Featured in Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion exhibition. From top left:  “Gilded Sapphire Celia Tunic”, 2019 by Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin, “Beaded Facets Coat”, 2006 by Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin, “Beaded Facets Coat Detail”, 2006 by Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin, “Sapphire Dot Leighton Skirt”, 2019 by 2019 by Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin, “Sapphire Dot Leighton Skirt Detail” 2019  2019 by Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin, and Lee Dress, 2017; Top right: Chandler Jacket and Austin Skirt, 2018 by Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin from The Women who Revolutionized Fashion: 250 Years of Design, 2020 by Peabody Essex Museum in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Den Haag and Rizzoli Electa, edited by Petra Slinkard (pages 128–129).

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Massachusetts is hosting the exhibition Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion from November 21, 2020 – March 14, 2021. Alabama Chanin is featured in both the exhibit and the accompanying book. Unlike other fashion-centric collections, this showcases only women and the unique perspectives they bring to fashion. The show includes over 100 works that celebrate the story, growth, and transition of women within the fashion world, as they charted their own identities and transformed the world of style and design – paralleling their own fight for autonomy and equality in the world.  

Made It looks at the work and influence of designers spanning 250 years, looking at how fashion has changed as women’s roles and societal norms have progressed. You can see elements of haute couture alongside streetwear and ready-to-wear, showing how clothing plays a part in almost every aspect of life – from the most formal of events to trips to the gym.  

Petra Slinkard, PEM’s Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles said, “This exhibition provides us with an opportunity to reveal, recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women designers, individually and collectively. Fashion is often thought of as being solely about consumption and presentation. It can be written off as frivolous. But as this exhibition vigorously asserts, fashion represents so much more: from defining cultural moments and advancing political causes, to deeply impacting the global economy and ecology.” 

Alabama Chanin’s display includes the Sapphire Dot Leighton Skirt, Gilded Sapphire Celia Tunic, and Facets Coat. The exhibition is organized in association with Kunstmuseum Den Haag and can be viewed from November 21, 2020, through March 14, 2021. For more information on the Made It exhibition, visit here. Timed tickets are required for this exhibition.  And to read more about the accompanying book, view our Journal post.