The Cincinnati Art Museum will open the first major museum retrospective dedicated to designer Elizabeth Hawes, featuring more than 50 garments spanning four decades of her career. “Elizabeth Hawes: Radical American Fashion” runs April 24 through August 2, 2026, in the Thomas R. Schiff Galleries (234 and 235) at the museum’s Eden Park Drive location.

Hawes (1903–1971) operated her own New York fashion house from 1928 to 1940, during which she built a reputation for challenging the dominance of Parisian couture and advocating for a distinctly American aesthetic built on comfort, practicality, and democratic access to well-made clothing. The exhibition pairs garments with sketches and illustrations that document her design process, alongside excerpts from the nine books she wrote critiquing the fashion industry. A companion publication — the first comprehensive monograph on her career — will accompany the show.

Acting Curator Megan Nauer noted that Hawes’s writing speaks to concerns that remain relevant today. “When you read her sharp-tongued words, you recognize things we still wrestle with,” Nauer said. After closing her fashion house in 1940, Hawes shifted her work to labor organizing and journalism, a trajectory the exhibition addresses as part of her broader biography. The show traces her advocacy for ready-to-wear garments decades before that market became mainstream.

General admission to the Cincinnati Art Museum is free; exhibition-specific pricing may apply. The museum is located at 953 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati.

Source: Cincinnati Art Museum