Mary Alice Gallery Exhibitions

The Mary Alice Anderson Reinhardt Gallery is located in 1015 Morrill Hall. It features student and faculty curated exhibitions utilizing objects from the permanent collection and also loaned or newly acquired objects depending upon the exhibition topic. Students and faculty have the opportunity to plan, curate, and install all of the exhibitions. If you have an idea, you can pitch your exhibition here!

Mary Alice was an alumna of the Textiles and Clothing program (1949), and her family funded the gallery in her honor. It has a total of 504 square feet, with a dramatically curved wall of glass forming a large display area.

The cost is free.

Upcoming Exhibition

Exhibition: A History of Agency, Oppression, and Intersectionality

Opening April 2022

This exhibition analyzes the ways politics, social norms, and formal dress codes within the Western world have influenced women’s expressions of identity through fashion. It will explore how agency, oppression, and intersectionality affect women’s negotiations of their identity through dress from the 16th to 21st centuries.

Curated by Ginger Stanciel, MS student in Apparel Merchandising and Design and the Agatha Huepenbecker Burnet endowed graduate teaching and research assistant at the ISU Textiles and Clothing Museum

Fashion & Dandyism

Opening April 2022

At the turn of the 19th century, dandyism was a new fashion trend amongst the upper class in the United Kingdom and France. The three ensembles in this exhibition reflect dandyism fashion philosophies and the continued influence from George “Beau” Brummell (1778-1840), an English gentlemen who is frequently referred to as the father of dandyism, the Industrial Revolution, and of course many other influences on fashion, style, and dress.

Curated by Colton Fangmeier, undergraduate student in Apparel, Merchandising, and Design and intern at ISU Textiles and Clothing Museum

Fashion, Resistance, and Black Liberation: 1970s and Today

Open April 26, 2022

From the 1970s to today, Black Americans have continued to fight for equity within white society through personal fashions, styles, and aesthetics. Members of the Black Panther Party and other activists developed and wore different styles representing Black liberation. These activists contributed to soul style development by wearing berets, pins, patches, leather and dark colors. Today, Black Americans who are part of The Black Lives Matter movement are also engaging in style narratives of resistance such as shirts with powerful statements. The Black Lives Matter movement is about conquering economic, racial, and social injustice in society. Our exhibition compares two time periods of Black fashion by incorporating apparel and accessories that captures the ways individuals use fashion in resistance movement development.

Curated by (in reverse alphabetical order)

Ellie Everlasting Vo, undergraduate student, Psychology

Dorothy Vernon, undergraduate student, Apparel, Merchandising, and Design

Amanda Ortiz-Pellot, undergraduate student , Speech Communication

Taylor Moore, undergraduate student, Sociology

Honor Edmonds, undergraduate student, Apparel, Merchandising, and Design

This exhibition is the culminating project in the course AESHM 462X Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Politics, and Resistance movements. The students developed, curated, and installed the entire exhibition.