Jul. 17--Anyone who loves fashion or vintage clothing will want to plan a visit soon to the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

There, glistening like jewels among the less flamboyant treasures the museum displays, is a collection of 21 gowns and cocktail wear by American fashion designers such as Halston, Oscar de la Renta and Galanos.

To some, the glamorous exhibit might seem incongruous with the mission of a historical museum, but curator Jami Tracy argues otherwise.

"I think you can learn a lot about people from the kinds of clothes that they wore," Tracy says. "Our mission is to interpret the history of Wichita, and clothing is a part of that history."

About half of the dresses in the exhibit, called "Fashion Fantasia: Mid-Century, Mid-America," were owned and worn by some of Wichita's wealthiest and most high-profile women, including Olive Ann Beech, Marian Beren, whose family owned Lewin's department store, and Rochelle Levitt, who owned Henry's department store.

"She really epitomizes to me the sophisticated woman who loved clothes," says Tracy, pointing to a gray wool flannel cocktail dress with rhinestones by Geoffrey Beene that Levitt contributed to the museum.

Among others, Beren contributed a vivid blue and green cocktail dress and coat with padded hems by Pauline Trigere.

"Marian was really the genesis of this collection that focuses on American designers," Tracy says. "She donated these in 1985, and that was before clothing, always considered historically significant, was appreciated as an important art form."

The gowns that were not contributed by Wichitans were purchased by the museum to fill in the gaps of its collection, she says. That includes the first gown visitors see when they approach the exhibit, a red silk taffeta cocktail dress with a sequined neck and cut-out midriff, also by Beene, circa 1990.

The museum owns about 5,000 pieces of clothing representing a time span from 1860 to 2000, Tracy says. Like other museum artifacts, they are stored in climate-controlled facilities to preserve them.

"I don't think people realize the kind of exceptional collection we have," she says.

The pieces in "Fashion Fantastia" represent the years from 1930 to 1998.

"They're beautiful clothes but they're also important clothes, and they tell a story about us," Tracy says. "They're beautiful, but they're also works of art."

The exhibit will close on Aug. 30.

If you go

Fashion Fantasia: Mid-Century, Mid-America

What: An exhibit of 21 evening and cocktail gowns

Where: Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, 204 S. Main

When: Through Aug. 30. Museum hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 1 to 5 p.m. Sat.-Sun.

How much: Admission $4 adults, $2 ages 6-16, children under 6 and members free. Information, 316-265-9314.

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