By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
September 3, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri- Have you ever been curious as to what the clothing was like at the turn of the century?

Starting Sept. 13, you’ll be able to see and learn the history of different styles and garments Kansas Citians wore for various rites of passages in the 19th and 20th Century in the Kansas City Museum’s new exhibit, titled “Dressing Up in Kansas City: Rites of Passage.”

The idea came about from Denise Morrison, the museum’s Director of Collections and Curatorial Services, who’s been wanting to showcase the museum’s garment collection for years. Through the Museum’s extensive, historic collection, about 20,000 pieces of clothing and artifacts, they’ll be able to showcase birth rituals, wedding traditions and mourning customs, as well as children’s clothing and photographs of residents dressed up, documenting each rite of passage.

Tours will be available from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday and from noon – 4 p.m. on Sundays. The exhibition is available by tours only on the hour. The last tour leaves at 3 p.m.

“It’s been discussed for several years now and it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it now,” Andrew Mouzin, community relations manager, said.

Executive director Anna Marie Tutera said there may be another iteration of the exhibit in the future, either at the museum or at another exhibition space.

“We’d like to see it continue with some frequency,” Tutera said.

In conjunction with the free exhibit, the museum will also host a community gallery, beginning Oct. 4, titled “Rituals and Celebrations: Exploring Meaning Through Dress.” Tutera said the community gallery, a new idea for the museum, is a new space on the second floor of Corinthian Hall that will “compliment and contemporize the exhibitions that we create and feature.”

“So the community gallery will showcase local artists as well as established and emerging artists,” Tutera said. “To compliment this exhibit, we are working in collaboration with the KC Art Institute’s Pauline Verbeek-Cowart [the Professor and Chair of the Fiber Department of the Kansas City Art Institute] so its local fiber artists and fashion designers.”

Also coinciding with the exhibit activities during the Museum’s Family Fun Day, a preservation workshop on Saturday, Nov. 15 featuring local milliner Amina Marie Hood and the Community Curator Speaker Series presentation on Tuesday, Oct. 21 with fashion designer Kitty Sondren Snyder.

“We’ve got quite a bit coming up to go along with the exhibit that we’re excited about,” Mouzin said.