That collection, and the part on view at the Met, contains all the major names, but what defines it more than anything else is Ms. Schreier’s own appreciation for pretty things. The pieces on display in two rooms stretch from the turn of the century through the 1950s and on to today, with a Campbell’s Soup Can dress from 1966-67 and some winking trompe l’oeil 1980s Chloé (plus two gorgeous 1970s Zandra Rhodes).

But hidden away between the Balenciagas and the Chanels, the Diors and the Adrians, are treasures by little-known or even unknown designers that are a delight to discover. The Madeleine & Madeleine evening gown, circa 1923, greets guests at the entrance to the show, for example, with its Egyptian-inspired scarab embroidery. And the 1913 Maison Margaine-Lacroix Art Nouveau satin gown, encrusted in jet, that glimmers with sequins. Three origin-unknown flapper dresses from the 1920s, beaded to within an inch of their glittering seams, matched only in their lavish surprise by three elaborately printed velvets of the same era — two capes and a column — by Maria Monaci Gallenga, so plush you can practically stroke the weft with your eyes. It is these less famous names whose impact lingers, in part because they are so unexpected.

And if Ms. Schreier hadn’t had that initial gut punch of desire for them, trumping pedigree, they might never have made it into her sartorial miscellany, and they wouldn’t now be part of the Met — or our own imaginations.

In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection

Through May 17 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan; 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.