The Historic Costume and Textile Collection located in Moore Hall is a teaching collection used by Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising professors in the School of Human Sciences to teach their students the importance of historic costume as it relates to current fashion. As Dr. Phyllis Miller put it, "Almost everything designed has some historic or folk influence." Students study both the design and structure of the items in the collection when working on their projects. FPWA member Catherine Boyd was instrumental in getting the collection started, beginning with a small collection literally housed in a closet. Over the years the collection has grown and now fills an entire room. Professors Miller and Boyd along with Dr. Wanda Cheek and Dr. Julianne Trautman, a new faculty member, use the collection extensively with their classes in historic costume, visual design, and apparel design and are careful to point out that this is a teaching collection not a museum. However, care is taken to maintain the condition of the items in the collection and teach students to properly handle, document, and display historic pieces.

The artifacts in the collection are primarily from the 1840's through the 20th century. Donations are accepted if the items enhance the collection. Dr. Boyd pointed out that they prefer items that are tied to Mississippi history in some way. Students have created exhibits of the clothing at the Starkville Public Library, Mitchell Memorial Library, and Lloyd Ricks Building in order to give members of the community a chance to view and learn from the collection.

Faculty plan to take digital images of all items in the collection for cataloging purposes so students will be able to combine technology and history while creating their own design projects.

The photographs shown on this page show Dr. Cheek and Dr. Boyd above left with a 1920's "flapper" style dress and a lingerie dress from the late 1800's. The collection of accessories shown on the right above includes a 1920's hat, a comb from the turn of the century, a fan carried by women in the early 1900's, a beaded bag from the 1920's, a more modern-day rhinestone necklace, and a pair of dainty ladies shoes from the late 1800's. The exquisite blouse being shown by Dr. Trautman above left is a favorite of all the professors and is typical of those worn in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Dr. Miller is shown with a coral-colored wedding dress with matching lace hat from the 1930's.

The students in Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising are being prepared for work in the apparel industry. One of the students Dr. Boyd recalls working with is Cindy Hughes who is the "Woman of Yesterday" in the article that follows. Obviously her training at Mississippi State has served her well!

WOMEN OF YESTERDAY . . . Cindy Hughes, Fashion Designer

In the spring of 1984, a former MSU Fashion Board member was recognized by the Alumnus magazine for having started her own design company in New York City. Cindy Hughes, a Jackson native, left modeling for a career in fashion design. Ms. Hughes was 27 at the time the article was written about her. Commenting on the association with the MSU Fashion Board, Ms. Hughes said, "It's probably the best extracurricular activity at MSU. They [the advisers] let us develop our own ideas and go places and put on shows. They didn't restrict us in what we could and couldn't do. We got to put on shows, to travel and to meet people. We had to learn to coordinate fashions and the shows." Sasha Kaletski, a Russian who had defected to the United States, met Hughes, taught her how to paint on silk, and suggested starting a fashion business together. Together with Phil Porter, another Mississippian, they formed the business and made their first sale to the fashion director of Bergdorf-Goodman. Hughes later formed her own design company, Cindy Hughes Designs, Inc., specializing in eveningwear. At the time of the article, her clothes had been worn on As the World Turns and The Tonight Show, seen at the Oscar presentations, and photographed for Cosmopolitan magazine.