FIDM Museum & Galleries

Most people that I talk to don’t know about this place. Well they are missing out. It’s a smallish gallery showing incredible collections of clothing, especially the Helen Larson collection, which they are still acquiring. Thanks to her obsession of clothes when she lived, now housed at FIDM, we all can admire and appreciate how she had an incredible eye for clothing VERY OLD and newer. She also took VERY GOOD care of them, otherwise they just wouldn’t exist. Her story is a delight to read on the internet if you are a fashion addict, collector or historian. FIDM has now made it’s mark in the museum world, housing some of the most amazing pieces of clothing that any museum would crave for, many, one of a kind.
Now, on to the next, their exhibit of the ACADEMY AWARDS contenders each year for the OSCAR in best costuming. They pick a number of famous pieces (and not so famous) from each of the movies that were in the running. Boy, they sure look very different in person and created by the best artisans around the world. I certainly appreciate what goes into each piece for I have been a costumer myself. It is still daunting even to me when I see the skill and talent of their creators and seamstresses, and specialty crafters that are one of a kind and have work shops in different parts of the world. Even the fabrics, metalwork, leatherwork (cobblers) etc. are like none other. So worthwhile to see, even if you are not in the business of movie making… and best of all it’s free. Parking underground is usually free over the weekend and there is far less traffic to get there on those days, other than confusion of major construction that aways goes on there.
Yes, the store at FIDM is quite exciting and the grounds are very nice. It is also fun to end the day with a visit to one of the super restaurents downtown. Though, be prepared to pay a kings ransom for parking for those fancy eateries depending on the area. Check for validation.
Check out other exhibits at FIDM. They are all worth the trip downtown.

I have visited the museum /​gallery a few times. Lovely exhibits, nice shop, enjoyable for fashion focused people. I enjoyed the Academy Awards costume design annual exhibition.

I like looking at old cars, old buildings, old trains, and old furniture, but not old clothing. It’s just not my thing. I found the displayed illustrations and photographs more interesting.
It only took 15 minutes to wander through the couple of galleries, but I can’t complain since it was free. The museum is good to visit if in the area, but don’t plan a trip to downtown LA solely for this.

This place is incredibly cool — you can see Hollywood costumes in the flesh — and free. So definitely visit when you’re downtown. My coworkers and I go every year and follow it up with a visit to Uncle John’s Ham and Eggs.

Worth a trip to Downtown. If like me, you avoid Downton during the day at the best of times (because it’s obviously safer at night), you’ll want to make an exception for this place. Great exhibitions if you are in any way interested in fashion. Over the past couple of years they’ve had many costumes from Oscar nominated movies on display. Seeing them during awards season makes it a little more interesting. Exhibitions change throughout the year so check their website for info on the latest displays. Entrance is free and the staff are very friendly & helpful.

I first learned about the FIDM Museum back in 2012 from the FIDM San Diego campus. I was going to attend the Debut Runway show. During the trip to the runway show they stop at the LA campus to tour it, that’s when I got to see the museum for the first time. My life has changed since then! lol
This place is beyond awesome. They have amazing exhibits, one of my favorites being their annual Art Of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibit. This particular exhibit displays the costumes from the previous year’s biggest movies. I have gone 3 years in a row now.
They also have many of displays, my favorite being their back room with dresses from 1700’s, 1800’s, etc. It’s truly a great experience to be able to see these things. Did I mention that this museum is FREE? Yes, you read that correctly.
Since I live in San Diego, of course I visit this place when i’m around Los Angeles. I highly recommend stopping by and checking out this museum if you’re ever in the area, especially if you already live in Los Angeles, since it would be close to you.
5 stars, thanks for all the greatness FIDM!

This year’s exhibits from Helen Larson’s collection, as well as the costumes
nominated for Oscars is particularly appealing = not because of the items
themselves-​but because the GUARDS the Museum had when I visited were’
superior! I must single out Diedre, who was interested in talking to me about
the Helen Larson exhibit (and who was curious enough to learn about much
of the history surrounding it); HOWEVER, the guards in the main rooms were
particularly FRIENDLY, CONGENIAL and made me feel at home! Usually,
Museum guards seem either bored to tears or stern and often look at me as
if I were a creature from another planet. NOT AT FIDM, at least not today, and
I hope that whomever hired and placed these PEOPLE, continues to use
them-​or at least finds comparable HUMANS! IT was a GREAT experience
for me to be able to not only enjoy looking at the costumes but to feel
as if everything was in harmony and that the GUARDS were there to
enhance my experience-​not detract from it. KUDOS to FIDM and to
the company who selected these people. AMAZING (and believe me
I know-​I visit museums reguarly-​throughout the world-​and again, I
must repeat-todays’s people were just outstanding). And thanks to
whomever provided benches, so you could sit and not only gaze
at the delicious and delectable costume designs, but use your
NON FLASH camera to record the magic!

Small gallery but worth the visit. The fashion drawings are fascinating. The galleries change frequently, so if you don’t like what you see, stop back in a few months. After the award shows, too, some of the fashion is on display.

