FIDM Museum Blog

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.

Forbidden fruit

A post from our Registrar, Meghan Grossman Hansen!

Apples are grown around the world in thousands of varieties, so it is not surprising that they are an undying symbol in mythology, fairy tales, and popular culture. Putting aside the more contemporary connections to John Lennon and Macintosh computers, the apple plays a pivotal role in the story of Adam and Eve, the trials of Hercules, and the fairy tale of Snow White. These associations take physical shape in a variety of perfume bottles based on the apple.

In the case of Lolita Lempicka’s First Fragrance, the connection between Eve and the Tree of Knowledge takes on a more romantic association, as the designer explains, “I drew on my distant memories to recreate this intense moment when a girl is waiting to become a woman.”¹

Miniature Perfume Bottle
Lolita: Lolita Lempicka Eau de Parfum
c. 1997-1999
Gift of Annette Green
F2005.860.1149A/C

Floating forms

A well-designed and well-installed museum exhibit appears effortless, as if the objects on display were always meant to be viewed in that exact context. Despite this apparent ease, museum exhibitions require a tremendous amount of long-range planning. Christina Johnson and Kevin Jones, co-curators of High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture spent three years planning the exhibition. An important aspect of their planning was deciding how to best display the garments. As you've seen from the images we post on this blog, the FIDM Museum has an extensive collection of dress forms and mannequins. Christina and Kevin decided, however, that Betsy Bloomingdale's haute couture garments would be best displayed on floating forms. Unlike mannequins or dress forms, floating forms do not extend beyond the boundaries of the garment. This allows you to focus entirely on the garment, without the distraction of legs, arms or facial characteristics.

As you might imagine, creating floating forms is a complicated process. All of the floating forms used to display the garments in High Style were created by Carolyn Jamerson, FIDM Museum Study Collection Manager. Carolyn worked on the floating forms for almost a year! She recently gave a presentation about the process and we're going to feature a brief overview today. 

Annette Green Fragrance Archive

In addition to our our garment collection, the FIDM Museum also houses an extensive fragrance archive. The Annette Green Fragrance Archive was donated to the FIDM Museum by Annette Green in 2005. A leader in the fragrance industry since the 1960s, Annette Green originated the FiFi Award in 1972 and is currently President Emeritus of The Fragrance Foundation. Consisting of bottles, perfume presentations and documentary ephemera dating from the late 1880s to the present, the Archive has its own dedicated exhibition space on the 2nd floor of the Los Angeles branch of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. These exhibitions are always free and open to the public!

Above is an image of the entrance to the Annette Green Fragrance Archive. As you can see, the exhibition space is intimate, allowing visitors a close-up view of the fragrance bottles and their labels. Currently featured is High Style: Perfume and the Haute Couture. This exhibition features fragrances and fashion accessories by well-known haute couture design houses, Christian Dior, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent. Also included are fragrances and accessories by James Galanos, Halston, and Oscar de la Renta, well-known American fashion designers whose work exhibits the same standard of quality found in French haute couture. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with our upcoming exhibition High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture, which will open on October 21, 2009.

Upcoming exhibition!

High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture
October 21, 2009-December 13, 2009

We couldn't wait any longer to tell you about this exhibition! We hope that all of our readers will all be able to attend, but for those who are outside the Los Angeles area, we will be featuring a number of exhibition related posts here on the blog.

Evening Gown
Label: Christian Dior
Marc Bohan for Dior
Spring/ Summer 1983
Gift of Mrs. Alfred Bloomingdale
FIDM Library Special Collections

“High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture” celebrates a donation of over 100 Haute Couture garments given to the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising over thirty years by International Best Dressed Hall of Fame icon Betsy Bloomingdale. Mrs. Bloomingdale married Alfred P. Bloomingdale—an heir to Bloomingdale’s department stores and founder of Diners Club credit cards—and has lived in Los Angeles her entire life. She purchased French Haute Couture from 1961 to 1996. Her wardrobe includes designs by Marc Bohan and Gianfranco Ferré for Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Balmain, Yves Saint Laurent, André Courrèges, James Galanos, Adolfo, Oscar de la Renta and Valentino. This exhibition includes over 60 ensembles and describes the process of Haute Couture, showcases her favorite designers and examines her personal style and lifestyle. Supplementary exhibition materials include hand drawn croquis (colored sketches with attached fabric swatches), contemporary photographs of Mrs. Bloomingdale at many international events (including the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana), as well as magazine layouts illustrating garments she ordered. Accompanying the exhibition is a catalog and video documentary which includes interviews with Mrs. Bloomingdale, Hubert de Givenchy, James Galanos, Oscar de la Renta, Adolfo and Francois Lesage, among others.

John Galliano for Christian Dior

When creating a collection, fashion designers typically mine multiple sources for their inspiration. This inspiration takes visual form on what is usually called a “mood board,” a group of visual references intended to guide the look and feel of a particular collection. These visual cues can be culled from literally anywhere, but often consist of images related to historic personages, places, movies, non-Western cultures and sometimes single words.

Evening coat
Christian Dior by John Galliano
Fall 2004 Ready-to-wear
Museum Purchase
2005.5.171