Clothing Museum. Ethnological Heritage Research Centre: museums in Madrid at Spain is culture.

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Clothing Museum. Ethnological Heritage Research Centre

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Front page

Façade of the Costume Museum © Ministerio de Cultura
Room with dresses by the designed Balenciaga. Costume Museum ©Turespaña

Temporary exhibitions

Impossible fashion. Avant-garde fashion at the Costume Museum

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A journey through the history of Spanish fashion in the global scene

The Costume Museum presents the evolution of fashion from the 18th century until today, with important work by important couturiers such as Fortuny and Balenciaga, with a carefully selected range of garments and accessories.

The museum shows the evolution of the idea of clothing regarding aesthetics, social practices and the views of the body in the past two centuries.

External looks are influenced by social changes. The different looks provide a wide range of interpretations of the female body, which have come with the different views of women in modernity. The search for beauty is a key aspect in all the clothing.

Essential works

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Reliquary to protect from evil

This item is connected to historic popular religiousness. It shows a type of belief that is still very much alive, in which religion is close to superstition.
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Delphos dress

Satin dress with pleated silk, inspired by the Greek chiton, used up to the 1st century BC (especially as a tunic)
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"Pericón" fan

Typical accessory used in the last two decades of the 19th century, a masterpiece by Valencian fan-makers.
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Cape by Capucci

This almost impossible structure combines ruffles, curved pleats and notes of colour.
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Advertising poster

Chromolithograph on cardboard, a good example of clear and direct advertising language.
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Jacket

Together with long trousers and waistcoat, it was part of male nobility clothing inspired by the French military style.
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Horn cup with animals and geometric shapes

A horn cup used by shepherds to drink.
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Short-handle spoon from Salamanca

A spoon carved out of horn, which shows a perfect technique and sober decorations.
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Skirt

It is part of the outfit called "vaquero hecho a la inglesa" ("English-style dress"), a type of dress to wear in the court, which appeared in France in 1775.
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Fashion design by Pedro Rodríguez

This fashion design on cardboard combines sections drawn in Indian ink with glued fabric in order to give the impression of three dimensions.
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Temporary exhibitions

Impossible fashion. Avant-garde fashion at the Costume Museum

The museum displays a selection of the most innovative fashion ideas of the last half-century from its own collection.
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Collections

The museum's collection is part of the collective catalogue of the Digital Network of Spanish Museum Collections (CERES), conceived as a space for dissemination which enables visitors to browse the various museum collections using the identifying features of each item (author, type of object, iconography, etc.).

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