Costume of the second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI century in Russian museum practice

The article considers the main stages in developing museum attitudes to the costume of the second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, collecting and exhibiting costume in foreign and Russian museums.
There is examined the theory of Danish researcher M. R. Melchior separating the history of collecting and exhibiting costume in museums into «dress» and «fashion» museology. While the «dress» museology is largely based on the study of garments and their classification, «fashion» museology focuses on organizing events that could be considered fashionable themselves, creating spectacular exhibitions that attract the attention of
the public and ensure the museum’s recognition, organizing communications around the museum. The limitations and contradictions of the theory are noted and the issue of the applicability of the theory to the national museum practice is brought up. In the view of the fluidity of terms that comprehend vestmental practices in the human sciences, there is given the analysis of the use of the term «fashion» in relation to stylistic changes in the costume of the Soviet period. There is given a view at the costume collections of the State Historical Museum and the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Art including the main sources of acquisition of the collections and the prospects for their further formation. In both cases, the most representative part of the collection belongs to the 1960s 1980s. And while in the State Historical Museum the costume was gathered mostly as background material for illustrating historical events the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Arts’ acquisition was purposefully based on the artistic quality of the items, which helped to form up the collection of the author’s costume. In the concluding part of the article there is given a view upon the exhibition practice of the State Historical Museum and the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Art representing the costume of the second half of the XX and early XXI centuries.