FIDM Museum Blog

Lounge pajamas, c. 1935

During the 1920s, pajamas moved from bedroom to beach. Though pajama style pants were suggested by Paul Poiret as avant garde dress during the teens, pajamas were worn primarily as sleepwear until the 1920s. Sometime during the mid-to-late 1920s, pajamas appeared outside the bedroom as swimsuit cover-ups on the beaches of the French Riviera. Beach pajamas soon became a double-duty garment for the relaxed resort lifestyle, one that navigated easily from beach to cocktail party. In 1931, Vogue magazine declared, "A woman may and does wear pyjamas to quite formal dinners in her own house, to other people's dinners in town and country if you know them well and the more iconoclastic members of the female sex even wear them to the theatre."¹

For women who aspired to a resort lifestyle but didn't have the necessary means or leisure, pajamas could be worn for entertaining or relaxing at home. Worn in these situations, beach pajamas became lounge pajamas or sometimes "lounjamas."² During the 1920s, beach or lounge pajamas were usually two-piece ensembles accompanied by a matching jacket. By the 1930s, one-piece, jumpsuit-style pajamas had emerged. These one-piece lounge pajamas from the FIDM Museum collection are shaped with a self-fabric sash and fasten with a 3-button closure on the left side. Like menswear of the same period, these lounge pajamas feature a wide leg.

Lounge pajamas
c. 1935
Gift of the Manlove Family
2006.870.1AB

Donors make the museum

Do you wonder how the FIDM Museum is able to acquire so many fabulous objects? Two words: generous donors. Most donations take one of two forms: dress and textile objects or financial contributions. Objects, if they are in good condition and fit the scope of our collection, are accessioned into the FIDM Museum collection. Financial contributions allow us to purchase objects that enhance our collection. Both types of donations are greatly appreciated and contribute to the breadth and depth of our holdings. We are currently engaged in an exciting campaign to raise funds for the acquisition of a very special collection.

Here’s more information about this project from our curator, Kevin Jones.

The FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising is excited to announce a once-in-a-lifetime fundraising opportunity to purchase a major collection of historically important women’s, men’s, and children’s fashions, dating from 1600 to 1950. Among the notable objects are garments associated with Queens Caroline, Victoria, Alexandra, and Mary of England; Czarina Marie of Russia; and Empress Eugénie of France. Major haute couture  designers include: Worth, Doucet, Pingat, Fortuny, Poiret, Vionnet, and Chanel.

Gathered over a fifty-year period by well-known, Los Angeles-based historian Helen Larson, this collection helped to establish the academic study of fashion history. It was formed at the same time as the Doris Langley Moore Collection in Bath, England, and the Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This is the last collection of its kind still in private hands, and would be   nearly impossible to duplicate in depth and breadth of objects. The acquisition of the approximately 1,000-piece Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection will launch the FIDM Museum into the international realm of European fashion studies, particularly royal history.

Worth & Bobergh Day Dress
c. 1865
Silk Satin
Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection The FIDM Museum was established in 1978 to provide a research facility of garments, accessories, and visual materials for students, researchers, designers, and the public. Currently, the Museum’s collections span 200 years, from 1800 to the present. The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection will increase the time-span of study to 400 years.
Formal Gown & Shawl
c. 1800
Embroidered Cotton Mull
Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection Your help is greatly needed to raise funds to acquire this stellar collection during our four-year campaign. We are asking for fully tax-deductible pledges of $250 or more. Individuals, groups, and businesses who donate $2,500 or more will be perpetually connected to the Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection, and become a Friend of Fashion at the FIDM Museum, our new support group.
Court Skirt & Train associated with Queen Marie Antoinette of France
c. 1775
Silk Brocade & Embroidery
Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection

For more information, please contact curator Kevin Jones: 213.623.5821 x3367, or kjones@FIDMmuseum.org

The FIDM Museum Foundation is a California non-profit 501(c)3.

Interview with Coraline costume designer Deborah Cook

 

Hosting the annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibition allows us to get an up-close look at costumes from recent films. This year, the exhibition featured a group of intriguing small visitors--puppets from the stop-motion animation film Coraline (2009). Like costumes created for humans, the Coraline puppets wear carefully conceived ensembles constructed from fabric and thread. But how does the design process differ when you're working with puppets? To better understand the process of designing costumes for animated films, we talked with Deborah Cook, costume designer for Coraline. Deborah has extensive experience working on costume design for animation, including the Corpse Bride (2005), The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and the UK television series The Koala Brothers. Deborah currently works as a costume designer in pre-production for Laika, the makers of Coraline. The information she provided via email interview enhanced our enjoyment and understanding of Coraline and made us look forward to her next project. Thank you Deborah, for taking the time to talk with us!

