Fashion Collection at the Vienna Museum (Modesammlung des Historischen Museums)
Vienna, Austria
With over 22,000 objects, this collection is one of the most comprehensive in Europe, and highlights clothing produced in Vienna. The focus is on middle-class women’s clothing of the 19th and 20th centuries, but includes men’s, children’s and sports clothing along with accessories, handicrafts, buttons and textile patterns. German styles such as the “Vienna blouse” and the “Weiner Cutter Costume” are complimented by major fashion house such as Adlmüller, Höchsmann and List. Unique elements of the collection include obscure fashion mechanisms, 2oth century trends, and garments with local historical provenence.
Zurich National Museum (Landesmuseum Zürich)
Zurich, Switzerland
The textiles section houses some 12,000 objects, and has the largest costume and traditional folk garb collection in Switzerland. Its assortment of decorative textiles, in particular embroidery on linen, is also one of a kind in Switzerland. Medieval tapestries are one of the museum’s main specialties. The costume collection comprises ladies’, gentlemen’s and children’s clothing of the 18th to the 21st century, and also includes a wide assortment of accessories. Swiss fashion designers represented in the collection include Bronx Brothers, Ida Gut, Christa de Carouge, Erica Matile, Miguel, Viento and Xess&Baba.
Textile Museum (Textilmuseum)
St. Gallen, Switzerland
This internationally renowned museum collection of about 30,000 objects consists of fabrics from Egyptian grave sites, historical embroideries since the 14th century, hand-made lace from major European centres of excellence, ethnographic textiles, historical fabrics and costumes, handmade utensils and objects of contemporary textile art. The collection of hand and machine embroidery from Eastern Switzerland documents the impressive development of the St.Gallen embroidery industry.
Abegg-Stiftung Museum
Riggisberg, Switzerland
The Abegg-Stiftung museum houses textiles and other works of art from Europe, the Near East and regions along the Silk Road. Its collection of textiles dating from the fourth century BC up to around 1800 is world famous. Among the many highlights are several large wall hangings from Egypt in late antiquity and European fabrics and liturgical vestments dating from the 12th to the 18th century. Central Asian weavings of the 8th and 9th century and silk robes from the Chinese Liao Dynasty (907-1125) are another focus of the collection. Next to the museum is an institute for the study and conservation/restoration of old textiles.