This course introduces students to object-based studies of textiles and dress. By engaging in hands-on analysis of garments, both at home with their own wardrobes and in the virtual classroom, students will become familiar with the vocabulary of textiles and dress, learn to identify fabrics and analyze garment construction, and develop research skills towards a historical contextualization of dress. Students will also gain basic insight into museum practice and ethics, object handling, storage strategies, and catalog writing. Structured around synchronous seminar-style discussion on Zoom, the course will be organized thematically to consider the key role materiality plays in the methodology and practices of the curator, the conservator, the historian, and the designer. In each section we will put the materiality of fashion within a broader theoretical context and explore what object-based study adds to each field. We will focus on Western couture and ready-to-wear with a particular emphasis on objects from the early twentieth century to the present. However, case study objects from East Asia, South Asia, Africa, and South America will also be included to gain a global perspective. Over the semester students will be introduced to different types of fabrics, weave structures, dyes, and printing techniques. They will also learn aspects of garment construction, including the processes, techniques, and concepts related to pattern making, decoration, surface ornamentation and foundation garments. We will consider the multi-sensory aspects of fashion objects including sound, touch, and smell. Implicit in all these areas are issues of fit, the body, damage, decay, repair, and modification.