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Please describe your involvement with the making of Coraline.

I was involved in the making of Coraline as the head of costume design and fabrication, seeing costumes through from their conception through colour and fabric choices, pattern cutting, animation testing and the final fitting.

Coraline puppets on exhibition at the FIDM Museum & Galleries

Norman Norell flower coat

"Flower power" is usually associated with the late 1960s hippie aesthetic, but flowers were actually a popular decorative motif throughout the decade. The early years of the 1960s witnessed a proliferation of stylized and patently artificial floral forms, while real or "natural" flowers dominated the late 1960s. Often used as a motif in textile designs, flowers also appeared as three-dimensional embellishments on garments and accessories. Elaborate headdresses and hair ornaments made particularly good use of artificial flowers during 1964-65. The hand-dyed silk organza flowers on this 1963 Marc Bohan for Christian Dior evening gown are an early example of 1960s flower fever from the haute couture. The April 1, 1965 issue of Vogue praised floral patterned garments for evening wear in an editorial titled "The Garden of Evening." This flower-covered Norman Norell evening coat, though not featured, would have been a perfect fit for the Vogue editorial. Hand-dyed silk flowers in shades of pink and white are stitched to the coat, which is lined in pink silk. A center-front opening is hidden by the oversize flowers.

Evening coat
Norman Norell
c. 1965
Gift of Clarissa Dyer
2003.794.3

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.

Hand painted silk ensemble, c. 1925

Child's "Dainty Blossom" Ensemble
Daisy Stanford
Hand-painted silk
c. 1925
Museum Purchase
2003.5.24A-C

Hand-painted novelties, including dresses, scarves and ribbons, enjoyed a burst of popularity in the teens and twenties. A Paris fashion report from 1913 stated that "hand-painted dresses...are said to be the coming craze at fashionable Summer resorts."¹ This was despite their high price, "which is said to be 40 per cent in excess of the ordinary figure."² In 1924, "painted things," including gowns, gloves, stockings and scarves, were declared "in perfect harmony with the mode of the day and very smart."³

Day ensemble, 1894-1895

In 2006, the FIDM Museum received a large donation of garments and accessories spanning almost 100 years of fashion history. With garments dating from about 1850 to the late 1940s, the objects in this donation provide a window into the evolution of fashionable dress during this period of dramatic change. Moreover, the garments and accessories provide a glimpse into the history of a particular family, as all of the items in the donation were worn by ancestors of the donors. The donor family has roots in the mid-west, with specific connections to St. Louis and Indianapolis. The Indianapolis connection is clearly demonstrated by the interior label inside the skirt of this day ensemble, which reads, "Boyd & Jones, Indianapolis, Ind".

Two-piece day ensemble
1894-1895
Gift of the Manlove Family
2006.870.19AB

Sonia Rykiel tunic and pants, 1970

The late 1960s controversy over mini, midi and maxi skirt lengths continued into the early 1970s. Though some designers began experimenting with longer skirts, women declared their loyalty to the mini. In 1970, a young Philadelphia woman spoke for many when she said, "I'll keep wearing the mini even if it goes out of style."¹ This loyalty to the mini caused confusion among retailers, who usually stocked their stores with versions of the latest runway offerings. As there was no consensus about which skirt length would be most fashionable, retailers didn't know what to offer their customers.

Perhaps in response to the hemline controversy, women began turning to pants as a fashionable alternative to skirts and dresses. Though pants had been considered appropriate for casual activities since the 1950s, in the early 1970s they began to move into the arenas of formal and professional dress. High-end restaurants, many of which had prohibited the entry of any woman wearing pants, relaxed their dress codes. Pants also began appearing occasionally in the workplace.

Tunic and pants
1970
Tunic: Sonia Rykiel
Pants: Unknown designer
Gift of Anonymous Donor
Tunic: 2003.40.11B
Pants: 2003.40.21

Evening boots, 1850-55

Women of the mid-nineteenth century had essentially two choices when it came to fashionable footwear: ballet-like slippers or ankle boots. Both types of shoe were made of soft, pliable textiles such as velvet or satin and had a flat, extremely thin leather sole. No matter which shoes a woman wore, they were hidden by the full, floor-length skirts then in fashion. Because they were seldom seen, both types of shoe were usually made of a plain black or white textile. Evening boots were an exception, as they were sometimes made to match a specific gown. These pink and green evening boots from the FIDM Museum collection are made of a slightly iridescent brocade and damask silk with green leather foxing at the heel and toe. Due to the high-quality of both the construction and textile, we believe these boots were probably made in France and imported to the United States. The side lacing is typical of boots from this period.

Evening boots
1850-55
Gift of Barbara Bundy
2006.37.3AB