Japanese fashion collection hits the runway at the Art Institute

On Saturday, a dozen of its ensembles go on display next to priceless ancient Japanese pots and colorful woodblock prints at the Art Institute of Chicago exhibit “Material Translations.”

Gillion Carrara, the Fashion Resource Center director and founder, honed the clothing collection into a library of museum-quality fashion — with a very anti-museum mission. Part of the School of the Art Institute’s special collections, the Fashion Resource Center holds rack after rack of designer clothing, all of it meant to be touched.

The primary focus of the two-roomed enclave, tucked inside the school’s Wabash Street Sullivan Center, is to let the school’s fashion students study hands-on. The center also offers “Tailor Made” tours to the public by appointment.

Carrara, whose trademark black glasses and chunky jewelry draw comparisons to style icon Iris Apfel, talks about the days before she opened her library of touchable fashion. The Chicago History Museum’s renowned costume collection served as the city’s main dress repository.

“Those garments were important for students to look at, but they were not allowed to examine the construction details of the inside of the garment.” She adds: “We wanted to bring in designer labels that students could examine carefully without instructions, handle without gloves.”