Eight cultural institutions are partnering to celebrate the varied and surprising role of fashion in Massachusetts. Building on the highly successful collaboration that produced Four Centuries of Massachusetts Furniture, the institutions will leverage their rich and varied collections, programming expertise and intellectual capital to create a Mass Fashion celebration in 2018 that features exhibitions and special events throughout the Commonwealth.

Blue boots, American, kid leather and glass buttons, David Bohn photo, courtesy Concord Museum.

Fresh Goods: Shopping For Clothes In A New England Town, 1750-1900
Concord Museum
Through July 8

CONCORD, MASS. – “Fresh Goods: Shopping for Clothes in a New England Town, 1750-1900” looks at clothing consumer habits in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century in Concord and draws from the museum’s extensive historic clothing, textile and decorative arts collection, as well as probate inventories, account books, advertisements, photographs and letters and diaries of the period.

The Concord Museum is at 200 Lexington Road. For information, 978-369-9763 or www.concordmuseum.org.

“Margaret Prentiss Allen (1816–1901) with twin sons, James and Judson” by William Thompson Bartoli, 1850, oil on canvas, courtesy Trustees of Reservations.

Inhabiting Folk Portraits
Fruitlands Museum
Through March 25

HARVARD, MASS. – “Inhabiting Folk Portraits” showcases portraits from Fruitlands Museum’s collection of Nineteenth Century middle class portraiture. Alongside the portraits will be an interactive area where visitors of all ages, sizes and genders may try on clothing or accessories like those seen in the portraits. Also included are pop up interventions by Fruitlands’ 2018 guest artist Candice Smith Corby.

Fruitlands Museum is at 102 Prospect Hill Road. For information, 978-456-3924 or www.fruitlands.thetrustees.org.

Ceremonial club jackets, circa 1940, from the Meadow Brook Hunt Club, New York, wool, leather, cotton, brass, part of the collection of Appleton Farm, gold and pink deco gown, circa 1930 [called floral belt dress], silk brocade, rhinestones, metallic thread, part of the collection of he Stevens-Coolidge Place, courtesy Trustees of Reservations. —Stewart Clements photo

Leisure Pursuits – The Fashion And Culture of Recreation
Fruitlands Museum
Through March 24

HARVARD, MASS. – The turn of the Twentieth Century saw a rapid evolution in how people engaged in recreational pursuits and interacted with the outdoors. “Leisure Pursuits – The Fashion and Culture of Recreation” examines the way people dressed and the accessories they surrounded themselves with that enabled and enhanced their ability to relax. Using collections from five trustees’ historic houses as a guide, the leisure pursuits of gardening, exercising, equestrian sports, water activities and entertaining are considered through fashion, large-scale vintage photographs and other objects.

Fruitlands Museum is at 102 Prospect Hill Road. For information, 978-456-3924 or www.fruitlands.thetrustees.org.

High heel platform boots, designed by Charles Dane, Paris, 1990–2000, leather, silver glitter, metal, wood, courtesy Historic New England.

Head To Toe: Hat And Shoe Fashions From Historic New England
Eustis Estate Museum
Through February 10

MILTON, MASS – Featuring highlights from the collection of Historic New England, “Head to Toe: Hat and Shoe Fashions from Historic New England” showcases hats and shoes worn in New England from the 1750s to the 1980s. Often the most luxurious and decorative aspects of dress, hats and shoes reveal fascinating stories about social status and personal style. These rare and stylish survivals survey New England’s notions of glamorous dressing for men, women and children.

The Eustis Estate Museum is at 1424 Canton Avenue. For information, 617-994-6600 or www.historicnewengland.org.

Man’s court suit, 1785–92, silk cut and uncut voided velvet embroidered with gilt silver wire, sequins, and bits of glass, the Elizabeth Day McCormick collection, photograph ©Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Casanova’s Europe: Art, Pleasure, And Power in the 18th Century
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
July 8-October 8

BOSTON – Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) was esteemed by his contemporaries as a charming conversationalist, expert on many topics and an international man of letters, who traveled widely. “Casanova’s Europe: Art, Pleasure, and Power in the 18th Century” combines more than 250 paintings, sculptures, works on paper, decorative arts objects, period costumes and musical instruments drawn from European and American museums and private collections to illustrate the splendor of Eighteenth Century Europe. Structured by the chronology and geography of Casanova’s life, the exhibition addresses such themes as travel, courtship and seduction, theatre and identity and the pleasures of dining.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is at 465 Huntington Avenue. For information, 617-267-9300 or www.mfa.org.

“Empress Xiaomu Cheng” by Court painters in Beijing, Qing dynasty, Xianfeng period (1850–1861), hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, gift of Elizabeth Sturgis Hinds, 1956, Peabody Essex Museum, E33618.
—Walter Silver photo

Empresses Of China’s Forbidden City
Peabody Essex Museum
August 18-February 10

SALEM, MASS. – “Empresses of China’s Forbidden City” is the first international exhibition to explore the role of empresses in shaping the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Featuring approximately 150 objects, including spectacular imperial costume and jewelry from the Forbidden City, the exhibition offers a dramatic view of empresses’ lives and the roles they played in court politics, art and religion.

The Peabody Essex Museum is at 161 Essex Street. For additional information, 978-745-9500 or www.pem.org.

Andrew Oliver’s sleeved figured silk waistcoat, circa 1755, collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Fashioning The New England Family, Seventeenth To Nineteenth Century:
Reuse, Refashion, Preserve And Pass On
Massachusetts Historical Society
October 5-March 29

BOSTON – “Fashioning the New England Family, 17th to 19th Century: Reuse, Refashion, Preserve and Pass On” unites textiles and manuscripts to explore several family narratives as well as the cultural, social and economic history of Massachusetts. Many textiles are being shown for the first time.

The Massachusetts Historical Society is at 1154 Boylston Street. For information, 617-536-1608 or www.masshist.org.

Leah Aripotch, Snake Bag, 2013, bronze, courtesy Fuller Craft Museum

Uneasy Beauty: Discomfort In Contemporary Adornment
Fuller Craft Museum
October 6-April 21

BROCKTON, MASS. – “Uneasy Beauty” brings together 75 examples of contemporary jewelry and costume that demonstrate the immense power of adornment to impact us physically, emotionally and intellectually. Showcasing wearable work in various media from regional and national artists, the exhibition will explore the outer limits of comfort through works that constrict body movement, irritate the skin, make extreme demands or touch upon sensitive cultural nerves.

The Fuller Craft Museum is at 455 Oak Street. For information, 508-588-6000 or www.fullercraft.org.

Boston Arts And Crafts: Jewelry And Metalwork
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
November 17-March 29

BOSTON – Boston boasted one of the most active and influential artistic jewelry-making and metalworking communities in the nation in the early Twentieth Century. “Boston Arts and Crafts: Jewelry and Metalwork” is the first exhibition dedicated solely to the works of these craftspeople – an interwoven group of both men and women, New England natives and immigrants, professionals and amateurs and solo practitioners and small workshops – who all shared a belief in the ideals of the international Arts and Crafts movement. Through nearly 100 works – including jewelry, tableware, decorative accessories, design drawings, and archival materials – the exhibition explores the philosophy and artistry of the Arts and Crafts movement in Boston, as well as the stories of the objects’ makers and owners.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is at 465 Huntington Avenue. For information, 617-267-9300 or www.mfa.org.