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A garment not only tells the story of what’s important now, it can also serve as a historical time capsule for generations to come.
While history may be up for debate, fashion remains firmly planted in the soil of a culture, much like a piece of art.
For those who study fashion, Houston Community College, which has one of the best programs in the state, now boasts one of the largest fashion school archives in the nation, with some 8,000 garments and accessories.
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The department has begun digitally archiving the pieces and is one of two community colleges in the nation featured on the Google Arts & Culture platform. It is one of only three Houston institutions — including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Houston Museum of Natural Science — on the Google platform, which has more than 2,000 leading museums and institutions on the site. The organizations on the platform allow researchers, art and fashion students, as well as the public, to view their collections, archives and exhibits for free.
The HCC digital fashion archive spans the 1740s to present and serves as an incredible learning tool for students — any one of whom may be the next great designer.
As one who has spent nearly two decades chronicling fashion trends, runway statements and the importance of dress as the Chronicle fashion writer, I can attest to the significance of this archival project, which is being led by HCC’s Central College director of Library Services, Erica Hubbard, and fashion professor Alex Chapman.
The garments are housed in large storerooms in HCC’s Fannin Street building, which was outfitted with a $1 million updated air-conditioning system to help preserve the clothing.
So far, 759 garments have been digitally archived, which is less than 10 percent of the collection. The goal is to have the entire collection digitized by 2030. It’s a process that takes a great deal of time and care and requires funding. Each garment is professionally photographed from multiple angles, according to the Smithsonian digitization guidelines.
The college was awarded a grant in 2017 to research each garment for its historical and monetary value and importance to Texas, Hubbard says. Then, they chose HCC graduate and fashion photographer Shane Qureshi, out of 50 photographers, to capture the images.
“We were taking photos in the hallway when we first started this. Now, we have a dedicated photo studio — but we have no dedicated staff to this. We’re volunteering on this project because it is important. We need more funding,” Hubbard says.
Chapman, who has been teaching in the HCC fashion program since 2004, is the volunteer curator for the project.
He’s a walking textbook of fashion history and a self-professed “fashion hoarder” who had amassed a personal collection of greats, including Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dries Van Noten, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçon and Issey Miyake. In early 2020, he sold the bulk of his pieces to the Real Real, a luxury consignment site, so he could focus on his passion, Japanese designers.
Chapman has seen the HCC fashion archives expand over the years. He’s so familiar with the pieces that “they are like old friends,” he says.
In 2005, some 4,000 pieces of clothing and accessories were donated to HCC’s fashion program by Elizabeth Brown, an East Coast philanthropist and member of the Costume Society of America. At the time, Kay King, the former head of the HCC fashion program, agreed to take all 4,000 pieces. The school kept about 1,800 pieces that had historical significance and could be used in the classroom.
“Our archives are a teaching tool,” Chapman says. “If students are creating a garment, sometimes it’s hard to describe a technique. It’s great when you can show them how it’s done. It’s not just about sewing but about the silhouette, color, design and manipulation of fabric.”
While classic designers, such as Chanel and Oscar de la Renta, are represented in the archives, the collection of works by alumni of the program are equally significant. Take Myrna Vallejo’s 1990s black deconstructed gown, which Chapman thinks looks remarkably like an ensemble in Balenciaga’s spring/summer 2023 runway show. Vallejo is the longtime supervisor of the Houston Grand Opera’s costume shop.
The archive also boasts designers like Yamamoto and traditional Japanese costumes, Christian Lacroix and furs from the 1920s, along with couture Chanel and a large collection of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Houston-native designer Cesar Galindo donated more than 20 designs to the HCC archive, and “Project Runway” winner Chloe Dao’s finale design on the reality show is a part of the collection.
“Fashion always comes back around for those who were not around to live it,” Chapman says. “A lot of my students were not born in the 1980s. So this fashion archive is so valuable to students who have not experienced it.”
It’s also a way to tell history, marking our changes through the decades, with the beauty of a garment.
joy.sewing@chron.com
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