ITHACA, N.Y. (WBNG) — A new exhibit at Cornell University examines the life and legal legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the lens of her fashion and style choices.
The exhibit, titled “Fashioning Justice,” is on display at the Human Ecology Building. It celebrates Ginsburg, who graduated from Cornell in 1954.
“This exhibition celebrates the life and the legal legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the lens of her fashion and style choices,” said Denise Green, director of the Cornell Fashion and Textile Collection.
“We’re looking at the way that her fashion intersects with her legal career and her commitment to gender equity and equal protection under the law.”
Ginsburg championed equal protection under the law, making gender equality a defining focus of her legal career while supporting civil rights across race, religion and class.
Alanna Stein, a Cornell sophomore and exhibit curator, said Ginsburg’s connection to the campus makes the exhibit meaningful for current students.
“As a student on this campus, it feels important to me to focus on RBG’s legacy because at one point in time, she was one of us,” Stein said. “So it’s really fascinating to me to see how much time has changed and not.”
The exhibit features items Ginsburg wore, including her collars.
“Over time, Justice Ginsburg’s collars began to develop very specific symbolic meanings, like her dissent collar, which she wore when you knew she was issuing a dissenting opinion,” Green said. “And so she understood the power of fashion as a form of symbolic speech that could communicate powerfully when voice perhaps wasn’t always available.”
The exhibit chronicles Ginsburg’s legal career and highlights how gender inequities she faced at Cornell shaped her determination to fight for equal protection under the law.
Stein said she hopes visitors leave with a new understanding of clothing’s power.
“I hope people take away how powerful clothing can be, in that, yes, it’s dressing you and keeping you warm and all the things, but it’s also expression, and it gives you voice when you otherwise might not be able to have it,” Stein said. “And I think that’s especially critical in the world we live in today, to maintain your voice and maintain your identity.”
The exhibit is open 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
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