About the Exhibition

Expedition: Fashion from the Extreme is the first large-scale exhibition of high fashion influenced by clothing made for survival in the most inhospitable environments on the planet — and off of it. On view in Expedition are approximately 70 ensembles and accessories from MFIT’s permanent collection, as well as a compelling selection of objects borrowed from leading museums and private collections. These garments are presented within dramatically designed “environments” in the museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery. Collectively, the objects and the exhibition design evoke both the beauty of extreme wildernesses — on land and sea, as well as in outer space — and the dangers these locales present to human explorers.

Expedition: Fashion from the Extreme is also the title of the exhibition’s companion book, published by Thames & Hudson. This is the first collaboration between this illustrious publishing house and The Museum at FIT. Lavishly illustrated, the book features approximately 150 color photographs of objects from MFIT’s permanent collection, as well as others chosen from runway shows and leading fashion magazines, and unpublished photographs of early expeditions from the archives of institutions such as the Explorer’s Club in New York.