FIDM Museum Blog

How do curators dress when doing research?

Our curators go the extra mile when they’re researching an exhibition!

Wearing historically accurate dress, inside and out, Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson recently attended the Jane Austen Evening in Pasadena, CA. Sponsored by the Society for Manners & Merriment, this annual event consists of dancing, refreshments and entertainment in the spirit of Jane Austen’s era. Aside from enjoying an evening out, Kevin and Christina had a serious mission: field research for FIDM Museum's Fall 2013 Empire & Romantic exhibition, which will focus on the years 1800-1835. The lifetime of celebrated author Jane Austen (1775-1817) coincides with this era, so the Jane Austen Evening was the perfect opportunity for Kevin and Christina to kick-off their research.

This photo captures Kevin and Christina in their reproduction ensembles. Christina wears a gown of plum silk based on a French fashion plate and flat leather dancing slippers with ribbon ties. Kevin wears a white shirt and cravat, fall front breeches, waistcoat (vest) and dress coat. Their ensembles were designed by Mela Hoyt-Heydon, friend of the FIDM Museum, union costume designer for the entertainment industry and faculty member at Fullerton College Theatre Arts Department. Most of the costume elements were designed by Mela for a stage production of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice.

After attending the Jane Austen Evening, Kevin understands why gentlemen of Jane Austen's era always brought a change of linens to Assemblies: dancing is a cardio workout! Also, it's tiring to keep your arms in the proper dance position all evening. Christina learned that wearing a corset greatly improves a lady's deportment, and that fans are necessary after an evening of dancing in a packed ballroom.

Stay tuned for occasional updates as Kevin and Christina develop themes and select objects for this 2013 exhibition. They’re on the hunt for enlightening resources describing the dress and society of 1800-1835. If you know of something useful, send us your suggestions!

 

Holding history in my hands

 

In today's post, Christina Johnson, associate curator and resident photography expert, describes her long-standing fascination with historic photography. She also discusses the conservation of a mid-nineteenth century ambrotype portraying two dashing urban gentleman. In previous posts, Christina has explained how photography can be used to understand fashion history. You can find her two-part series on that topic here and here.

Ambrotype
Probably United States
c. 1855-60
Glass, leather, silk velvet, metal & wood
Gift of Steven Porterfield
2010.897.25

I’ve studied fashion history since I was a little girl. When I was a teenager, I discovered my grandmother had two antique trunks jam-packed with old photographs—literally thousands of portrait photographs—dating from the 1850s to the 1950s. Grandma had inherited them from her sister-in-law, who had methodically asked for old family photos anytime a relative, however distant, died. Everyone ended up handing over all their heirloom photos to Aunt Marjorie. I spent hours poring over them, organizing and dating them by what people were wearing. They taught me fashion history. I loved looking at peoples’ clothes and their faces. I wanted to know their stories.

Research resources, part 2

 

It's been a long time since we've talked about research resources! Our last post on this topic was in February 2010--practically a millenia in terms of how fast information appears on the internet. All of the resources we suggested in that post are still excellent starting points for fashion history research. See what we recommended in February 2010 here. In the time since we wrote that post, more and more information is available on the internet, particularly primary sources.

This list of resources is only a small sampling of what's actually available, both online and offline. Because our readers are scattered all over the world, we're focusing primarily on what is available online. But, we know there are MANY great research resources out there. Leave a comment telling us what we've missed. You might just leave a tip that leads a fellow researcher to a breakthrough!

We hate to post without including an image, so here's a FABULOUS! teaser. Pictured below is the full eleven-foot train of our 1907 Redfern court gown. Look forward to a post on this confection sometime in the next few weeks.

Court gown train
Redfern
1907
Museum Purchase, Funds provided by Yvonne Hummel
2008.932.19AB

Making a mount for an 1870s dolman

 

Today's post is by our Study Collection Manager and expert mountmaker, Carolyn Jamerson. In a previous post, Carolyn described the process of making floating forms. In this post, Carolyn describes the unique challenges of making a custom mount for an 1870s cashmere dolman.

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As part of the FABULOUS! exhibition, the FIDM Museum is displaying selected pieces from the Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection, our current acquisition project. This rotation includes garments worn by royalty; anyone of lower rank than a queen isn’t making it in. One of the pieces displayed is a beautiful 1870’s cape-like dolman jacket worn by Queen Alexandra (1844-1925) of England when she was Princess of Wales.

Dolman
Cashmere, silk braid and metallic thread
c.1870
Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection
L2011.10.9

A Step Ahead of the Competition

 

As we've discussed here, here and here, many of the objects in our collection are donated. Our donors are extremely generous, and we've been gifted with many wonderful pieces over the years. To round out our collections, we also purchase objects. In this post, FIDM Museum curator Kevin Jones describes this process and reveals how his extraordinary patience helped bring an unusual pair of 1959 Roger Vivier evening shoes into our collection. These shoes are featured in both FABULOUS! and the companion catalogue.

Evening shoes
Paris, France, 1959
Roger Vivier for Christian Dior
Kingfisher feathers & leather
Museum purchase
2009.5.50AB

The Height of Fashion

 

Today's post is courtesy of our registrar, Meghan Grossman Hansen. In this post, Meghan examines the interaction between the fashionable silhouette and the human body in the second half of the nineteenth century. You'll also get a sneak peak at two day gowns featured in our upcoming exhibition, FABULOUS! Ten Years of FIDM Museum Acquisitions, 2000-2010.

