Munich: The Von Parish costume library offers fashion a stage
Created: 09/21/2022, 15:42
Old splendor in new splendor: A look into Hermine von Parish's study.
© Florian Holzherr/Munich City Museum
The Von Parish costume library in Munich has reopened after several years of renovation.
The establishment of the Munich City Museum has an excellent international reputation.
It is home to 1.5 million costume pictures: the Von Parish costume library in Munich has now reopened after being closed for three years.
It is housed not far from Nymphenburg Palace in an Art Nouveau villa that has been renovated and restored to its original state of 1901.
The renovation cost around 750,000 euros.
The result is impressive: even from the street, the curved gable of the house casts a spell over passers-by.
The Von Parish Costume Library is not far from the Nymphenburg Palace
With the rediscovery of the old wall paintings, the interiors now shine with new colors and the ground floor is like a rainbow.
From the green-stained hallway, you walk through a dining room covered in indigo blue to the small conservatory, where everything from the window frames to the leather-bound books is a strong rusty red.
The furnishings also impress with a mix of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Coco and Art Nouveau.
The styles, which initially appear contradictory, create an impressively coherent ensemble.
In the salon, historicist splendor is juxtaposed with naturalistic simplicity.
She made the collection an international address: Hermione of Parish (1907-1998).
© Ernst Jank/Munich City Museum
But the mansion has much more to offer than a few old furniture and pretty wall colors: it houses the Von Parish Costume Library, one of the world's largest and most important collections of its kind. But what is a costume library?
Very few people have a concrete idea of what is behind the somewhat cumbersome term.
In any case, anyone who expects an exhibition with fluttering dresses and sweeping hoop skirts is wrong.
You can indulge in countless illustrations, texts and drawings and embark on a journey through the history of fashion.
More than 1.5 million books, magazines, graphics and photos
Because the house is filled from the basement to the roof with more than 1.5 million books, magazines, graphics and photographs from all continents and eras.
The library was founded by the costume historian Hermine Viktoria von Parish (1881-1966).
After her marriage to the wealthy Edmund von Parish, she had the financial means to acquire fashion illustrations on her travels through Europe.
In 1946 she founded the "Von Parish School of Fine and Applied Arts".
8bb40ad5-7286-4e6c-b89e-f95b6c81b535.jpg © Gunther Adler/Munich City Museum
The foundation stone for the collection was laid by her grandfather Rudolf Marggraff, at that time art historian and general secretary of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts under Ludwig I. Hermine's daughter of the same name (1907-1998) ultimately advanced the library to become an internationally important institution.
For Hermione "Harriet" from Parish, as she once said, "costume and fashion were not just clothing, but an expression of the culture of a society".
For this reason, in 1970 she donated the extensively expanded holdings to the Munich City Museum on the condition that the collection remain in her house at Kemnatenstraße 50.
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The Von Parish Costume Library: there are tours every two weeks
The villa, built in 1900 by the Rank Brothers construction and architecture firm, was occupied in 1936 by Hermine von Parish der Elder with her daughter and what was already a considerable collection at the time.
Today, both the house and its contents bear witness to Munich's former splendor when the creative scene flourished at the beginning of the 20th century.
However, not only the glimmer of the past emanates from the facility.
The exhibits are continuously updated, systematized and digitized under the direction of Esther Sophia Sinnerhauf.
Around 150 titles are added every year.
Who uses all this?
It is mainly designers, students, costume designers and writers who are looking for inspiration for their own work.
However, criminalists sometimes also use costume illustrations, for example to create criminal profiles.
After the reopening, guided tours are now offered every two weeks, private visits are possible by prior arrangement.
The first guided tour will take place on September 29th.
The treasury of fashion history not only offers a tour of the historic rooms, but also exciting insights into the lives of the former residents.
The Von Parish costume library keeps a piece of Munich alive from a past century.
Josephine Goetz
