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The Chicago History Museum, which is the home to nearly 50,000 garments—a fashion archive that makes it the second-largest fashion/costume collection in the world. Profiled on ABC7 today, the museum holds items including Jackie O. looks, Michael Jordan sportswear, celebrity looks, and even some garments with serious historical gravitas:
There's a vest from George Washington's wardrobe circa 1770s in his "expansive" years and a well-traveled garment to be sure.· Chicago Down Under: Costume Vault [ABC]"This piece being connected to a president has the highest level of dress making, so you have exquisite material. The material was woven in France, sent to England to be embroidered and back to the United States," said the museum's Timothy Long.
The first family from the Land of Lincoln is represented in the treasures.
"What we have inside here is an ensemble that was worn by Mary Todd Lincoln during the presidential years of her husband at the White House in the 1860s," said Long.