Virtual Lecture Series Module 1: Introduction to 19th-Century Western Fashion (1790-1819)

Join us for our 2025 Virtual Lecture Series: Introduction to 19th-Century Western Fashion, led by curator Brandon Brooks!

This curator-led series offers beginner students an introductory overview of 19th-century Western fashions for men, women, and children. Each 2-hour module covers roughly 4 decades, beginning in the 1790s and ending just before WWI. Graduates of this complete course will be able to visually identify specific 19th-century fashion eras with their associated silhouettes. This course will educate students on 19th-century garment terminology, the structures and components of clothing, social traditions of dress, and the mechanics behind how 19th-century fashion and garments were created.

Module 1 covers how Westerners got dressed from 1790–1819, scaffolding, underwear for men and women, fabric in early America, revolution, Democracy, and the new “American style”, defining silhouettes of these specific decades, the Great Male Renunciation, mourning dress, and so much more.

Register for all four sessions, or pick and choose your area of interest!
Module 1: 1790-1819 – Wednesday, June 11, 5p.m. – 7 p.m.
Module 2: 1820–1849 – Wednesday, July 9, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Module 3: 1850-1879 – Wednesday, August 13, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m..
Module 4: 1880–1909 – Wednesday, September 17, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

General access to one lecture: $45
Museum Member access to one lecture: $35
General access to all four lectures: $110
Museum Member access to all four lectures: $90