There are eight distinct fashion collections at Maryhill Museum of Art, all of which are connected to each other temporally and by scale and motivation. Together they link 20th-century couture, mainstream attire, and folk clothing. In honor of enduring textiles and fashion collections, explore the eight fashion collections at Maryhill Museum of Art.
1. Théâtre de la Mode
The museum’s initial fashion collection, the Théâtre de la Mode, highlights post-World War II styles that are the work of notable Paris couturiers. The garments were created for display on 27½”-tall human mannequins that are shown in miniature stage sets.
When it appeared at the Louvre’s Museum of Decorative Arts in April and May 1945, the Théâtre de la Mode drew more than 100,000 visitors. The exhibition then traveled to London and other European cities. A 1946 edition—featuring spring/summer 1946 fashions—was shown in New York and San Francisco. The mannequins and their attire were then stored for several years in the basement of a San Francisco department store. In 1950, discussions began to determine if the Théâtre de la Mode might appropriately find a home at Maryhill. It arrived at the museum in late March 1952. The collection now includes 172 mannequins.
2. Madeleine Vionnet
In 2013, Maryhill Museum received 30 reproduction Madeleine Vionnet (French, 1876–1975) garments for its fashion collections that had been produced by members of the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals for the 2009 “Vionnet Identique” exhibition in Chicago. This apparel was made for display on half-size mannequins. Vionnet was a leading figure in the post-1900 modernization of women’s fashion and owned a Paris fashion house from 1912–1939. She invented the bias cut and is celebrated for draping skills that were perfected while working on half-size figures.
3. Idaho Department Store
The museum is also home to almost 30 miniature American dresses that were created during the 1940s for the Idaho Department Store, in Twin Falls, Idaho. These were made to fit a 30” tall mannequin that had been provided by commercial pattern manufacturers. The small-scale clothing was displayed in the store’s pattern/fabric department so that customers could see how finished home-sewn designs might look.
4. Fashion Frocks
A 2021 gift contained two 1950s portfolios related to Fashion Frocks, Inc. Each portfolio contains sales samples (style cards) and related paper ephemera. During the 1950s, the garments were sold at home-based events that were much like Tupperware parties. Women chose outfits they wanted based on the images and descriptions shown on the style cards. According to period promotional material, Fashion Frocks was able to provide women with round-the-clock seasonal wardrobes for less than $50. At that time, the company employed 50,000 sales representatives and sold more than two million garments annually. At its peak, the Fashion Frocks inventory featured 300+ styles.
5. Hat Collection
Dianna Hanson of Corvallis, Oregon, was a collector of hats and at one time kept 1,500 hats in her home. During the summer of 2023, she donated more than 220 of these to Maryhill Museum of Art. Her gift overlaps with and complements the museum’s existing mid-century fashion collections. Many of the hats came from milliners in Paris and New York.
6. Romanian Textiles
Romanian folk arts have been a part of Maryhill since its inception. The museum’s interest in Romanian traditional village attire has roots in an early (1926) donation by Queen Marie of Romania. As Romanian crown princess (1893–1914), Marie of Edinburgh began wearing peasant-inspired clothing from Romania’s eastern provinces. This fashion choice was the continuation of a trend that began with her predecessor, Elisabeth, Queen of Romania. The finely embroidered garments worn at court and by upper-class Romanians were influenced by vernacular aesthetics and earlier Byzantine textiles.
As the style evolved, Romanian folk garments became visible symbols of national identity and important economic exports—especially after World War I. The composition and decoration of Romanian folk dress varied from region to region, from village to village, and with the unique expressions of individual artists. 
Now, more than 450 Romanian textiles are in the museum’s fashion collections. The holdings of European folk attire continue expanding to include items from elsewhere in the Balkans, including Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Albania.
7. Indigenous Fashion
A second collection of region-specific, identity-based fashions may be found among the institutional holdings of Indigenous material. Relevant garments and accessories come from across North America and include Arctic parkas, leather clothing and beaded bags from the Columbia River Plateau, beaded ensembles from the Great Lakes region, and cloth dresses and jewelry from the American Southwest. 
This attire is specific to the people groups by which it was made and clothing from each population is markedly different from what was produced by others.
8. Vintage folk garments from southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama
As the museum holdings grow, a current focus is on vintage folk garments from southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama. The textiles from these countries are distinctly different from each other. As a group, they relate to other museum fashion collections because they reflect the regional differences and common community identities that are evident in Romanian/Balkan and Indigenous clothing.
As mid- to late-20th century creations, they are temporally linked to the collections of European couture and American popular fashions.
What fashion collections are on view at Maryhill Museum of Art?
Maryhill Museum of Art is home to permanent and rotation exhibitions, including portions of its eight fashion collections. In 2025, see fashion on display in the Théâtre de la Mode and Indigenous Peoples of North America galleries, and explore the connection between Théâtre de la Mode and Christian Dior in current exhibition The 1946 Lelong Dance Dress. Thanks to the generosity of museum supporters who helped us reach our 2025 fundraising goal for a new museum collections department freezer, staff are working to ready many recent acquisitions for future exhibitions of fashion and textiles at Maryhill Museum of Art.
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This post was created concurrent with Portland TextileX Month (October),