vestiary means A dressing room or storeroom for clothes, especially in a church or other religious house. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
vestiary is pronounced /ˈvɛstɪəɹi/.
Why “vestiary” is a great word
VESTIARY — [Noun, Adjective] A room for storing garments, especially ecclesiastical vestments, or clothing collectively; as an adjective, pertaining to garments or dress. From Old French vestiarie, from Latin vestiarium (a place for clothes), from vestis ("garment, clothing"). First attested in English in the 15th century. Unlike a vestry, which is a specific church room for clergy to robe, or a wardrobe, which implies a personal or domestic collection, vestiary denotes the formal architecture of institutional attire. It is the cool, stone-flagged chamber behind the altar, the cedar-lined closet of a grand hotel, the silent museum hall hung with royal doublets—a physical repository for the costumes of departed lives, a tomb for former selves.
Etymology
From Old French vestiarie, from Latin vestiarium, from vestis (“clothing”). Doublet of vestry.
noun
- A dressing room or storeroom for clothes, especially in a church or other religious house.“Here a novice appeared from the vestiary of the chapel at his call, and received commands to enquire at the hamlet whether Philipson's bales, with the horse which transported them, had been left there, or ferried over along with his son.”
- Clothing; garments.
adj
- Pertaining to clothes or clothing.“In 1964 she initiated ‘vestiary’ sculpture made of soft materials and designed to be worn by the spectators […].”