FIDM Museum Blog

Beyond the Black Cape: Dress in Bram Stoker's Dracula

 

As promised, here is an excerpted portion of Meghan's research on Dracula, which she recently presented at Fashion in Fiction: The Dark Side.

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Since its publication in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been interpreted in a variety of ways: as a Victorian Gothic novel, vampire lore, and psychoanalytical expression of repressed sexuality. Beyond genre studies and Freudian psychology, Dracula has become a phenomenon in popular culture. Despite its continual adaptation over the last hundred ten years, the twenty-first century reader should note that the novel is truly a window into the many anxieties and transitions of turn-of-the-century England. Prior to 1897, the British Empire had a long history of spreading its power, values, and, not least of all, style of dress around the globe. While France was certainly the world capital of fashion, establishments such as Redfern and Lucile were equally influential in women’s fashions. Moreover, the somber black suit–the hallmark of the British gentleman-had become the uniform in Western menswear by the late nineteenth century, with very little opportunity for individual statements in pattern, color, or cut. Social norms in dress and etiquette were strongly upheld in England, including in literature; as a result, any variation from these norms would immediately set a character apart in the mind of the contemporary reader.

Harper’s Bazar, 21 July 1894, p. 577
FIDM Museum Special Collections

American Editions of Paris Originals: 1950s couture copying

 

Should fashion designers be able to protect their creative output with copyright protection? Regardless of your position on this issue, issues related to fashion and copyright keep appearing in the media. Just yesterday, fashion bloggers noticed that a costume designed by Jany Temime for the upcoming Harry Potter film is remarkably similar to an Alexander McQueen design. Responses to the similarity of these two gowns vary, from condemnation of Temime, to the suggestion that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The timing of this controversy is strangely coincidental, as today's planned post examines two similar 1950s coats: one designed by Balenciaga and one created by an unknown designer and retailed by I.Magnin. Though these coats differ in some important respects (color, collar detail), their similarities can be used to illustrate how copies of couture fashions were perceived in the 1950s.

Balenciaga
1957
Transfer from the Museum at FIT, Gift of Beth Levine
2004.291.13

Re-Designing History: The Competition

 

In conjunction with our current exhibit, Re-Designing History: FIDM Museum Study Collection, 1850-2000, FIDM Museum & Galleries held a design competition for currently enrolled FIDM students to re-design history by creating illustrations inspired by this high-fashion, c. 1872 fuchsia day dress from the FIDM Museum Study Collection.

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

The competition was open to all majors on all campuses and more than sixty entries were submitted. The winning designs were chosen by a panel of judges who looked for overall creativity, visual composition, and design inspiration. The winning illustration (below) was designed by Elizabeth Teemley, a Theatre Costume Design student at FIDM. Look forward to a post from Elizabeth describing how she arrived at this illustration!

Elizabeth Teemley's 1st place illustration.

We thank all of our talented students for their entries and congratulate our three winners who used history to re-design the future.

L to R: Marc Blaskovits (2nd Place, Graphic Design), Elizabeth Teemley (1st Place, Theatre Costume Design), Katrina Andrews (3rd Place, Fashion Design)

Folding fans

 

During an early summer trip to Japan several years ago, I was fascinated to see that folding paper fans were more than just a tourist souvenir. Stores of all types and sizes sold paper fans printed with imagery ranging from cute children's characters to scenes borrowed from iconic woodblock prints. It quickly became obvious that many women, and even some men, actually used these fans to create a small breeze in the punishingly humid Japanese summer weather. I even purchased a fan and used it frequently during my trip. On returning to the US, I tried to use my fan with the same unselfconscious freedom I had enjoyed in Japan. Given the complete absence of folding fans in contemporary western culture, I eventually caved. My paper fan is now tucked away in its patterned silk case, awaiting my next trip to Japan.

My experience in Japan highlights the position of folding fans within western culture. Though once considered part of a complete wardrobe, fans are now almost entirely archaic and very rarely used. Contemporary representations of folding fans usually symbolize the past, or suggest a link with Asia. This may change with the rebirth of Duvelleroy, a Paris fan maker established in the early 19th century. Duvelleroy was once the premier fan maker, creating fans for European royalty and collaborating with artists and couturiers to create fashionable fans. Will the new Duvelleroy generate a surge of interest in folding fans? Readers, what would it take to make you carry and use a fan?

Hand-painted fan
Silk & wood
1885-1895
Gift of Carol Richards
96.601.1

Re-Designing History: FIDM Museum Study Collection, 1850-2000

 

Re-Designing History: FIDM Museum Study Collection, 1850-2000 is now open!
This free exhibition is open to the public Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–4pm, until December 17, 2010.

Coat
c. 1926
Silk & lamé brocade & mink
Gift of Ms. Judy Thomsen
FIDM Museum Study Collection
S2004.823.15

The FIDM Museum Study Collection contains 2,000 objects spanning 200 years: haute couture and ready-to-wear garments, accessories, non-western dress, and textiles. Study Collections are located on all four FIDM campuses: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, and San Diego. Students, scholars, designers, and the public access the collections for hands-on education—school projects, personal research, and design inspiration. Individual objects are examined in Museum storage or, combinations are assembled for classroom study—such as historical construction, pattern development, and sewing techniques.

Fashion is cyclical, and savvy designers glean inspiration from previous centuries. There are countless ways to rethink retro styles: great design remains a potent source even when outmoded. Our purpose in cultivating the Study Collections is to learn from successful designers and expand the knowledge of fashion history.

