A new exhibition at the Washington State History Museum (WSHM) showcases an era of rapid change in American history through fashion. Dressing the Gilded Age: Fashion from the 1870s to the 1910s will be on view from June 28, 2025, through February 15, 2026. The exhibition explores how clothing helped introduce new ideas about social, political, and technological progress.
The Gilded Age was a time that brought abundant wealth to the United States through industrialization and technology. Manufacturing capabilities progressed, and the distribution of commodities nationwide became easier through newly established transcontinental railroads.
“Before the Gilded Age, clothing was primarily handmade,” said WSHM director Jennifer Saunders. “It was a time-consuming and expensive production process. With the introduction of mechanized sewing machines, mail-order catalogs and ready-to-wear fashion, the cost of clothing dropped significantly. Fashion became widely available to people of different social classes for the first time.”
Dressing the Gilded Age features a variety of clothing and accessories, from beautifully restored dresses worn by the wealthy to everyday working-class attire from the Washington State Historical Society’s collection. Photographs, historical advertisements, and catalogs illustrate the rise of consumer culture and the widening socio-economic divide. The exhibition also includes tools and stories of the harsh conditions in the fashion industry that often took advantage of women and immigrant labor.
The exhibition also connects how fashion served as a symbol of identity, status, and political ideology. Figures such as the “Gibson Girl” characterized fashionable, independent, and athletic middle-class women. Women aspired to try new gender-defying activities, particularly sports like mountaineering and basketball. Suffragists of the time advocated not only for the right to vote but also for less restrictive and more practical clothing.
For more information about Dressing the Gilded Age and other exhibitions and programs, please visit washingtonhistory.org.
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