Ah, weddings! Love, hope, eternity. No matter how high the divorce rate, no matter how dismal past relationships may have been, people keep taking the leap into holy matrimony. Including my friends, who by the way, have been living on their own for years. Which means that when their wedding came around, I started to become concerned. No blenders! No toasters! No crock pots! I was stuck at the last minute trying to think of something special to express my goodwill and best wishes.
Now, where does FIDM fit in? They offer the perfect solution for my dilemma. They have the most amazing gift store stocked with gorgeous items in excellent taste. Unique. Tasteful. Pricey but who cares when you are STUCK!!!
Desperate and frantic, I made a special trip to FIDM for help. And guess what? They were CLOSED to set up a special event! But guess what else? Judy, the super special buyer and manager, saw my look of desperation and LET ME IN ANYWAY! Not only did she let me in, she showed me some special items that weren’t even on display and that fit the bill. Then, she and Anika wrapped everything up in wedding-​appropriate attire. Problem solved. 10 Unilocal stars for customer service!
Thanks to Judy and Anika, I got the best customer service ever as well as an appropriate wedding gift. Will the bride and groom like it? Who knows. If they don’t like it, they are free to re-​gift (hopefully, to me!), sell it on eBay or donate it to the charity of their choice. Either way, the FIDM gift store rocks and is the perfect place to pick up that last minute tasteful unique gorgeous item.
Call first! Street parking.

Great place to go see some exhibits that are out of the ordinary. They have had great Star Wars exhibits and many costume and fashion exhibits relating to movies or history. I would highly recommend giving this place a visit.

I was so disappointed with this place! I love museums, the Unilocal reviews made me think this place is great, full of wonderful costumes from movies on display! Wrong!
It’s a bit hard to find, I wouldn’t call it a museum, that’s stretching it. It’s more like a gallery– one room, one hallway, and a gift shop! The security guy was nice, but he trailed behind us all the time while we were looking at the costumes in the main and only room! The current exhibit is nothing great — «the 19^th century wedding gowns». I was very disappointed. Between checking this gallery out, the gift store, the Fashion’s Institute’s store and the park behind we spent about 30 minutes. So don’t take the trip to downtown just to see only this place!
Lots of road construction around, pretty noisy area of downtown!
The park behind is cute, nice place to take a break, have a snack, read. I enjoyed that the most!

Really cool. Costumes from «Man of Steel» «Thor: The Dark World» «The Hunger Games: Catching Fire» «OZ the Great and Powerful» and more. I wish I knew sooner about this exhibit, ends tomorrow. I would love to come back and see this some more.

Amid the distraction of CG monsters and exploding cars, a moviegoer may miss a key element to successful movie-​making– the costumes. An ill-​designed Victorian dress versus one with pain-​staking detail could mean the difference between flippant disbelief or utter awe from the audience.
FIDM Museum & Galleries is well-​known for its display of costumes from Oscar-​winning and Oscar-​nominated movies. The best part is they don’t charge a dime for this rare opportunity. The dates and time listed here:
The display is not huge, but it is still impressive. With costumes from over a dozen movies, this year’s display includes «Oz: The Great and the Powerful», «Ender’s Game», «Man of Steel», «47 Ronin», «Star Trek: Into the Darkness», etc. At most, you will need 30 minutes to peruse the collection.
Considering Unilocal’s user-​base, I find it relevant to mention that FIDM is right next to Yojie Japanese Fondue and Sake Bar and is two blocks away from Bottega Louie as well as Sugarfish by Sushi Nozawa, all food establishments that I am fond of.
If you are curious about last year’s exhibit, you can check out a short piece I did for a student-​run news show that ran on Time Warner Cable in the OC last year:
This is the 22^nd year FIDM is holding this annual exhibit, and the 2^nd year I’ve had the pleasure of attending. However, it has quickly climbed its way up on my list of not-​to-​be-​missed yearly traditions.

I love that an institution as local as FIDM plays host to the coolest costume exhibits around. Seems fitting considering this is Los Angeles and the dramatic and adventurous world of cinema is just around the corner. Their fashion and costume galleries typically house pieces from well known productions. I remember seeing costumes from The Tudors as well as Alice in Wonderland the first time I went. There have been a bevy of famed collections on display and where one exhibit closes, another exciting one opens. It’s such a treat!
You can pay to park inside the campus garage or find street parking. Come in the late afternoon or early evening for some nice viewing times. There’s a café next door where you can enjoy a refreshment or two after your visit. I like to make the most of my parking money so I spend a bit of time on campus afterwards. Come to think of it, I need to drop again, and soon!

My friend brought me here a few days ago to check out the fashion exhibit featuring costumes from this year’s movie blockbusters. It was soooo wonderful. I could not believe how much I enjoyed this. They even had the costumes that won the Oscar this year. And some of the nominated costumes were designed by FIDM alumni!
I wish they would have allowed photographs. I wanted photos from my visit.

