Rose Archive is a unique research and learning center situated at Shenkar and housing Israel's only collection dedicated to the study of Fashion and Textile as a social-cultural phenomenon.  

Established in 1986, as an outcome of successful collaboration with the Fashion Institute of Technology and their significant donation of garments, the archive today features over 5000 fashion pieces, textiles and accessories. By now, the items represent designs from 67 countries, the earliest dating to the 1780s and the most recent ones entering from the latest fashion shows. Of special interest, is the unique Israeli collection, consisting of garments and accessories, ranging from the end of the 19th century until today, showcasing the history of local fashion, its origins, roots and development over the years.

All items are duly catalogued, documented and arranged in professional museum-standard conditions at the storage space on Shenkar campus, built in 2018 especially for the needs of the collection.

photo by: Achikam Ben Yosef

Recent years have come to show that fashion exhibitions are the rising star of our cultural world. Recognizing that, the Rose Archive gives its visitors a rare opportunity to see fashion history up close. Not only through observing garment structure and applied techniques, but also by means of understanding the way fashion is a part of the social order. Tours and lectures in the archive give the attendees tools to examine how fashion history impacts today's society and answer questions of the like: What did women in the 19th century wear under their dresses? Why was Chanel so important and what does it have to do with Dior? Why did the shoulder pads of the 1980s grew to such massive proportions? - and many more. The archive serves as a valuable source for historical and cultural research, available to students, graduates, designers and scholars. Lecturers often engage the garments and textiles from the archive in their coursework, to illustrate topics related to the evolution of designs, as well as the social, technological and cultural context they were created in.

Photo by: Einav Reychner

As the core collector of international and local textile material, the archive plays an active role in today's Israeli cultural scene and collaborates with top museums. Among others, in 2017, the Rose archive provided some eye-catching fashion items for the display Gilding the Lily: Buttons and Other Ornaments at Tel Aviv Museum of Art. In 2018, the archive assisted in research and community reach-out for the retrospective of local fashion Fashion Statements: Decoding Israeli Dress at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and prepared the special printed edition A Place For Fashion with Steimatzky publishing house documenting the exhibition.

Archive Director and curator: Tal Granovsky-Amit // Telephone: 03-6110061

Digital archive: Rosearchive.shenkar.ac.il

Check-out the Rose archive's greatly inspirational Instagram account

For arranging a visit to the archive or for donating items, please write to: rosearchive@shenkar.ac.il

Top on the page: Photo by: Einav Reychner