FIDM Museum Blog

Silk moire bonnet, c. 1845

Bonnet
c. 1845
2008.5.32
Museum Purchase

During the 1840s, headcoverings were an essential part of every women's wardrobe. Inside the home, women often wore delicate, lacy caps which covered the hair and tied under the chin. When venturing out into the world, most American women wore a bonnet made of straw or silk. In the mid-1840s, the fashionable bonnet shape was that seen here: a continuous crown and brim forming a straight line with low tabs covering the cheeks and ears. Embellishment varied, but a bow or puff of ribbons on one side, long ribbon ties at the chin and a "bavolet" were common characteristics. The bavolet, a gathered panel of fabric extending from the lower back of the bonnet, was also functional, providing sun protection for the neck. It also covered and protected the fashionable hairstyle, a knot or twist of hair worn low on the neck. The interior of the bonnet brim often featured additional decoration in the form of artificial flowers, lace or the frilled edges of a house cap peeking out from under the bonnet. Photographic evidence indicates that some women wore fancy house caps under their bonnets, particularly when visiting. The bonnet was removed to reveal the house cap only when entering a home or other appropriate indoor space.

Re-Designing History Illustration Competition

The FIDM Museum is holding an illustration competition for currently enrolled FIDM students! Create a design inspired by the beautiful, c. 1872 fuchsia day dress currently on view in the lobby of the second floor at the Los Angeles campus and you might win a cash prize. If you study at one of the other FIDM campuses, don't worry, we've got you covered! The images below show the c. 1872 day dress from all angles.

The winning illustrations will be displayed next to their historic inspiration in the upcoming exhibition Re-Designing History: FIDM Museum Study Collection, 1850-2000 to open in October 2010. The competition is open to all majors. Illustrations must be submitted by September 1, 2010 to the FIDM Museum Office, Suite 250, attention Kevin Jones, curator. The winning designs will be chosen by a panel of judges who will look for overall creativity, visual composition, and design inspiration. Cash prizes will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.

We can't wait to see your submissions!

Day dress
Silk
c. 1872
Gift of Steven Porterfield
S2008.897.5A-C

S2008.897.5A-C Side view

S2008.897.5A-C

Silver paper headdress, c. 1860

Anyone interested in the history of fashion quickly realizes that fashion is a series of cyclical repetitions. Contemporary silhouettes, colors and design details reference recent and historic styles, often with only slight modifications to bring a garment into the present moment. This cycle isn't new or unique to contemporary culture; documented revivals of historic fashions exist in the nineteenth century and earlier. Fashion historian Barbara Baines has suggested that revivals of historic dress styles are due to a number of factors, including nostalgia and an interest in associating oneself with specific, perceived characteristics of the past. In addition to these psychological factors, concrete events like an archaeological discovery, museum exhibition or period film can inspire a revival of historic styles.¹

Dress form, mannequin or floating form?

Regular readers of this blog have probably noticed the variety of forms we use to display objects from the FIDM Museum collection. When we photograph an object for in-house documentary purposes, it's usually dressed on a headless dress form or mannequin. For exhibition and/or publication, we go all out, pairing garments with contemporaneous accessories (shoes, hat, jewelry, etc.) in an effort to present the garment as it might have been seen in its own era. The paper wigs worn by some of our mannequins are another aspect of this contextualization. More recently, we've used floating forms to display garments during exhibitions. The decision regarding which type of display to utilize is the result of a complicated equation involving time, resources, space, staff, garment condition and intended usage of the final image or dressed mannequin.

Boy's jacket and vest, 1870-1874

In the nineteenth-century, children were idealized as "perfect beings who were not only without sin, but who offered adults a model of unworldly goodness."¹ As children grew towards emotional and physical maturation, they inevitably lost their innocence. To designate and preserve this special status as long as possible, gender distinctions in nineteenth-century infant and toddler dress were minimal. Infants of both sexes wore long, white dresses. As mobile toddlers, boys and girls wore loose-fitting, calf or ankle length dresses that borrowed details (neckline, sleeve, etc.) from adult dress. Both boys and girls wore their hair long, as seen in this c. 1900 cabinet card of a young boy sporting long, curly locks.

