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If you've ever fantasized about traipsing through the massive archives of Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, too nervous to touch but elated to be in the presence of such artistry, then you are in luck.

The Costume Institute has just expanded it's database and has made it available online. Yes, to us commoners. The 31,000 piece collection is almost completely available at the Met's website under Collections.

Keeping their white gloved finger on the pulse of the web, the curators realized how wide their audience was after the "blog.mode: addressing fashion" exhibit back in December 2007. "We have grown so much and would like to house everything properly, and in conjunction with that, we started to document things that hadn't been reviewed since they first came in in the Forties. Once we got the information together, we thought it would be ideal if the general public could log in and, for instance, find all of our Christian Diors," said Harold Koda, curator in charge for the Costume Institute.

I love that the mecca of all vintage and antique costume archives is willing to learn and grow with the blogosphere. It just shows how powerful a medium this can be. Koda said that, in the same vein as "blog.mode," the Costume Institute also hopes to gather more information on pieces in its collection, as well as corrections, where appropriate.

And apparently, some corrections do need to be made. While transferring information to their new database, some very early Vionnets were found that had been cataloged incorrectly since the '60s because the archivists had missed the label.

::raising hand:: Can I have that job?

source: WWD.com