We Shouldn’t Exist. But We Do.

We are the only museum in the world dedicated to couture sewing patterns, an entire chapter of fashion history no one else is preserving.

And we started it at the worst possible time.

While major institutions are laying off staff and shutting their doors, we opened one. It’s irrational. But if we didn’t insert ourselves into the record now, this history would be lost forever.

We are the only fashion museum on the Central Coast of California. And globally, we’re the only archive focused solely on couture sewing patterns, some dating back to 1921. That makes us historically significant—and deeply vulnerable.

We’ve been told we don’t belong in Santa Barbara. That we’re not elite enough for fashion history. We've been erased by gatekeepers and excluded from official lists of “valid” arts organizations.

This museum was founded by a first-generation immigrant, a woman of color, someone who saw something special no one else did. Who spent decades collecting, scraping by, and quietly building what others overlooked. No spotlight. No safety net. Just a long-held belief that this history mattered.

We don’t have an endowment. We don’t have a trust fund. What we do have is one of the rarest archives in the world, and a plan to preserve it. What we do have is dedication, perseverance, and due to our efforts, the largest archive in the world of haute couture patterns.

Academics, designers, students, and collectors around the world come to us for access to materials they can’t find anywhere else. No one else is doing this work. No one else is preserving these artifacts or this knowledge.

100% of net proceeds go directly to operations and expanding access. We’ve produced six free exhibitions in downtown Santa Barbara on very little. No salaries. No bloat. Just impact.

We’re here. We shouldn’t exist.

But we do—because people like you decided history matters.

We’re raising $100,000 to keep the museum open, expand access, and launch an educational learning center on haute couture construction.

We’ve built everything on almost nothing. Imagine what we could do with real support.

All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law through our fiscal sponsor, Creative Visions Foundation (Malibu, CA).