The Costume Institute Archive · A Guessing Game

PROVENANCE

Read the garment. Date the garment.
HOW TO PLAY ↓

Ten garments pulled live from two of the world's great costume archives: The Met and the V&A. Study the cloth, the cut, the shape. Then say where and when.

How to play▾
The object
A real garment or accessory from The Met's Costume Institute or the V&A's fashion collection.
Look closer
Move over the object to bring up the loupe. Weave, seam and stitch, as close as the archive allows.
Date it
Drag the tape. The reference figure beside it changes as you go, so you are dragging through silhouettes, not numbers.
Place it
Drop a pin on the atlas.
Three clues
Material names the cloth and marks its likely region on the map. Making gives the construction and maker. Era narrows the century. Two of each per game.
Score
100 a round. Up to 50 for the date, 50 for the origin. Closer counts.
Real garments from The Met and the V&A, mixed. Two of the world's great costume archives in one set.
Object images and metadata via The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access (CC0). Basemap derived from Natural Earth (public domain). Fan-made, unaffiliated with The Met.