Sage Collection stylizes history

From the outside, The Sage Collection doesn’t appear grandiose. The large, white building has no sign. Except for a few cars, the parking lot is vacant.

But tucked away in a back room inside 1430 N. Willis Dr. is the result of more than 90 years of collecting: a stockpile of more than 24,000 pieces of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and fashion accessories, all dating from the late 18th century to today.

In 1913, Elisabeth Sage, the first IU professor of clothing and textiles, started a private fashion collection for teaching and classroom activities. After retirement in 1937, she donated her collection to IU and planted the first seeds of the Elisabeth Sage Historic Costume Collection.

Kathleen Rowold, the head curator of the collection, and Assistant Curator Kelly Richardson are in charge of maintaining and organizing the collection’s storeroom, filled with shelves of labeled gray boxes and rows of cloth-covered hanger racks that preserve the pieces while they wait to go on exhibit.

Since the Collection is primarily donor-based, it has come to be a wide spectrum of modern and historic fashion.

Donors from New York have helped stock the collection with haute-couture gowns from designers including Givenchy and Chanel.

“Being able to access the collection and see examples of innovative couture garments is an incredible resource,” said Lauren Zuber, a fashion design and apparel merchandising major.

However, Rowold said the collection is primarily a social history collection meant to chronicle everyday fashion. IU sports apparel and military uniforms are meant to emphasize the personal, relatable nature of fashion, she said.

“What always moves me is trying to relate to where a piece was, to see them and imagine where they’ve been and who they’ve belonged to,” she said.

Richardson said in the confines of the collection, visitors can see vintage clothing patterns, archives of fashion magazines and boxes of fragile, antique garments.

“Every time we work on a different project, I find something wonderful,” Richardson said.

The collection’s warehouse is free and open to the public, but viewings must be scheduled in advance.

Originally published in the Indiana Daily Student: Feb. 2