I am such a TV addict, it wasn’t even a question of whether or not I would come see the «6^th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design» exhibit at FIDM. I am just surprised that I have never known about this before… this is what happens when the rest of your friends are not as huge TV addicts as you are. Luckily my friend JQ was willing to come with me, so we checked out FIDM Museum & Galleries for the first time together.
I immediately geeked out when I saw the costumes from «Game of Thrones» as I walked into the exhibit. They had costumes from a wildling, Daenerys, Stannis, Renly (and his stag crown!), Cersei, and Tyrion. The odd-​looking mannikins with their odd hair made the costumes look a little off, but I was so happy to see them anyway! And to know that these are the actual costumes that they wore… it also made me happy that there was a sign added that said «Emmy Winner» *^^*
We also saw costumes from «Boardwalk Empire,» «Sons of Anarchy» (which I love but, let’s admit it, they don’t really have «costumes»), «Downton Abbey,» «Pretty Little Liars,» «Magic City,» «American Horror Story» (which totally creeped us out), «Hemingway & Gelhorn,» «Pan Am,» «Revenge,» «Luck,» «Great Expectations,» «New Girl,» and some children’s show called «Fresh Beat Band» (which has a tin WOMAN in their Wizard of Oz story it seems). The «Once Upon A Time» collection was quite large and I loved it! They have some great costumes (and I am very excited for the season 2 première tomorrow night!).
It seems like there was also costumes from «Smash» there (reading other reviews), but I don’t recall seeing those. Could’ve sworn we looked at all the costumes there but I guess not :/​
We also checked out their «A Century of Millinery Style: Hats from the Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection, 1820s — 1920s» exhibit. They had some interesting hats, along with some creepy hats (one hat had a dead bird on it. I do not understand…) along with some period photographs and hat boxes. Afterwards we tried on different hats from the «Everyone’s Talking about Hats! Trunk Show & Sample Sale» which featured Louise Green millinery. All in all a pretty good experience. Will definitely be coming back to check out their future exhibits.
Some notes: Museum/​exhibit entrance is FREE. But no photography was allowed in the exhibits. Underground parking at FIDM is supposed to be $ 5 for the museum, but it was free for us because there was no parking attendant to be found. They’re right next to Grand Hope Park so that’s pretty cool too.

Someone’s going to need a mop for the geekgasm I had at the opening of the television costume exhibit yesterday.
The first thing I saw upon walking into the gallery was Daenerys’ costume from the Qarth episodes of the second season of «Game of Thrones.» I’m not a huge Dany fan, but they also had the duds for a wildling, Stannis and Renly Baratheon, Cersei, and best of all — TYRION! I know it sounds pathetic, but it’s so cool to be near something Peter Dinklage wore.
Set-​up directly across from them were costumes from «Boardwalk Empire,» my other favorite HBO show on the air. They had one costume for Nucky, two for Margaret, and one each for Chalky and Gillian Darmody.
The mannequins from both shows were set up like they were staring at each other in Westside Story-​like intimidate-​off between the Jets and Sharks.
Oh yeah, I definitely fangirl’d.
FIDM is also currently displaying costumes from «Downton Abbey,» «Sons of Anarchy,» «Once Upon a Time,» «American Horror Story,» «Hemingway & Gellhorn,» «Pan Am,» «Smash,» «Pretty Little Liars,» «Magic City,» «Luck,» «Revenge,» «Great Expectations,» «The New Girl,» and something called «Fresh Beat Band.»
Free admission. No photography allowed.

My earliest recollection of FIDM was from long ago when it was the Heald College of fashion. Fast forward all these years and you’ve got the maker movement, Project Runway, and etsy. Now everyone wants to design and create; it’s a real profession.
I can’t speak for FIDM itself which may have eroded any credibility it amassed by being prominently featured on The Hills, but their Museum is great. First off, it’s free. Second, it’s really accessible and interesting. Two large areas feature displays of fashion through the ages.
I most enjoyed those pieces with which I’m familiar (either a familiar designer, familiar design, or familiar person to whom they belonged). Fascinating were these things, and more:
* Alexander McQueen peacock dress.
* Betsey Johnson coat from 1971.
* Vintage Gianni Versace leather pants that turn into boots (who wouldn’t want to take a look at those)?
* Original Mermaid-​style dress
* Actual outline of Mae West’s foot and the shoes which were made to fit.
Lots more fashion to absorb here as well as a really interesting, well stocked gift store and, outside, the beautiful, sculpture filled Grand Hope Park. Between the museum, the gift store, and the park you have a perfectly enjoyable way to kill 90 minutes or so.

Currently on display are costumes designed by Colleen Atwood for the Alice in Wonderland movie. There are six exhibits displaying the colorful costumes and two exhibits displaying clothing inspired by the movie. Included are the Mad Hatter costume worn by Johnny Depp and the Queen of hearts costume worn by Helena Bonham Carter.
The exhibits are small, but you can see the outfits up close. If you’re into costumes, Alice in Wonderland, clothing design, or anything Johnny Depp related, the exhibit is worth a visit. It’s a quick walkthrough but hey, it’s free! The exhibition continues through September 30, 2010.

Small Museum.
August 2010 — TV Costumes and Alice in Wonderland. — Amazing and colorful costumes! It as interesting to see all the displays set up. It would have been awesome to be able to snap a few photos of the amazing costumes, however…
No Cell Phones! No Photography! No Food or Drink! :(