Making It: Creating Fashion in Early Modern Europe

In this talk, Texas Fashion Collection director Annette Becker explores the lives of Spanish garments from the 16th through 18th centuries.

Have you ever wondered how delicate, handmade lace is created or how stiff ruffs stayed so crisp and white? And before department stores and boutiques, how did gentlemen procure elaborately embroidered suits?

In celebration of the exhibition Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje, join Texas Fashion Collection director Annette Becker in an exploration of the lives of garments from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Discover the surprisingly laborious and often creative processes of commissioning, creating, and caring for garments represented in portraiture and featured in the exhibition, allowing a greater understanding of how people’s lives were intertwined with clothing.

This talk is related to the exhibition Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje on view at the Meadows Museum until Jan 9, 2022.