The Brenau University Historic Clothing and Textiles Collections are an important research and study component of the Fashion Design program. The collections include several large major holdings as well as smaller collections of interest for their specialized focus.
The Princess Lucie Shirazi collection contains garments and accessories, including couture and bespoke pieces, from the 1930’s through the 1970’s. This vast collection of high-end pieces illustrates the glamour and style of the Princess and her privileged place as a “modern” woman.
The Bette Todd Wages Collection is in many ways a love letter to the North Georgia region. Ms. Wages collected mostly locally created pieces from the late 19th and early 20th century to create a record of the handwork and sewing skills that she felt were disappearing. The collection contains juvenile as well as adult pieces and is a rich source of research about embroidery and other types of embellishment as well as a great resource for looking “behind the seams” at the construction of clothing.
Just recently, Brenau has become the recipient of a donation of couture pieces designed by the late Yukinari Yao. Yuki, as he was known, was an internationally recognized designer of both clothing and jewelry. We are honored to house some of his signature pieces in our collections.
For more information about the collections, please contact the curator, Lori Gann-Smith, at 770-531-2053 or lgann-smith@brenau.edu .