THAT DRESS: If you get obsessed with a television series -- and just about everybody who is in possession of a television has at one time or another -- certain elements draw you in, captivate you, and stay with you long after the show has left the air. Maybe it is an actor's particularly brooding performance, or the sparkly banter, or it could be a frock the star wore to the big ball in episode 5 of the third season. Do you admire the clothing worn by your favorite characters? Yeah, we watch television for fashion-based reasons, too, and often principally, given that the small screen has jump-started numerous sartorial trends over the decades. Enter the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in downtown Los Angeles. The school is famous for its innovative students and faculty, and for knowing what the mode of tomorrow might be. And it is known, and beloved, for two major exhibitions it stages each year. Make that free-to-see shows, which is rather remarkable, given that the exhibits brim with celebrated movie and television costumes. The film exhibit? That lands in the late winter and spring, around the Oscars. And television's time?
IT'S HAPPENING: The Outstanding Art of Television Costume and Design grandly fills out the FIDM Gallery ahead of The Emmys each year. That means that any Tuesday through Saturday you can make for the school and see, for free, costumes from "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and "The Good Wife" and returning show "Downton Abbey." "Portlandia" and "True Detective" and "Pretty Little Liars" are in the round-up, too. Some 98 nominations are represented, and over 20 shows, and, yes, those are really the suits and skirts seen on the screen and not replicas. Opening date? Tuesday, July 22. Closing date? Saturday, Sept. 20. Between those two days? Loads of looking and admiring and a little dress envy (and inspiration, too).