As a fashion museum professional, I spend a lot of time looking at fashion plates. By examining these beautiful illustrations, including this one from the Los Angeles Public Library, the researcher becomes familiar with the fashionable silhouette in its most idealized state, an important part of learning about the history of fashion. And yet, on a daily basis, I work with clothes that were worn by actual women, not the idealized figures of fashion illustrations. This dichotomy of ideal and real comes to life when we dress a historic garment for exhibition.
Day Gown
Paris, France, c. 1897
P. Barroin, Designer
Printed dotted Swiss, silk chiffon, silk taffeta & cotton braid
Gift of Jane Riggs & Lynelle Doll
2010.1098.3A-C

During a photography shoot for the forthcoming exhibition catalog, FABULOUS! Ten Years of FIDM Museum Acquisitions, 2000-2010, our curators selected this Parisian couture day dress by P. Barroin to represent the assimilation of sportswear into French high fashion. What we all noticed once she was dressed was her height, at least 5 feet 10 inches! We were all wowed by her height, and seeing this garment dressed was an object lesson in how changes to silhouette were proportional to the individual being dressed. For a woman of her height, the shoulder puffs and skirt hem were proportionately expanded. The result is a balanced shape of broad shoulders and wide skirts, accentuating the narrow waist. This Amazonian woman corseted herself down to 28 inches, a far cry from  Scarlett O’Hara’s legendary 16 inch-waist. Nevertheless, this stately woman appears both fashionable and impressive in stature. This is incontrovertible proof against the myth that ‘everyone was smaller back then.’

“The Art of Dressing Has Never Been Manifested with So Much Brilliancy”: Fashion and the Paris Exposition of 1900

 

Did you know that working at a museum requires ace detective skills? In this blog post, Associate Curator Christina Johnson describes her research on a evening gown in our collection. This research, aka sleuthing, led to a wealth of knowledge about the gown itself, its wearer and the context in which it was created.

Evening gown
1900
2005.842.22
Gift of Madge Baker
FIDM Museum Collection

My research began with the evening gown you see above, donated to the FIDM Museum in 2005. The gown is part of a collection of about 25 garments and accessories dating from the 1890s to the 1940s worn by Ida Irwin Jones and her daughter Katharine. The items were donated by Katharine’s daughter, Madge Baker. The original wearer of this evening gown must have been Ida who would have been about 28 years old at the time.

Thanks to the Robert M. Adams Charitable Foundation, we're working on the Rudi Gernreich Archive.

Remember the Rudi Gernreich Archive? Consisting of accessories, garments, paper patterns, furniture, scrapbooks and other miscellaneous items, this collection demonstrates the breadth and depth of Rudi Gernrich's creativity. Our post Transforming the Rudi Gernreich Archive described some of the steps we've taken to ensure the continued preservation of this extensive and varied collection. Thanks to a generous grant from the Robert M. Adams Charitable Foundation, we've been able to begin intensive work with an important component of the archive, Rudi Gernreich's scrapbooks.

Rudi Gernreich's 32 scrapbooks consist primarily of press clippings. Because of his innovative, sometimes controversial designs Gernreich received extensive press throughout his career. As you can see from this image, the paper clippings were taped or glued to the page. With age, the tape has become extremely discolored, not to mention brittle.The paper of the clippings themselves has also deteriorated with age. Though nothing can be done to reverse this process, our goal is to prevent further damage. The page seen here features articles and correspondence related to Gernreich's notorious topless bathing suit.

Page from Gernreich's topless bathing suit scrapbook, c. 1964

Re-Designing History Illustration Competition winner inspired by Lolita style

 

Remember our Re-Designing History illustration competition? In conjunction with our current exhibition, Re-Designing History: FIDM Museum Study Collection, 1850-2000, we sponsored a competition for current FIDM students. The goal was to create a design inspired by this c. 1872 fuschia day dress. Our panel of judges selected three winners based on the following criteria: overall creativity, visual composition, and design inspiration. Thank you to the many students who submitted illustrations, and congratulations to the competition winners: Katrina Andrews (3rd Place, Fashion Design), Marc Blaskovits (2nd Place, Graphic Design) and Elizabeth Teemley (1st Place, Theatre Costume Design). As 1st place winner, Elizabeth's illustration will be on display in our gallery until Re-Designing History closes on December 17, 2010. Elizabeth describes her design process, inspiration and style in the following entry.

 

Hello, everyone. Elizabeth Teemley here. Thank you all for your congratulatory words and your interest in my art. I must say I was surprised, but honored, to be selected as a winner in the Re-Designing History competition. On top of winning, I have an opportunity to share a little about my art. As might be apparent in my illustration, I am inspired by anime and Japanese comics. My favorite fashion trend originates in Japan, as well. You may have heard of a style called Lolita. It is a fashion that draws primarily from Victorian children's clothing. Lolita girls are particularly obsessed with Alice in Wonderland. I, too, am inspired by Alice's innocence and how it contrasts with the somewhat dark and mysterious wonderland she enters.

Elizabeth Teemley's 1st place illustration

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