Two Hundred Mary McFaddens Fill Woodmere, and the Museum Starts a Lending Library

The Woodmere Art Museum has hung more than 200 pieces by Mary McFadden, which is not a sampling but a wardrobe's worth of a single designer under one roof. A count that high means a visitor can walk the galleries and watch one maker's hand repeat and vary from rack to rack, rather than catching a lone dress in a vitrine. It is the kind of depth a fashion archive dreams about and a museum rarely has the wall space to give. Alongside the show, Woodmere is launching a program for its members called the Lending Library, which lets them borrow rather than simply look. The museum has not said what the shelves will hold, so the sensible move is to join and find out. Either way, a membership now comes with a card that works in two directions: in to see the McFaddens, and out with something tucked under your arm.

With reporting from WWD Fashion.