Anyone who has ever lingered over the pages of Vogue, watched (and rewatched) “The Devil Wears Prada” or marveled at the outrageous garments that celebrities flaunt on red carpets is sure to revel in the latest Exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

“Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour,” which will be on view through Nov. 26, contains about 110 pieces that offer a broad overview of American style through the years.

While some pieces may seem over-the-top frivolous — spangled stiletto sneakers, anyone? — the exhibit has an educational purpose beyond tracing fashion’s evolution: It is designed to spotlight minority designers who have been underrepresented and have succeeded by incorporating bits of their heritage into their designs.

“I hope people will come away from this exhibit with a deeper understanding of American fashion history, which includes things and people that they may not have known about,” said Michelle Tolini Finamore, the guest curator. “I’m hoping they’ll realize that fashion history is much richer, much more nuanced, with people working all over the country.”

A diverse cast of designers

The sneakers, for instance, were made by Teri Greaves, a Kiowa, who was trained in the Kiowa and Shoshone beadwork traditions and uses them in her work.

Kerby Jean-Raymond, who wants his designs to draw attention to forgotten Americans, designed an outfit honoring Christopher Latham Sholes, a co-inventor of the typewriter. Typewriter keys and a space bar adorn the waist, and the tunic features typewritten notes.

The exhibit comes from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

A pair of well-worn blue jeans from the 19th century provides a nod to history, as does a wall of decades of fashionable footwear grouped around a screen where a frisky Joan Crawford dances the Charleston. In a corner, Marlon Brando and James Dean look menacing in videos that are part of a movie-inspired display of biker attire from the 1950s.

Entertainers’ style

In a lighthearted mood, Cab Calloway cavorts in a zoot suit, a garment full of exaggerated details — a high waist, wide legs, pegged pants and a long coat — that he helped popularize, and an excerpt from an Esther Williams movie provides a backdrop for a display of trends in swimwear.

Names are dropped, to be sure. One of Diane von Furstenberg’s wrap dresses from the 1970s is on display, as are a yellow suit, abloom with roses, that Nudie Cohn made for the Grand Ole Opry stalwart Hank Snow; a draped gown by the Hollywood costume designer Adrian; and the prototype of the suit that Michelle Obama wore for her husband’s 2009 inauguration.

And there’s a suit inspired by African wax-print textiles by Walé Oyéjidé, who did costumes for the movie “Black Panther.”

From the red carpet

The exhibit invites delightful discoveries, such as a Patrick Kelly dress whose principal feature is a big heart filled with buttons of many colors and sizes.

He said he designed it to celebrate his Black heritage and the tradition of dressing up to go to church.

The mannequin wearing that dress is on the same platform as a figure wearing a multicolored scarf dress by LaVetta of Beverly Hills, who started life as LaVetta Forbes of New Orleans and wound up with a list of customers that included the Supremes, Elizabeth Taylor and Helen Gurley Brown.

Just across the floor, the dominant attraction is a voluminous purple silk tulle gown by Christian Siriano. If it seems to epitomize an outfit that belongs on the red carpet, it should. Siriano designed it for the comedian Nicole Byer to wear to the Emmy Awards in 2021.