FIDM Museum Blog

Tailored suit

In the 20th century, the tailored suit became a standard uniform for professional working women. Consisting of a jacket and skirt in matched or closely coordinated fabric, it developed in the late 19th century as an evolution of specialized garments worn for outdoor activities such as horseback riding, croquet and bicycling. Like its sporting predecessors, the tailored suit had a function: it served as a professional uniform for the newly emerging class of women who worked outside the home as educators, social workers and clerical employees. Tailored suits were also worn for leisure activities like travel or an afternoon promenade. With styling borrowed from menswear, most tailored suits featured solid colors and a minimum of decorative trim.

Two-piece suit
1913-1914
Gift of the Manlove Family
2006.870.33AB

Handbag variety

Like shoes, handbags and purses straddle the line between functional and decorative objects. Though many women (and some men) consider them necessary containers for objects such as keys or money, the sheer diversity of available styles demonstrates that handbags are also a design object in their own right. Until about 1800, when menswear became more sedate and less decorative, both men and women carried purses on a regular basis. From this point onward, men typically carried compact wallets or a very small pouch tucked in a sleeve or pocket. Women continued to carry decorative purses, creating an association between handbags and femininity.

Beaded purse
c. 1920
Gift of Penny Schnabel
S2004.821.2

Sonia Rykiel

Sonia Rykiel's signature garment is the striped sweater. Her earliest versions were shrunken, body-hugging "poor boy" sweaters with horizontal stripes designed in the early 1960s. The use of soft, knit fabric (often striped) became a trademark, earning Rykiel the title "Queen of Knitwear." Rykiel intended her knitwear to take shape on the body, so early in her career, she encouraged woman who wore her garments to forgo undergarments. When she opened her eponymous Left Bank boutique in 1968, it quickly became symbolic of the 1960s movement way from haute couture and towards youthful ready-to-wear.

Rykiel's designs from the 1970s and 80s often suggest silhouettes popular in earlier decades. Drop-waisted dresses similar to those seen in the 1920s were a particular favorite as were wide-legged pants. Though the pant and sweater ensemble below dates from the 1980s, it could have been worn by a daring woman of the 1930s or 1940s, such as Katharine Hepburn.

Wool knit ensemble
Sonia Rykiel
1980-82
Gift of Patricia G. Waldron, M.D.
2002.149.15AB

Moschino Cheap and Chic

By the time Franco Moschino (1950-1994) introduced his "Cheap and Chic" line in 1988, he had already earned a reputation as the irreverent "court jester" of the fashion world. From the time he debuted his first "Couture!" collection in 1983, Moschino treated fashion as an absurdist playground. Models were sent down the runway with candy-box tops instead of hats, wearing dresses patterned with faux tire tracks or dressed in giant Moschino shopping bags instead of garments. Tailored suits featured quirky details such as a collar made of teddy bears or pockets resembling miniature purses. "Stop the Fashion System" was a favorite catch-phrase, used in Moschino ad campaigns and as a logo on garments. Moschino considered being a fashion designer "a superficial, stupid job," stating that he was more interested in the "social-psychological aspect" of fashion.¹

Cheap and Chic sweater
Franco Moschino
1992-1994
FIDM Museum Purchase
2005.5.26