Cynthia Cooper honoured with two awards from the Costume Society of America

International recognition for an illustrious career in dress and fashion history

Montreal, June 8, 2026 – The McCord Stewart Museum is pleased to announce that Cynthia Cooper, Head, Collections and Research, and Senior Curator, Dress, Fashion and Textiles, has been named the 2026 Costume Society of America (CSA) Fellow. This honour recognizes her decades of leadership in fashion and dress history, as well as her outstanding contributions to research, the dissemination of knowledge, and the promotion of the Museum’s collections. Under her tenure, the Museum has been a four-time recipient of the CSA’s Richard Martin Exhibition Award, making it one of the most recognized institutions for this prestigious award.

Recently, Cynthia Cooper co-authored and edited Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870–1927, a richly illustrated reference work published to complement the exhibition of the same name presented at the McCord Stewart Museum in 2024-2025. This volume has received the 2026 Millia Davenport Publication Award, also given out by the CSA.

Cynthia Cooper was presented with both honours at the CSA awards ceremony held June 1, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“These two awards highlight the breadth, importance and relevance of Cynthia’s work in the study and dissemination of fashion and dress history. Her incomparable expertise—founded on a meticulous research methodology and a sensitivity to the objects and documents she studies—embodies our core values: discipline, integrity, sharing, and respect for communities of origin, for their histories, knowledge and know-how. Keenly attentive to people and their stories—as well as omissions and silences—Cynthia actively promotes a museological approach rooted in dialogue, social relevance and knowledge transfer. We are very proud and fortunate that Cynthia is among the talented individuals who help showcase the Museum and, more specifically, the remarkable costume heritage of Canada under the Museum’s care. I am truly impressed by the consistency, integrity and sheer scope of her career,” notes Anne Eschapasse, President and Chief Executive Officer of the McCord Stewart Museum.

An acclaimed expert dedicated to advancing the field of fashion and dress history

Cynthia Cooper is known for her distinctive approach to extant garments, seeing them as valuable primary sources that reflect social history and Canadian identity projects. Holder of an MS in Historic Costume and Textiles from the University of Rhode Island, she joined the Museum in 1998 as Curator and has also headed the Collections and Research department since 2009. She notably oversees the Dress, Fashion and Textiles collection, which includes over 27,000 garments and accessories covering three centuries, designed or worn primarily in Montreal. She is also the impetus behind EncycloFashionQC, the unique online encyclopaedic reference for the history of fashion in Quebec, which documents designers, manufacturers and retailers from across the province.

Notable exhibitions at the Museum

Thanks to the exhibitions and publications created under her direction and the acquisitions she has overseen, the Museum has become a must-visit attraction for those with an interest in the history of dress, fashion and appearance.

Curatorship:

→ Costume Balls – Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 (2024-2025)
→ Fashioning Expo 67 (2017)
→ Love in Fine Fashion (2014-2015)
→ Reveal or Conceal? (2008-2009)

The public can explore her work in the current exhibition Montreal 1976: An Olympic Feat, as well as in other upcoming exhibitions.

A longstanding commitment to the profession

Cynthia Cooper has been a member of the CSA for nearly 40 years, contributing to the vitality and advancement of the profession. In the announcement of its 2026 award winners, the organization noted that “her extensive scholarship [has] shaped the field in profound ways.”

She has made major contributions to the field of research: chapters in edited volumes and reference works, and presentations at national and international conferences. Some of the topics she has addressed are the history of the garment industry in Canada, tailoring for women, the etiquette surrounding low necklines in the 19th century; the Roman scarf; the creativity of Quebec designers in the 1960s; the role of fashion at Expo 67; Canadian tartans; and children’s Red River coats. She has organized three colloquia at the Museum: Costume Balls: The Symposium in 2025, as well as the conferences Bodies on Display in 2008 and Collecting Knowledge: New Dialogues on the McCord Museum Collections in 2013. She has also taught courses in institutions such as Concordia University and LaSalle College.

Recognized for her expertise and eloquence in both official languages, Cynthia is often interviewed by the media: a recent CBC News story highlighted her research on the remarkable history of an 18th-century dress, an inquiry that shed light on the history of slavery and emancipation in Canada.

Publications and acquisitions

Among the notable acquisitions made under the supervision of Cynthia Cooper are several works that have dramatically broadened our understanding of fashion and dress history:

• Research on this tailor-made dress from 1887 uncovered additional information about the cross-border trade in tailored clothing between Montreal and the United States. (Credit: Tailor-made dress, J. J. Milloy, 1887. M2009.62.1.1-2, McCord Stewart Museum)
• A pair of boots from the 1860s revealed that Indigenous embroiderers played a more significant role than previously thought in the fledgling rubber footwear industry. (Credit: Boots, Canadian Rubber Co., 1868-1875. Gift of Dr. William P. Baker, M2006.118.1.1-2, McCord Stewart Museum)
• This 18th-century dress traced back to colonial Virginia was associated with a Loyalist family that eventually moved to Quebec after the American Revolution, illustrating the movement of objects, people and identities along the Atlantic coast. (Credit: Dress, 1780s. Gift of Tim and Gordon Peters, M2022.18.1.1-2, McCord Stewart Museum)

→ Explore some of Cynthia Cooper’s publications.

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