Historic Garment District

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Fashion Week is coming as the top fashion designers from around the world display their latest collections in runway shows in NYC, London, and Milan in mid-September. Kansas City Fashion Week from Sept. 5-9 is becoming a favorite annual event for midwestern fashionistas! If you love clothes, but a trip to the Big Apple isn't in the budget, you can still relish a bit of fun for a moms' night out or a daughter's day outing with a visit to one of Kansas City's fashion meccas! But, first... see where it all began with a visit to Kansas City's Historic Garment District Museum.

Kansas City's Historic Garment District Museum

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Located at 801 Broadway in the heart of the old garment district between 6th and 11th streets and Washington and Wyandotte Streets in KCMO. Open to the public on Fridays from 10-3 or for private tours call: 913.205.8520 or visit www.kcgarmentmuseum.org

      In the 1930s, Kansas City’s garment district was known as “Paris of the Plains.” It was home to many of the nation’s leading clothing manufacturers and was second only to New York City at the time, when 1 in 7 U.S. women owned a garment from Kansas City. The manufacturing of coats, suits, dresses, hats, and children’s wear started on the upper floors of the wholesale dry goods buildings of Kansas City in the early 1920’s. The building at 801 Broadway, now converted into a museum (and offices above), tells the history of garment manufacturing in Kansas City when it was the second largest industry in the metro, employing over 4,000 people through the 1940s.

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    Recently, I took my daughters to visit the museum where we learned about Nell Donnelly, Kansas City's pioneer in fashion and one of America's leading female entrepreneurs of her time. Nell Donnelly manufactured clothes under the label "Nelly Don" through the 1970s. Nelly Don, headquartered in Kansas City's garment district, manufactured 75 million dresses from 1916 to 1978 making it the largest dress manufacturer of the 20th century. A large part of the success came from being one of the first companies to apply assembly line techniques to clothing manufacturing, and Nell's high standards of quality. Nell was not only a leader in fashion, but in business as well. Her employees noted that she was ahead of her time as an employer offering unheard of at the time benefits to her mostly female workforce including recreational facilities and medical benefits. Women appreciated her fashions that were functional, wearable, comfortable, and stylish. After our trip to the museum, I borrowed the documentary, Nelly Don: A Stitch in Time, from the library and learned more about Nell Donnelly, her company, and her life as Mrs. James A. Reed. 

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    The museum features information and photos of the entire garment district, exhibits depicting fashions made in Kansas City, a documentary on the area, and the highlight of the tour for my girls was trying on many stylish hats. Exhibits also offers a lot of "food for thought" about things we take for granted in our modern era. Perhaps you grew up thinking that women of the 50s wore aprons to be formal, but in reality it was because women didn't own closets overflowing with clothes as we do now and old wringer-washers weren't the handiest of household appliances, so clothing was often worn multiple times before it was washed. An apron was a protective garment to keep skirts clean so they could be reworn, and Nell Donnelly and other fashion designers of her time, began producing beautiful aprons women would enjoy wearing around the home.

    Across the street from the museum at 404 8th St., you’ll find one of the area's largest landmarks... a statue depicting a gigantic 22 foot needle and thread commemorating Kansas City's garment district. TIP: Read "Super Size Me: A Guide to Kansas City's Largest Oddities" for more gigantic finds in the area!