Natalie Gempel

Todd and Carey Moen, James Cagle, Chris Kimbrough (Photo by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Cameron) Zach Hess, Debra Nelson, Greg Johnson (Photo by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Cameron) Carey and Chris Moen (Photo by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Cameron) Vivian Lombardi, Alberto Lombardi (Photo by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Cameron) Todd and Carey Moen (Photo by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Cameron) Details at the 2024 Aging Mind Foundation Gala (Photo by Tamytha Cameron and Celeste Cameron)...

As a young adult, linda silver wanted to become a professor. “I studied classics, and I spent my senior year doing archaeological work in Greece,” she recalls of her undergrad experience at the University of California, Los Angeles. But when she returned from her travels, a job at the Natural History Museum Los Angeles County beckoned, rerouting her career plan. “They were starting a school outreach program that used archaeology as a way of getting kids interested in science,” she explains.

This is a rare chance to sneak a peek inside perhaps the most historically important closet in the world. Normally accessible only to researchers, the collection housed at UNT’s College of Visual Arts and Design has more than 20,000 pieces, some going as far back as the 18th century. It contains, for example, the largest number of designs by Cristóbal Balenciaga outside of Balenciaga’s own archive. This curated sampling includes one of those, a lace-and-silk taffeta evening gown from 1955.