It's a Wrap: Two Hundred Years of Outerwear

It’s a Wrap: 200 Years of Outerwear highlights the fashionable garments that help keep us clean, dry, and warm. Exquisitely tailored jackets are juxtaposed with Gilded Age evening wraps encrusted with jet bead trim and dripping with fringe made by the famed Parisian House of Worth. Victorian capes, cloaks, and coats made from luxurious and colorful fabrics are displayed next to outfits worn in Albany during the 1880s tobogganing craze. The simple, yet colorful Shaker cloaks made in Mount Lebanon, New York, contrast with a glamorous 1962 golden brocade evening gown with matching coat by Sophie Gimbel for Saks Fifth Avenue. Picture perfect late nineteenth century velvet and lace trimmed children’s coats pair with practical garments made to play in the snow. Also featured are contributions of capital region companies, such as Albany International’s PrimaLoft®, a down-like insulation first used in 1990 by L.L. Bean. With this exhibition, we hope to build an appreciation for outerwear that can be fun and elegant.