Another reason is that people are looking into their closets and saying it's time to get rid of these '60s clothes. "And we're the benefactor of that," she said, explaining that the museum's collection of '60s styles has grown enormously of late, thanks to local donations.

During the mid-60s, a shapeless dress called the A-line was king of high fashion and the exhibit offers an example from Andre Courreges (1967). The pink dress, donated by RISD graduate Ingrid Anderson Pawlowski, was accessorized with white knee socks.

Street fashions of the late '60s included love beads. A man's shirt and pants, made of leather and suede (1970), are accessorized with beads donated by Robert Rindler, RISD's assistant vice president for student affairs. He was an elementary school teacher back in the '60s and one year, each of his students made a bead, and then the class strung them together for his birthday. As the school's resident hippie, he always wore love beads, a habit that didn't escape his students.