Fashion History Museum

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Fashion History Museum is a Canadian museum that had galleries located in Cambridge, Ontario, from 2015 to 2025. The FHM chronicles the history of fashion. It was founded in 2004 [1] by Jonathan Walford and Kenn Norman. [2] The museum is a non-profit charitable organization. [3]

Contents

Fashion History Museum in the Old Hespeler Post Office View of exterior of the Fashion History Museum.jpg
Fashion History Museum in the Old Hespeler Post Office

History

Founders

Prior to founding the Fashion History Museum, Jonathan Walford had been the founding curator of the Bata Shoe Museum. [2] [4] Walford has been collecting historical fashions since the 1970s, finding pieces from auction houses, garage sales, and even rescuing some items from the trash. [2] He has also written several books on fashion. [5]

Walford is currently the museum's Curator. The museum's other founder, Kenn Norman, who serves as museum's Director, has a background in finance, project management and design. [3] [5]

For the first ten years of its existence the museum lacked a permanent gallery, so it created exhibitions that travelled around Canada and the world, from Hong Kong to Bahrain. [6] A pilot gallery in a mall [5] in Cambridge Ontario, in 2013 saw almost 8000 visitors in the four and a half months the museum was open there. [7]

Hespeler Post Office

In June 2015 the museum opened in a 3,000 square foot decommissioned post-office that had been opened in 1929 [8] in the former town of Hespeler, now a neighbourhood of Cambridge. [4] [3] The museum retained and restored the original terrazzo floors and installed replicas of antique light fixtures for lighting. [8] A restoration project for the clock over the museum's front doors was funded by the public. [9] The town of Cambridge was once a textile manufacturing hub, making the museum a suitable fit with the town's history. [3]

Closing Hespeler Site

After being defunded in 2023 by the City of Cambridge, the lease was terminated by the city in March 2025. The museum's collections were put in storage while the FHM looks for new premises.

Collection

The museum's collection encompasses over 10,000 items. [4] These items range from what may be the oldest existing European shoe worn in North America (it was reputedly worn in New Amsterdam and dates to about 1660), [2] to dresses by Hollywood designer Adrian (Adolph Greenberg) [4] to 1970s handbags made from cigarette packs. [6]

Exhibitions

Before establishing the current gallery space, the museum created travelling exhibitions and pop-up shows.

2009 exhibitions

2010 exhibitions

2011 exhibitions

2012 exhibitions

2013 exhibitions

2014 exhibitions

2015 exhibitions

The present gallery space opened June 27 with the following exhibitions: [2]

Image of the Treasures from the Collection exhibit View of 2015 exhibition 'Treasures from the Collection'.jpg
Image of the Treasures from the Collection exhibit

2016 exhibitions

Image of the Wild and Rare exhibit 2016 Wild and Rare.jpg
Image of the Wild and Rare exhibit

2017 exhibitions

2018 exhibition

2019 exhibition

2020/2021 exhibitions

2022 exhibitions

2023 exhibitions

2024 exhibitions

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". FHM. Fashion History Museum. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Slone, Isabel (18 May 2016). "Welcome to the Fashion History Museum of Cambridge, Ontario". Racked. Vox. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Weidner, Johanna (10 September 2015). "Fashion a window to history at Cambridge museum". Guelph Mercury. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Aggerholm, Barbara (1 November 2014). "Fashion museum styling a permanent home in Cambridge". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Ingrid. "Fashion in the Museum: The Opening of The Fashion History Museum". Worn Through; Apparel from an Academic Perspective. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  6. 1 2 Hicks, Jeff (26 July 2013). "Fashion History Museum opens in Cambridge". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Aggerholm, Barbara (June 2014). "After a fashion". Grand.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Martin, Ray (9 July 2015). "Fashion History Museum settles into Hespeler core". Cambridge Times. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  9. ↑ Martin, Ray (24 May 2016). "There's a whole lot happening in Hespeler". Cambridge Times. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Buchanan, Vinnie (6 May 2016). "Fashion museum a hidden treasure in Hespeler". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  11. ↑ Buchanan, Vinnie (6 May 2016). "Museum a Hidden Treasure in Hespeler". The Record.
  12. 1 2 Corkum, Keith (4 Aug 2016). "Fashion exhibit combs through Ken's closet".
  13. ↑ "Calendar". Fashion History Museum. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20.
  14. ↑ Thompson, Catherine (13 November 2016). "Fur, feathers and controversy Museum explores fashion's uneasy history with animals". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  15. ↑ "Dior: 1947 - 1962 | Ontario Museums".
  16. ↑ "Fashioning Canada Since 1867". 14 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "Looking good, eh? Fashion museum showcases the best of Canadian style | CBC News".
  18. ↑ "Fashion History Museum". Facebook.
  19. ↑ https://www.therecord.com/community-story/7492401-fashion-history-museum-hosts-clothing-from-the-time-of-jane-austin/ [ dead link ]
  20. ↑ "Then Now Next". 28 January 2017.

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