Two women posed for this casual outdoor snapshot, c. 1911. Their nearly identical ensembles of short-sleeved middy blouses and ankle-length skirts suggest summertime leisure. Though popular as school uniforms for children, middy blouses were also worn as women’s sportswear. The loose fit made swinging a racket or holding an oar much easier, and also set the mood for watching spectator sports. The slight rumpling of their middy blouses suggests these women have recently engaged in some kind of sporting activity. The parasols add a colorful accent to these casual ensembles.
1910s
May 03, 2013
January 15, 2013
Butterflies abound
Though we're not a natural history museum or a science center, we have lots of butterflies in our collection. No taxidermy specimens here, FIDM Museum butterflies are woven, printed, painted, and embroidered. Our curatorial team has no specific intent to collect garments and accessories decorated with butterflies, but the popularity of the motif makes it easy to acquire compelling pieces featuring this colorful, winged insect. According to our Curator Kevin Jones, "I would never accept an object into the collection just because it has a certain motif. It would have to be fab for a number of other reasons."
Butterflies can be found on every continent, with the exception of Antarctica. Diverse cultures have developed symbolic interpretations of the butterfly, many of which focus on its dramatic life-cycle. Hatching from the egg as a larva or caterpillar, the insect grows and eats until it reaches the chrysalis stage. During the chrysalis, a shell forms around the caterpillar, protecting the insect as it undergoes a metamorphosis into a beautifully colored butterfly. In ancient Greece, butterflies represented the soul, while Christian interpretations use the butterfly's life-cycle to symbolize resurrection. In parts of Asia, pairs of butterflies represent marital harmony and happiness. Butterflies have also been used to symbolize the transience of childhood, and are often used to decorate garments worn by little girls.
Child's "Dainty Blossom" Ensemble
Daisy Stanford
Hand-painted silk
c. 1925
Museum Purchase
2003.5.24A-C
October 31, 2012
Bat hat, c. 1916-18
What's Halloween without a bat? These small, flying mammals are a favorite Halloween motif, appearing as costumes, decorations, even candy. Though they're generally harmless to humans, western cultures usually consider bats the eeriest of creatures. Blame this bad reputation on their nocturnal lifestyle, and the blood-sucking habits of vampire bats. Though most bats eat insects or fruit, vampire bats eat blood, sucking it from cows, chickens or other livestock in the dark of night. Though humans aren't the vampire bat's preferred meal, they occasionally bite people, sometimes transmitting rabies. Though a vampire bat's bite doesn't turn an animal or human into a blood-sucking monster, western culture typically associates bats with death, danger and disease.
During the latter half of the 1910s, the bat was a surprisingly popular motif. In 1916, Vogue featured a cut-steel bead bag with a red-eyed bat as the central motif. A year later, a Vogue article on women's millinery fashions highlighted a hat with two fully extended bat wings cupping the crown of a beige hat trimmed with sable fur. Bats were not the only animal-based millinery embellishment; feathers and fur were also widely used to create the statement hats popular during the second decade of the twentieth century. Our bat hat is composed of silk velvet, faux astrakhan fur and bat heads.
Hat
c. 1916-18
Museum Purchase in honor of Julia Long
2009.5.69AB
August 09, 2012
Wedding gown, 1910-1911
One of the priciest clothing purchases a woman can make, a wedding gown is worn only once. After the wedding, the gown is carefully tucked away, becoming an heirloom for future generations. In some families, a wedding gown is later altered and worn by a daughter or close relative of the bride. Other wedding gowns make their way into museum collections after generations of careful storage by descendants of the original wearer. Because of their sentimental value, wedding gowns are often in excellent condition when they enter museum collections. This ivory silk gown was worn by bride Mary Wells née Peterson at her wedding. According to records accompanying the donation, Mary's wedding took place in November of 1910 or 1911 in Manila, Philippines.
Wedding gown worn by Mary Peterson Wells
1910 or 1911
Gift of Kathy Kobayashi
2003.799.1A-G
May 02, 2012
Embroidered bodice, c. 1905
Bodice
Silk net with embroidery
Gift of Deane Funk
87.286.1
Made from ivory silk net embroidered with an allover floral pattern, this elegant bodice gives the impression of being completely sheer. Actually, the bodice is lined with a layer of ivory silk, thus preserving the modesty of the wearer. Though the bodice itself is made from a fragile, insubstantial textile, it was worn over a rigid foundation: the S-bend corset. This corset, with its flat front and steel busk, forced the hips back and the bust forward into a distinctive S-shape. The resulting silhouette idealized the body of a mature woman, featuring a full monobosom, tightly cinched waist, and full, rounded hips. This silhouette dominated women's fashion from 1900 until about 1908, when it was gradually replaced by the unarticulated, upright lines of the empire silhouette.