By the age of 5 or 6, gender distinctions in dress became more obvious. Girls continued to wear skirts and dresses, but boys were "breeched," meaning they began wearing short, bifurcated garments. Breeching was a milestone event, indicating that a boy had demonstrated increased maturity. The exact age at which a boy was breeched varied, depending on family beliefs and individual behavior. In the 1870s, boys who had been breeched wore knickerbockers, short trousers which fastened at the knee. If a boy was lucky enough to attend school, his knickerbockers were probably worn with a jacket and vest similar to those pictured here. Unfortunately, we don't have the accompanying knickerbockers, but they were probably made of a sturdy brown fabric, possibly corduroy. The complete ensemble would have also included a white shirt, wool socks, laced leather boots and a cap or hat.

Boy's jacket and vest
1870-75
Museum Purchase
84.5.3AB

Texture in fashion

Color and pattern are usually the first aspects of a garment to catch the eye, closely followed by silhouette. But what about texture? Though texture might not be the first thing we notice, it plays an important role in establishing the mood of a garment. Would a roughly woven cotton textile be appropriate for a glamorous evening gown? Maybe, but it would take a talented designer to offset the rustic, outdoorsy mood of the textile and craft it into a glamorous evening ensemble. A smooth and glossy silk textile would seem equally out of place on a weekend camping trip.

Like colors and silhouettes, textures go in and out of fashion. Slippery, synthetic textures dominated the late 1970s, while starched cottons and stiff silks were popular in 1950s fashions. Do popular textile textures affect the spirit and culture of the era in which they are popular? Though it's impossible to directly pinpoint this relationship, it's certainly an intriguing train of thought. With that in mind, take a look at this selection of different textile textures from the FIDM Museum!

Evening or wedding gown (bodice detail)
1852-54
Gift of the Helen Larson Estate
2001.31.6

Sailor suits

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, young boys and girls were often dressed in sailor suits. Worn as both school uniforms and everyday dress, the popularity of the style was sparked by this 1846 Winterhalter portrait of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. About 5 years old when the portrait was painted, Albert Edward wears a scaled down version of the newly standardized white and blue uniform of the Royal Navy.¹ Throughout the nineteenth century, the Royal Navy was the most powerful navy in the world, a symbol of the United Kingdom's colonial empire and position as a world power. By dressing Albert Edward and her other sons in naval uniforms, Queen Victoria indicated her aspirations for her children and her country. As royalty were the trend-setters of the day, the fashion for sailor suits soon spread across Europe and the United States. National versions of the sailor suit varied, depending on the specific naval uniform of individual countries.

Paisley day dress, 1854-56

Two-piece day dress
Printed wool challis
1854-56
Museum purchase
2004.5.40AB

The elongated, tear-drop shaped motif decorating this vivid 1850s day dress is known as a paisley. A motif with ancient origins, the paisley is a stylized derivation of naturalistic motifs portraying leaves, floral bouquets or small bushes. Known as buta, these motifs were common on woven shawls produced first in Kashmir, and then throughout India. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, finely woven shawls bearing the buta motif were imported to Europe, rapidly becoming a favorite fashion accessory. European weavers, realizing the potential for profit, began producing their own variations on the imported shawls. The Scottish town of Paisley became a particularly important center of production, lending the motif (and the shawl) its English-language name. The motif itself was so popular that it appeared on other textiles, ultimately outliving the popularity of the paisley shawl, which faded in the 1870s.

Chatelaine purse

Combining utility and beauty, chatelaines were a form of functional jewelry worn hanging at the waist. Comprising a hook and multiple dangling chains attached to small, useful objects (scissors, writing utensils, keys, purse, watch, perfume vial, etc.) chatelaines were hooked to a sash, belt or waistband. Visible storage worked in intricate designs of silver, enamel or gold, chatelaines were also an expression of authority. Chatelaines usually adorned the “keeper of the keys” for a large household and signified a position of familial and social authority. This was a clear visual expression of the literal meaning of chatelaine, a mistress of the chateau. Though their origins are a bit obscure, the chatelaine probably developed sometime in the Middle Ages, enjoying periodic revivals through the late nineteenth century. An early nineteenth century cut steel chatelaine can be seen here and an 1887 octopus shaped chatelaine can be seen here.

In the nineteenth century, chatelaines were usually worn by women. As the century progressed, variations on the chatelaine emerged, including the chatelaine pocket or chatelaine bag. Unlike a chatelaine which featured multiple items dangling from an elaborate hook, a chatelaine pocket or chatelaine purse showcased one item, a small pouch or purse. Purse and pocket chatelaines were particularly popular from the mid-1870s until the early 1880s. During these years, the fashionable silhouette clung tightly to the hips and upper legs and would have been disrupted by a pocket, especially if it was actually in use.

Chatelaine purse
1860s silver frame
1880s velvet
Gift of Pat Schmidt
90.636.1

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