From the height of Spain’s imperial power in the middle of the 16th century to the fall of the Habsburg dynasty at the close of 17th century, Spanish fashion was characterized by luxurious excesses that were widely critiqued within Spain and that shaped perceptions of Spanish culture abroad. Drawn exclusively from the Hispanic Society’s collection, this exhibit recreates the strange splendor of Golden Age Spanish fashion with a rich array of objects that includes illuminated manuscripts, textiles, ecclesiastical vestments, jewelry, paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics, and more. Spanish fashions changed rapidly in the decades between 1550 and 1700, reaching their height in the 1650s with the famous menina silhouette immortalized in Diego Velázquez’s court portraits. This exhibition examines how Spain’s most powerful institutions—the crown, the church, and the military—harnessed the power of fashion, and the ways that ordinary citizens of the Spanish Empire used clothing to shape their identities and social status. The exhibition also demonstrates the richness of Spanish art and craft traditions, especially the work of Spain’s renowned silk-weavers and tailors. Featuring many objects that have rarely or never before been exhibited, including a selection of the library’s astounding collection of illuminated letters of nobility, this exhibit will draw attention to lesser-known treasures in the Hispanic Society’s wide-ranging collections. The exhibition is curated by Amanda Wunder, a specialist on early modern Spanish art and culture, and author of Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez: A Tailor at the Court of Philip IV (2024).

Spanish Style: Fashion Illuminated, 1550-1700 opens November 6th, 2025