Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis at The Museum at FIT

The first exhibition to explore the cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis opens in September. Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis draws on key psychoanalytic concepts about the body, sexuality, and the unconscious to interpret almost 100 items of dress by designers including Azzedine Alaia, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, Willy Chavarria, Bella Freud, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, Sonia Rykiel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Viktor & Rolf, Grace Wales Bonner, Vivienne Westwood, and Yohji Yamamoto.

Curated by MFIT Director and Chief Curator Dr. Valerie Steele, who was dubbed "the Freud of Fashion" by critic Suzy Menkes, the exhibition is the result of five years of research, reflecting the museum's commitment to original inquiry and creative thinking about the cultural significance of dress. Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis is on view at MFIT September 10, 2025, to January 4, 2026, and coincides with the release of Steele's exhibition companion book in November.