In the basement of the theater building on the campus of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Kiki Smith is walking alongside the gray lockers that sweep the perimeter of the room.
"So all along here, in these metal cabinets — these plain metal cabinets — is where the collection is stored," Smith said on a recent tour.
With the sharp turn of a door handle, which makes a remarkably screechy noise, Smith begins to reveal some of the thousands of clothing items she's been collecting for almost 50 years. That's about the same amount of time she's been at the college as a theater professor of costume design.
"More and more, my attention has been absorbed by overseeing this growing collection of garments, accessories — and sewing tools," Smith said as she started to list what else is in the collection.
The clothes are packed tightly. The lockers are organized by decade, and the more wear and tear an item has, Smith said, the deeper a story it tells about who might have worn it.
“I look at underarm stains and basically go, 'Oh, OK. She was a hard worker,'" Smith said.
What can't be hung in the cabinets is folded and put in well-labeled boxes. Smith pointed to one: "Down here, I believe, is the box that has a complete nun's ensemble."
Many of the clothes were donated, and Smith bought dozens of items on eBay, using her own money, she said — a gift to the college.
"Like those maternity dresses you're looking at there. I want them here! I want to teach [with them]," Smith said.
While she pointed out finer items worn by wealthy 19th century women, Smith is drawn to the more basic garments, fascinated by why some were saved or why a certain button or stitch was used. She has a particular love for a pair of $30 dresses from the mid-20th century.
"They were clearly made from the same sewing pattern for a very small person, very cheap trims and they were beat to hell," Smith said.
From time to time, a history or English class may land down in the basement. Students uncover as much as they can about an item's background, where it was from, the material used, how it was worn — considering the nuances of where material faded or was patched.
Like many costume designers, Smith is a self-described hoarder. But she said these clothes are not for the theater. She is determined to tell the story of women's lives and what they were required to wear — or were brave or brazen enough to wear — and how their choices evolved.
It's a history told through gloves, mini skirts, house coats, waitress uniforms, quinceañera dresses, T-shirts and office suits.
Not that many people on campus know the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection is even in the building's basement, Kiki Smith said.
Smith College is 'thoughtfully considering' what to do with the collection
The collection that came about almost accidentally in the 1970s — and that Smith College is proud to put its name on — is essentially without a budget. While housed on campus, Kiki Smith, historians, alumni and students are the keepers of the collection.
Kiki Smith said she has tucked the collection into her role in the theater department, but that doesn’t mean her efforts will be in a future job description.
"Nobody has any responsibility to do anything if and when I up and retire, and I'm way past the retirement age," she said. "So the question is — what would happen to it?"
Five years ago, New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman wrote an article about the thousands of garments. The headline: "Should These Clothes Be Saved?"
Absolutely, Friedman wrote.
A Smith College spokesperson in 2019 said it values the collection, but the school had "no plans to create a permanent home for it on campus." And if the college were to think about investing in the collection, the spokesperson said, it would require "substantial fundraising.”
There's been a softening in that tone. This year, a spokesperson said the college is "thoughtfully considering and are in conversation about what role" it might play as "as caretaker."
'These clothes tell a story that has so often been ignored'
"It's hard to explain this stuff without getting too far in the weeds," said Lynne Zacek Bassett, a curator of historic fashion and textiles in New England, who over the years has helped identify details about many of these garments.
Standing recently in what doubles as a dressing room for Smith college theatre productions, Bassett was surrounded by mannequins. It was a dress rehearsal, of sorts, for the September 27 exhibition at the New York Historical Society.
The clothes all around Bassett, and in adjacent rooms, represent lives worthy of being considered part of the historical record, she said.
"Really what it comes down to is that these clothes tell a story that has so often been ignored or dismissed," she said.
Working alongside Basset was Elisabeth Roos, a former theater professor at Keene State College.
Every garment needs to be dressed on a mannequin and altered to fit the dress, Roos explained. Then it's removed and put in a box. The mannequin will be redressed in the New York exhibit space. It's the opposite of what is usually done in a costume shop, she said.
"We are altering the [mannequin] to fit the garment as it came to us," Roos said.
But it's more than altering for the size of its hips or length of its torso. Most of the mannequins being used, Roos said, are designed for modern fashion.
"It's a really contemporary silhouette," Roos said. In a stage whisper, she added, "It's got nipples! We're hiding that in most of the periods we're playing with."
Bassett had just finished dressing a mannequin in a uniform from World War I. It belonged to a woman who drove an ambulance. The lower part looks like a skirt but is split, like pants.
"You can see how they're starting to integrate bifurcated garments, as we say in the biz," Basset said. "But not only did they drive — which was an incredibly freeing thing for woman in this period — but they had to know how to service their car. "
Imagining what could be added to the collection
Whether or not Smith College funds the upkeep of the collection — with a designated space, proper storage and a curator position — Kiki Smith is choosing to imagine a future where more clothes are added.
"What about saving clothes from the [LGBTQ] world? That could be a direction to take it in," Smith said.
Another possible angle is fast fashion, she said, which could be used to talk about contemporary issues like clothing waste.
The exhibit in New York is based on a beautifully printed coffee table book published in 2023.
"Real Clothes, Real Lives" came to life with help from the iconic dress designer Diane von Furstenberg and the Times' Friedman.
With more publicity, Smith said she's been warned that she'll be inundated with clothing donations. That didn't seem to intimidate her, at all.
Smith College is an underwriter of NEPM. The NEPM newsroom operates independently.
