Google Project Digitizes Top Global Fashion Archives

In recent years, fashion exhibits have become popular at museums around the world. Fashion is constantly evolving, but it will also remain a form of cultural and artistic expression, hence why museums are taking the artistic nature of fashion and putting it on display for the world to appreciate. Google Inc. is joining this artistic movement by adding on to their Google Art Project that launched in 2011. The goal is to include fashion by linking users with art collections around the world and doing so online.

On Thursday, the “We Wear Culture” initiative uses Google’s connections to pair fashion lovers with museum collections and exhibitions, as well as other institutions. This gives users the ability to view a garment and zoom into the details of the dress, such as the hem, sleeves, or embroidery. In addition, the viewers can explore the atelier or sit among costume reporters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Google project has paired with nearly 180 cultural institutions, including the Met’s Costume Institute, Japan’s Kyoto Costume Institute, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. In total, the collection offers more than 30,000 articles of clothing. In addition, the program offers special exhibits, that allow the user to search by designer or muse. For example, the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, Italy offers an inside look at Marilyn Monroe’s love for Ferragamo stiletto heels. At this week’s preview, the director of the Google Cultural Institute and designer of the Google Art Project, Amit Sood, explained that he wasn’t initially clued into the possibilities for fashion, because at the tech corporation, “we all wear hoodies.”

However, after collaborating with a prominent institution like the Met, he was able to see that “art and fashion have a long history together.” According to Sood, the idea behind the project is to tell the stories behind fashion. In addition to all of the possibilities available at the program, there are a variety of virtual reality films included. The Met’s conservation studio is on a 360-degree video display, with workers explaining how they keep the delicate clothing sturdy enough to put on display. One worker mentions how they use needles designed for eye surgeons for preservation. The Costume Institute’s head curator, Andrew Bolton, believes that the delicate nature of the garments makes the project appealing to the museum curators. In addition, because so many of the garments are too delicate to be displayed, the program digitizes the clothing forever. Loic Tallon, the Met’s chief digital officer, said the Costume Institute has provided 500 of the objects on display. This combination of fashion and technology will be a huge success for the fashionistas around the world.

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