Meet Sandy Schreier, the Met Costume Institute’s Newest Subject

Sandy Schreier’s couture collection will be the next installment at the Costume Institute.

Some of you may know her as the Met Costume Institute’s most recent donor, but Sandy Schreier is much more than that. Her expansive collection, which will display in the Met’s newest exhibition “In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection”,  has made her one of America’s most notable couture collectors. Her collection includes approximately 15,000 pieces from couture  houses such as Chanel, Lanvin, Schiaparelli and more. She will gift 165 pieces to the Costume Institute, but only 80 will display at the exhibition.

Her first forays into the world of Haute Couture began as a child. Dressed by the staff at Russeks (where her father, David Nemorov, was president), and exposed to his clientele, Sandy began her accumulation of valuable couture pieces. Years later, she made appearances on talk shows and news programs, which led to her receiving couture gifts from designers. Over the years, she has acquired thousands of garments, which now make up her expansive collection. Her stockpile ranges from a metal minidress worn by Twiggy in a 1967 issue of Vogue to a hieroglyphic Madeleine & Madeleine embroidered dress worn by Matilda Dodge Wilson.

A lifetime of gifted couture, what more could a girl want? Over a decade ago, Schreier roamed through the Met with her late husband and said, in an interview with the New York Times, “someday, my pieces of couture will be here with all these gorgeous paintings and sculptures.” It seems her collection’s time has come. 

“In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection” will open this November at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Image via The New York Times
Image via The New York Times
Image via The New York Times

 

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