Sandy Schreier has described her initial approach to collecting as simply seeking beauty. However, her instinctive response to the objects she encountered in these early years was influenced by sources of inspiration that would continue to shape her collecting, notably Hollywood film and her childhood introduction to fashion through the Detroit specialty store Russeks, where her father worked in the 1930s and 1940s.

At Russeks, she was exposed to leading periodicals such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, which guided her knowledge of fashion. Schreier also received her first "acquisitions" as gifts from clients of the elegant shop. As she developed her collection, she continued to seek out opportunities to acquire compelling pieces from the wardrobes of stylish women, such as Elizabeth Parke Firestone.

Simultaneously, film costume of Hollywood's so-called Golden Age stimulated a preference for glamour and drama that is especially evident in Schreier's outstanding collection of mid-century American and French fashions. The distinctively American glamour she admired in film costume is echoed in designs by Gilbert Adrian and other innovative American couturiers, while her taste for fashions that impart drama is similarly reflected in postwar French couture.

For Sandy Schreier, an early stimulus for thinking about fashion as an art form came through regular childhood visits to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Paintings that featured magnificently rendered dress and textiles became a catalyst for her interest in fashion and for her later appreciation of designers whose garments are defined by their exquisite fabrics. This collecting interest is represented by an exceptional array of designs by Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo and Maria Monaci Gallenga, both of whom worked in Italy in the early decades of the twentieth century and are among the first designers Schreier collected. Viewing themselves as artists, they approached dress from outside the traditional fashion system.

Marcel Proust, in the novel In Search of Lost Time (1913), described Fortuny gowns as "faithfully antique but markedly original." Proust captured the duality of Fortuny's work, which engaged deeply with the past but also spoke powerfully of timelessness and modernity. Fortuny's approach to dress influenced a number of his contemporaries, including Gallenga. Like Fortuny, Gallenga created garments that showcase luxurious textiles printed with designs adapted from historical sources. Their fashions were initially most appreciated by individuals within the art world but grew to have broader appeal for their artfully designed fabrics and simple lines.

Splendid examples of 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s eveningwear—a particular strength of Sandy Schreier's collection—embody l'esprit nouveau ("the modern spirit") and express the vitality of the age. Characterized by innovative silhouettes and creative embellishment, these fashions attest to the superb capabilities of the specialist embroiderers, pleaters, feather workers, and lace and flower makers operating at their height in advance of World War II.

French and American clothing from the interwar years also signals the accompanying social and artistic upheaval of the era. Outlets of leisure and entertainment such as movie theaters and nightclubs became popular sites of escapism and celebration following victory in World War I, and in 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, granting American women the right to vote. Changes in lifestyle were reflected in women's dress as undergarments became increasingly streamlined, cumbersome layers were reduced, and garment cuts and lengths oscillated throughout the period. During this seminal moment of change, notions of beauty and modernity developed in tandem, and fashion was led primarily by a coterie of female designers. Works by many of these women are featured here.

Early twentieth-century fashion often served as a medium to showcase superior technique, echo social conventions, and convey notions of glamour and beauty. Contemporary clothing following World War II frequently expanded on this tradition, acting as a vehicle for narrative-driven design. The objects in this gallery reflect a strand of Sandy Schreier's collecting that attests to the ability of fashion to not only mirror the tastes and mores of a period but also function as a conduit for dialogue.

These lively designs are conversant with the zeitgeist yet draw on historical dress, art, and popular culture through references that include biography, humor, and quotation. Just as the garments express the distinct personalities of their makers, their assemblage here reveals the individuality and eye of their collector. Though the pieces span a period of sixty years, they are united in their embrace of fashion for its storytelling ability.