March 29, 2012
Fortuny textiles
"Many a room has been "made" by a single panel of Fortuny fabric. As furniture coverings and curtains these prints are infinitely rich and adaptable. And the superb gesture is to hang entire wall surfaces with Fortuny stuffs."1
Textile panel detail
Mariano Fortuny
c. 1915
Gift of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum
87.1010.1
Mariano Fortuny's interest in the past influenced all of his work. His most iconic garment, the finely pleated silk Delphos dress, was based on the pleated garments portrayed in ancient Greek sculpture. To complement the Delphos, Fortuny created loose-fitting coats, capes and wraps and patterned with rich designs. Fortuny's tastes were varied and his textile patterns referenced a wide array of artistic traditions. The Italian Renaissance was a consistent inspiration, but Fortuny also borrowed design elements from sources as diverse as the pre-Columbian art of Central and South America, Chinese brush paintings, Coptic textile designs, and Arabic calligraphy. Fortuny's first encounters with historic textiles were through his family. His parents collected historic textiles, and Fortuny continued this collecting tradition, amassing a large collection of historic textiles that were kept in trunks at the Palazzo Orfei, Fortuny's home in Venice.
March 19, 2012
Event: AdDRESSING Titanic: Appearance & Identity in 1912
AdDRESSING Titanic: Appearance & Identity in 1912
April 14, 2012
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Join FIDM Museum Fashion Council in commemorating the Titanic. 2012 marks the centennial anniversary of the sinking of this luxury oceanliner and we will mark the occasion with AdDRESSING Titanic. The journey will launch with a champagne toast and exquisite sweets and savories. An illustrated lecture by Kevin Jones, FIDM Museum curator, will compare and contrast the sartorial identity of the Titanic's four categories of travelers: First Class, Second Class, Steerage, and Crew. The journey will conclude with highlights of c. 1912 fashions from the Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection in the Orange County Campus Museum gallery.
Tickets for this event are $100. Purchase tickets for AdDRESSING Titanic by April 1, 2012 via the FIDM Museum Shop. Seating at this event is limited. AdDRESSING Titanic will be held at the FIDM Orange County campus: 17590 Gillette Avenue, Irvine, CA 92614-5610.
December 31, 2011
Top five posts of 2011--“The Art of Dressing Has Never Been Manifested with So Much Brilliancy”: Fashion and the Paris Exposition of 1900
The most popular post of 2011 is truly deserving of this honor! Associate Curator Christina Johnson's investigation into a a 1900 gown in our collection and its relationship to the Paris Exposition of 1900 is a joy to read.
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Did you know that working at a museum requires ace detective skills? In this blog post, Associate Curator Christina Johnson describes her research on a evening gown in our collection. This research, aka sleuthing, led to a wealth of knowledge about the gown itself, its wearer and the context in which it was created.
Evening gown
1900
2005.842.22
Gift of Madge Baker
FIDM Museum Collection
My research began with the evening gown you see above, donated to the FIDM Museum in 2005. The gown is part of a collection of about 25 garments and accessories dating from the 1890s to the 1940s worn by Ida Irwin Jones and her daughter Katharine. The items were donated by Katharine’s daughter, Madge Baker. The original wearer of this evening gown must have been Ida who would have been about 28 years old at the time.
December 27, 2011
Top five posts of 2011--Lucile
As 2011 comes to a close, we wanted to take a look back at our most popular blog posts of the year. For the next five days, we'll repost the top posts of the year, beginning at number five. Our fifth most popular post features London-born couturier Lucile. Originally published in February, this entry includes a pink Lucile confection, c. 1917.
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As a child, Lucile Sutherland (1863-1935) designed and sewed clothing for both herself and her sister Elinor. Years later, Lucile's hobby would become the foundation of an internationally successful business. After the dissolution of her first marriage in 1888, Lucile was left with no means of supporting herself and her young daughter. Lacking any other professionally viable skills, Lucile turned to dressmaking. At first, Lucile worked as a society dressmaker in London under her married name, Mrs. James Wallace. Her business expanded rapidly and by 1894, she operated under the name Maison Lucile, eventually incorporating as Lucile Ltd. in 1903. By this time, Lucile's reputation was international. In 1907, the American edition of Pearson's Magazine encouraged all American travelers to visit Lucile Ltd. when in London, as the proprietress was "pleased to open wide her doors to all Americans--even if they have no intention of purchasing."1 Within a few years, Lucile would open international branches of her store to fulfil the demand for her designs. Lucile Ltd. New York opened in 1910, followed by a Paris store in 1911 and a Chicago store in 1915.
Lucile
c. 1917
Gift of Anonymous Donor
91.40.5
August 19, 2011
Liberty & Co. evening gown, c. 1910
Evening gown
Liberty & Co.
c. 1910
Silk satin, silk gauze & pearl beads
Museum Purchase
2006.5.7
Liberty & Co. opened in London's West End during 1875. Founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty stocked his small shop with goods imported from the Middle East and Japan, including curios, porcelain, fans and lengths of fabric. Liberty's shop had a bazaar-like atmosphere and attracted a clientele sympathetic to the ideals of the Aesthetic Movement. From the beginning, textiles were an important part of Lasenby's retail plan. In addition to stocking imported textiles, Liberty & Co. soon began commissioning furnishing and dress textiles from known and emerging artisans. These textiles were all marketed under the name "Liberty Art Fabrics." The most distinct of these textiles were densely patterned and often borrowed imagery from the natural world. One pattern frequently associated with Liberty & Co. features overlapping sprays of peacock feathers. This pattern was designed in the late 1880s, and is still used by Liberty & Co. today. Other textiles were soft, solid color silks in a variety of weights. Whether patterned or plain, Liberty textiles were prized for their softness and graceful drape.