The story behind a garment is not just about what it represents, but also how the past has been preserved for future generations.
Fashion, while history is open to debate, remains planted in the soil of culture. It’s a bit like an art piece.
Houston Community College is a top-rated school for fashion studies. The college has over 8,000 accessories and garments.
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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. Researchers, fashion and art students as well as general public can view the collections and archives of the organizations via the Google platform.
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.
Being a fashion journalist for nearly 20 years, I am able to attest the value of this archive project. It is being managed by Erica Hubbard (HCC Central College director) and Alex Chapman, fashion professor.
These garments are stored in huge storerooms located in HCC’s Fannin Street Building. The building has been outfitted with an $1 million upgraded air conditioning system that helps preserve them.
Digitally archived garments of 759 have been done so far. This is less than 1% of the entire collection. It is hoped that the collection will be digitally archived by 2030. This is a time-consuming and costly process, which requires funds. According to Smithsonian digitization guidelines, each garment must be professionally photographed from several angles.
Hubbard says that a grant was given to the college in 2017 for research on each garment to find its historical, monetary and Texas significance. From 50 photographers, Shane Qureshi was selected by HCC to photograph the images.
We were still taking photographs in the hallway at the time we began this project. Now, we have a dedicated photo studio — but we have no dedicated staff to this. Because this is an important project, we’re volunteering. We need more funding,” Hubbard says.
Chapman has been teaching HCC’s fashion program since 2004, and is now the volunteer curator.
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. The bulk of his collection was sold to Real Real, an online luxury consignment website, in the early 2020s so he could devote his time and passion to Japanese designers.
Chapman witnessed the HCC fashion archive grow over the years. Chapman says he is familiar with all the pieces and considers them “old friends”.
Elizabeth Brown, an East Coast Philanthropist who is also a member of The Costume Society of America, donated approximately 4,000 clothing and accessories to HCC’s fashion program in 2005. Kay King was then the head of HCC’s fashion department and agreed to receive all 4,000 items. About 1,800 of the pieces had historic significance that could be used for classroom purposes.
Chapman said that the archives were a learning tool. It can be difficult to explain a process when students create a garment. You can demonstrate how you do it, which is always a plus. You don’t just have to sew, it is also about color and design.
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. Chapman likes Myrna Valejo’s deconstructed black gown from 1990 that looks very much like the ensemble she wore to Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2023 runway show. Vallejo was the Houston Grand Opera costume shop supervisor for many decades.
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. Cesar Galindo, a Houston native designer donated over 20 designs to HCC archives. Chloe Dao won “Project Runway”, and Chloe Dao is part of this collection.
Chapman states, “Fashion is always there for people who are not able to experience it.” Many of my students weren’t born in 1980s. This fashion archive can be so useful for students who have never experienced it.”
You can also use it to mark our history through the years, using the beauty and charm of a clothing.