of Fashion - 2008-2009
All the World's a Stage - 2007 to 2008
Designed by Women: Fashions from 1900 to the present - 2006 to 2007
The Designer's Eye: The Historic Costume Collection of Charles Kliebacker - 2005 to 2006
Fantasy of Nature: Fashion, Flora and Fauna - 2004 to 2005
Looking the Part: Lynn Fontanne - 2003 to 2004