Madrid Travel Guide: Museum of Clothing - Museo del Traje

The Museum of Clothing is a must for those interested in any aspect of clothing. The collections of the Museum of Clothing comprise over 160,000 garments covering six centuries of Spanish fashion, though there are some much older items, among them fragments of Coptic cloth and Hispano-Muslim pieces.

The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Clothing shows up to 600 items at any one time, rotating them frequently both to protect them and to allow returning visitors to appreciate the breadth and diversity of the collection. It is arranged chronologically in the Museum of Clothing, in 14 spaces, among which are two outstanding monographic rooms, one covering regional costume, the other containing pieces by Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, son of the painter, whose creations were worn by the likes of Isadora Duncan.

Other rooms of the Museum of Clothing cover costume from the Enlightenment and the castizo (Madrid's working classes); early 19th-century French influences; Romanticism; belle époque, the avant-garde, post-Civil War fashion and the modern era.

A room of the Museum of Clothing is dedicated to the great couturier Balenciaga and another to Spanish haute couture. Visitors to the Museum of Clothing can learn about how clothes are made in 'didactic areas' and a further exhibition space shows temporary displays, the first showcasing a century of Vogue photography. Facilities include a reading/internet room, bookshop, and café-restaurant.

Address Avda Juan de Herrera 2
Transport Metro Moncloa.
Telephone 91 550 47 00
Open 9.30am-7pm Tue-Sat; 10am-3pm Sun.

Admission €3; €1.50 concessions.
Free to all 2.30-7pm Sat & all Sun.