Case Study: Denver Art Museum brings fashion history to life with RIOS exhibition design

Denver Art Museum showcases 60+ garments in a century-spanning exhibition design with RIOS

The Denver Art Museum sought to create an engaging exhibition, "Conversation Pieces: Stories from the Fashion Archives," to showcase over 60 pieces from its fashion collection. The challenge was to design a display that would place these garments, spanning more than a century, in dialogue with one another and with visitors, all while working within the constraints of the existing gallery space. The museum partnered with design firm RIOS for this interior architecture project.

RIOS designed a continuous runway that winds through the gallery, using reconfigured existing platforms to create a path that juxtaposes historical and contemporary garments. This solution created visual impact through material strategies that echo fashion, such as draped fabrics and reflective surfaces, while maintaining a flexible and reusable framework for future exhibitions. The RIOS design successfully brought the museum's archives into a shared space, allowing visitors to see how ideas and influences evolve across different eras and cultural movements.

Denver Art Museum