by Judy Bereza, Guest Blogger 

As an “aspirational” Fashionista, I always head to the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute whenever I am in New York. On a recent trip (Feb. 2020) with my daughter and granddaughter, we made a beeline to check out the current exhibit, “In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection”.

Ms. Schreier is a lifetime resident of a Detroit suburb, living in a comfortable, but not ostentatious home. She occupied the same home with her late husband and raised her four children there. She has had no formal training as a designer or fashion historian, so how did she rate an exhibit of her collection in one of the most rarified locations in the world?

Sandy Schreier Collection 

So begins an intriguing story of being in the right place at the right time, As a young child, she developed an intense interest in fashion while tagging along with her father, who was a furrier at Russeks Department store in downtown Detroit. The wives of the titans of the automobile industry shopped there, and were entranced by the little girl who loved beautiful clothes. As it was never acceptable for women of society to wear the same evening dress twice, little Sandy was often the recipient of these unwanted pieces.

A Passion was Born

A passion was born, the result of which is over 15,000 items, the largest private collection in the world of couture designs and accessories from the early to the mid 20th century. Along the way, she befriended and modeled for some of the top designers in the 60s, became friends with Vidal Sassoon, Edith Head and many other headliners in the fashion industry. An interesting side note: she never wore any of the clothes. She treated then as art, art that reflected and often influenced society.

Last year, she announced her intention to donate the most exquisite pieces in her collection to the Met. Thus began many trips by the curators to her secret archive to select the most iconic pieces for the exhibition. The result is 80 pieces, arranged in four categories, and mounted in a setting designed to evoke the glamour of Detroit’s Art Deco Architecture.

Another interesting side note: the headdresses on the mannequins were designed by the renowned Stephen Jones, the British hat designer, who appeared in Ann Arbor last fall as the annual guest lecturer of the art school, and packed the Michigan theater for his presentation.

Here’s a link to Stephen Jones. 

The exhibit is now closed, but enjoy the photos, and relish the fact that this extraordinary collection was the product of a little girl from Detroit, Michigan, who loved clothes not as fashion, but as art.

Judy Bereza is a retired interior designer/kitchen expert, constant walker and “Nana” to five adorable grand children. With friends she has hiked in Wales, Cornwall, Switzerland, Smokey Mountain National Park, Ireland and California.

Occasionally she veers off the trail to explore a different kind of travel adventure that includes her husband and/or her daughter and grand daughter.