FIDM Museum Blog

Evening ensemble, c. 1982

 

Adolfo
c. 1985
Gift of Mrs. Alfred Bloomingdale
2006.116.46AB

Ballooning taffeta sleeves and a matching floor-length bouffant skirt are bold design elements characteristic of 1980s fashion. The decade also enjoyed renewed appreciation for applied decoration, which added substantially to the cost of a garment. Here, wide bands of bead, sequin, and rhinestone embroidery were affixed to emerald green velvet in a meandering floral pattern. Though in tune with the time, this ensemble also harkens back to the silhouette and materials of the 1890s, an era favored by the designer.

2006.116.46AB Waist detail

Missoni

 

Founded by the husband and wife team of Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in the 1950s, Missoni established its reputation on lightweight knit separates. Like their compatriots Pucci, Missoni designs have an easily recognizable look; colorful, geometric patterns of zig-zags, waves or thin stripes are nearly synonymous with the label. Though geometric patterns give a Missoni print its form, an unhesitating use of color draws the eye and holds it in place. Though Missoni modifies garment types and silhouettes based on fashion trends, the overall shape of the garment is almost secondary to its pattern. Fashion historians and critics have suggested that these iconic patterns have a visual relationship with early 20th century art movements including the Bauhaus, Constructivism and the Italian Futurists. In general, these artistic movements produced boldly colored art based on abstracted or angular geometric forms, characteristics shared by many Missoni patterns.

Missoni
1987-1992
Gift of Patricia G. Waldron, M.D.
2002.149.1A

This crystal-pleated silk knit dress is woven with a horizontal band of gold. The painterly, multi-colored pattern is printed on the silk knit. This rainbow coloration is mirrored in the belt.

The Little Black Dress

During the nineteenth century, black clothing was usually worn to signify a special status, i.e. mourning, religious piety, extreme poverty or a position of economic and social authority. Because many professional men adopted black suit coats after 1850, black clothing was also associated with masculinity. Though women certainly wore all-black on some occasions, these ensembles were usually worn for specific activities, such as mourning or equestrian pursuits. Black slowly began to enter the realm of fashionable dress in the late nineteenth century when it was adopted by a few daringly audacious women for day and/or evening dress. The infamous black dress worn by Virginie Gautreau in John Singer Sargent's 1884 painting Madame X, though shockingly revealing for the 1880s, is a prescient vision of what would become one of the twentieth century's most iconic garments, the little black dress.

Black dresses slowly gained ground through the early years of the twentieth century, earning the nickname "little" as the elaborate embellishment of late nineteenth century dress gradually dropped away. A November 23, 1906 society feature in the New York Times titled Society Women Wear Black indicates that all-black dress was fashionable but was still considered novel enough to inspire comment. During World War I, mourning dress was so widespread that black dresses were, almost necessarily, created in tune with the latest fashions. For the many women who worked outside the home during World War I, black garments were also a practical choice for everyday dress. Black also entered the fashionable lexicon via the work of Chanel, who presented a collection consisting primarily of black dresses in 1919. Others, including Poiret, Lanvin and Fortuny were also experimenting with the potential of black during this same period. By the late 1920s, the little black dress had become a wardrobe essential.

The images below feature a selection of little black dresses from the FIDM Museum collection. When looking at these images as a group, an impressive continuity is apparent. Despite slight differences in silhouette the primary characteristics of a little black dress, simplicity and an understated elegance, remain the same from decade to decade.

Evening dress
Silk taffeta
1927-29
Transfer from the Museum at FIT
2004.291.21

FIDM Museum Shows Off at Debut

Our post today was written by Meghan Grossman Hansen, FIDM Museum Registrar.

Last month the FIDM Museum participated in the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising’s annual Debut fashion show—but calm your fears, there were no models sauntering down the runway in fragile historic clothes. High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture was the inspiration for an elegant display of FIDM Museum Study Collection garments donated by Mrs. Bloomingdale. This selection of colorful dresses included evening, cocktail, and day dresses worn by the style icon to notable events. Like most of her haute couture pieces donated to the FIDM Museum, many of the garments on display were designed by Marc Bohan for Christian Dior.

The completed FIDM Museum display at Debut.

Patrick Kelly

Patrick Kelly's (1954-1990) irreverent mini-dresses embellished with buttons, bows or rhinestones were his most iconic creations. One 1988 version featured tiny billiard balls sewn to the bodice! When interviewed, Kelly always credited his grandmother with the inspiration for using everyday objects as embellishment. As a child in Mississippi, Kelly frequently lost his shirt buttons. His grandmother would replace them, but the buttons never matched. When Kelly complained, his grandmother "started putting different buttons everywhere" to distract from the mismatched buttons. ¹

Wool minidress
Patrick Kelly
c. 1986
Museum Purchase
2007.5.14

Kelly's choice of colorful, eye-catching embellishments were part of creative philosophy that emphasized a playful approach to fashion. Despite (or because of?) their theatrical embellishments, Kelly's designs were popular with fashion commentators, models (who were reportedly willing to accept clothing in lieu of other payment for walking in Kelly's shows) and customers. According to a Macy's buyer interviewed in 1989, Kelly's "clothes fly out of the store." ² Even Bette Davis appreciated Kelly's aesthetic, wearing a Kelly button dress for a 1987 appearance on David Letterman. In 1988, Kelly became the first American designer to be admitted to the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode, the prestigious French organization which governs the French fashion industry.

2007.5.14 Embellishment detail

Like many other creative African-Americans, including Josephine Baker, Kelly achieved success only after moving to Paris. Once Kelly had been legitimized by the Paris fashion establishment, his work gained a wide following in the United States. Despite this relocation, Kelly frequently acknowledged his heritage, often repeating a version of the statement, "I design differently because I am Patrick Kelly, and Patrick Kelly is black, is from Mississippi" in interviews. His personal uniform of oversize overalls spoofed the stereotypical uniform of a Southern farmhand, while his choice of decorative motifs often included racially loaded imagery such as watermelon wedges, patterned bandanas and the golliwog icon. At public appearances and fashion shows, Kelly often gifted small pins featuring an African American baby, an icon he also used as a decorative motif on garments. 

For more images of Patrick Kelly garments, visit the Brooklyn Museum's archive for their 2004 exhibition Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective.

1 Hyde, Nina. "From Pauper to the Prints of Paris." The Washington Post 9 Nov. 1986: G1.

2 Hyde, Nina. "Fashion." The Washington Post 17 Mar 1989: D1.

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