Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis
The Museum at FIT presents the first exhibition on the cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis, bringing together nearly 100 looks by designers from Schiaparelli to McQueen.
The first exhibition dedicated to exploring the cultural history of fashion through a psychoanalytic lens is on view this fall at the Museum at FIT (MFIT) in New York City. Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis features nearly 100 garments from the 1880s to today, including designs by Azzedine Alaïa, 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.
Open through January 4, 2026, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis is the result of five years of research by Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of MFIT, who Suzy Menkes once described as “the Freud of Fashion.” The first gallery in the show traces the historical relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis, beginning around 1900 with Sigmund Freud’s personal style and attitude towards women’s fashion. By the 1920s, Freudian psychoanalysis was associated with sexual liberation, and in the 1930s with Surrealism. During the Cold War, however, psychoanalysis was dominated by misogyny and homophobia. Yet the field continued to evolve.
The second and larger gallery moves away from chronology to explore psychoanalytic ideas from Freud’s and Carl Jung’s dream theories to Jacques Lacan’s mirror stage, as well as ideas about fashion as a changeable, renewable second skin.
MFIT will host the Fashion and Psychoanalysis Symposium on November 14, 2025, at FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. This free public event will feature several noted psychoanalysts and fashion scholars, as well as designer and podcaster Bella Freud and actress Laverne Cox in conversation with Dr. Steele.
The accompanying book, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: A History of Fashion and Psychoanalysis (Bloomsbury Visual Arts) by Dr. Valerie Steele, will be published in November 2025.
To learn more, visit fitnyc.edu/museum.
The Museum at FIT, New York City’s only museum devoted exclusively to fashion, holds more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to today. Admission is free, with hours Wednesday through Friday from noon to 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.
