ABSTRACT

In October 2013 the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, launched its fiftieth-anniversary year with an expansive project titled Fowler at Fifty. Filling two of the museum's large galleries, it consisted of a suite of eight small exhibitions. If the greatness of a museum tends to be measured in large part by the quality and quantity of its collections, as is undoubtedly true for the Fowler, what an institution does with these collections is of equal if not greater significance. No account of the Fowler's development could fail to acknowledge the significance of our location within a major research university and the distinct opportunities and circumstances that it has offered. The importance of dress as an extension of the body and as a strategy by which cultures around the world communicate meaning has been a frequent subject of Fowler Museum projects.