“To the nines” is an English phrase meaning “to perfection” or to dress “buoyantly and high class.” From Charles Worth to Charles James, the Kansas City Museum has been collecting the high fashion of Kansas Citians as well as everything in between. Among its hundreds of gowns, the Museum has examples of homemade gowns, custom-made gowns by local dressmakers, and couture gowns—all worn for balls, receptions, inaugurations, and even gowns that made the wearer feel like a fairy princess.

Co-curated by the Museum’s Collections Specialist Kate Warfield and Kansas City’s own De De DeVille, a vintage fashion collector who has donated many of her gowns to the Museum’s GLAMA collection, Dressing Up in Kansas City: Dressed to the Nines will show off garments that define eras, sometimes making comparisons between them.