Vivienne Westwood
c. 2002
Silk chiffon & gold lamé
Museum Purchase
FIDM Museum Study Collection
S2004.5.3
    
To complement the exhibition, we will host the Re-Designing History Speakers Series. FIDM Museum curators Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson, and Carolyn Robertson, head of FIDM’s History of Costume Department will provide insights into the history of fashion. A guided tour of Re-Designing History will follow each presentation. All programs start at 11am and are free and open to the public.

Saturday, November 6
Kevin Jones & Christina Johnson
An Introduction to the FIDM Museum
Doris Langley Moore: Ultimate Woman in Fashion

Saturday, November 13
Carolyn Robertson
The Early 20th Century Woman: Her Changing Self-image

Saturday, December 4
Carolyn Robertson
Art: The Compelling Force behind Fashion

Saturday, December 11
Carolyn Robertson
Embellishment: More than Decoration

 

Please Note: The exhibition will be closed on November 11, 2010 for Veteran’s Day and November 25–27, 2010 for Thanksgiving break.

Valentina hat

 

Valentina never suffered a lack of confidence in her taste or in her design skills. She was notorious for giving clients what she thought the needed, not what they requested. In 1952, Life magazine reported that her maxim to clients was "take it or take it," also noting that "a buyer who arrives to be fitted in a red dress may find that Valentina has decided it should be blue."¹ For the most part, clients accepted Valentina's imperious dictates, allowing themselves to be dressed as the Russian-born, New York-based couturier felt appropriate. Fortunately for her clients, Valentina believed that clothing should be designed and constructed to last for years, to be discarded only when it was entirely worn out. A 1952 anecdote recounts Valentina's dismay at a client who wanted to purchase a new outfit:"A new street outfit? Ridiculous! What's wrong with the navy one I made you four years ago?"²

Man's dressing gown, 1905-1915

 

Throughout the 19th and into the first decade of the 20th century, mainstream formal and business dress for men was a black suit and light colored (often white) shirt paired with a black bow-tie. Constructed from durable wool and lacking all decorative trim, this quasi-uniform was worn across the classes. For informal occasions, men could chose from a wider variety of garment-types, including casual lounge or ditto suits. Looser fitting than a business suit, ditto and lounge suits were matched 3-piece suits made from marginally more flamboyant fabrics, such as tweed or checked wool. At home, however, an otherwise soberly dressed gentleman could indulge himself with a richly colored dressing gown.

Dressing gown
1905-1915
Museum purchase
2008.5.14AB

Issey Miyake's early pleats

 

Until the early 1980s, most garments designed for Western women were created in reaction to the body. Whether emphasizing and exaggerating a curvaceous form, as in the New Look, or minimizing curves to create a willowy 1960s silhouette, Western fashion consistently promoted an idealized, though shifting, view of the female body. This relationship between clothing and the body began to change in the early 1980s when a small group of Japanese designers introduced new ideas about the body to Western fashion. Rather than working around the body to create garments that accentuated specific physical characteristics, Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto used the body as a canvas to explore and highlight the garment itself. Though all three designers have directly stated that they'd prefer not to be grouped together, their work shared certain characteristics. Chief among these was a view of the body as somewhat secondary to the garments themselves. In the early 1980s, these designers used the body primarily as a vehicle for the display of oversized, untailored garments crafted from squarish cuts of dark-colored fabric. The loose fit usually demphasized physical characteristics like breasts and hips. These garments frequently utilized new fabric technologies and featured elements of deconstruction.

Paradoxically, Issey Miyake has also demonstrated a consistent interest in pleats, one of the elements of classical Western dress. In 1993, Miyake introduced Pleats Please, a line of garments featuring irregular, extremely narrow, heat-set pleats. In the Pleats Please line, garment shapes are intended to interact with the body, but usually have little relationship with the actual human form. This dress, with its extended back, is a good example of this philosophy. The pair of pleated silk Issey Miyake pants seen below are an earlier experiment in pleating, featuring soft pleats that loosely mimic the shape of the body.

Issey Miyake
1987-89
Gift of the Museum at FIT
97.291.4

S-bend silhouette

The S-bend silhouette emerged about 1900 and reigned supreme until the end of the decade. Created by a specific style of corset, the S-bend is characterized by a rounded, forward leaning torso with hips pushed back. This shape earned the silhouette its name; in profile, it looks similar to a tilted S. The corset itself had a flat, straight front and and started low on the bustline, unlike late 19th century corsets which supported the bust and pushed in the waist. To create the desired full, rounded and unarticulated bustline, many women wore bust improvers or padded corset covers. The resulting silhouette is sometimes referred to as the pouter pigeon, as it resembled the puffed chest of a pouter pigeon. When viewed in profile, the full bust was balanced by gathers at the back of the skirt and sometimes a slight train.

Day dress
Wool crepe/silk taffeta
1902-04
Gift of Helen Sponsel
S2007.910.7A-C

Combination undergarments

 

Combination undergarments, which combined chemise and drawers into one garment, first appeared in the late 1860s or early 1870s. By the 1890s, combinations had largely replaced the long chemise worn over a separate pair of drawers. The advantage of the all-in-one combination undergarment was its relative lack of bulk. Drawers had a gathered drawstring waist and when worn under a loose chemise, petticoat(s), corset and dress, they created an unnecessary layer of bulky, gathered fabric at the waist. A 1905 advertisement for the Leona combination undergarment sings the praise of combinations in general, and the Leona in particular, declaring "Leona leaves no fullness, puckers or bunches at the waist or hips."¹

Combination undergarment
Cotton
1900-1910
Gift of California Hospital Medical Center
S2007.165.1