FIDM Museum Blog

Fox collar coat, c. 1927

 

Coat
Wool & fox fur
1925-1929
Gift of Floss Alper
2001.9.1

Appearing in the exquisite creations of the Parisian haute couture and the humbler pages of the Sears catalog, fur suited the extravagant mood of 1920s dress. Though a coat made entirely of fur was the most desirable (and expensive) breed of fur coat, the majority of women settled for a coat or wrap trimmed with fur. A 1927 article on winter furs summed up this hierarchy with a succinct statement: "Next in importance to the all-fur wrap is that trimmed with fur."¹ According to the same article, fox was the chicest fur for trimming, especially black fox paired with black fabric. It's such a relief to know our coat meets the 1927 criteria for chic!

Ted Lapidus fur, c. 1983

 

Bill Cunningham's recent On The Street video "Fabulous, Mr. Fox," pointed out something I've noticed over the past few months: a renewed interest in animal prints and fur, both real and fake. In November 2010, the New York Times featured an article on fur coats made from nutria, a voracious rodent. Vogue's December 2010 editorial titled "On The Prowl" highlights a trend for "wildcat-print heels roam[ing] the urban jungle."¹ And don't forget the Fall 2010 Chanel collection, which featured shaggy fake fur showcased against a frozen background, including chunks of an iceberg reportedly transported from Scandinavia.

Some have suggested that the renewed popularity of fur and animal prints can be directly tied to the prevalence of fast fashion. When fashion-forward styles and designer capsule collections can be bought inexpensively at mass-market retailers, those with the interest and financial resources purchase status items (fur, specific handbags) unavailable at lower price points. Thus, fur is driven into a niche market, reinforcing its status as a luxury item. Ironically, some mass-market retailers, including H&M and Forever 21, have stopped using fur and/or exotic leathers in their collections. Though made for ethical reasons, this decision further reinforces the idea of fur as a rare and desirable commodity.

Knee-length fur coat
Ted Lapidus
Wolf/coyote/leather
c. 1983
Gift of Jo Holzman
2006.871.2

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: 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.

Coats and jackets

Whether you're ready or not, fall is here! Yesterday, September 22, was the official first day of fall in the northern hemisphere. By this time of year, most of us are ready to shed our lightweight summer clothing and are looking forward to wearing sweaters, boots and even winter coats. For those of you reading our blog from the southern hemisphere, you are probably having the exact opposite reaction and are excited to pack away your winter gear until next year!

In general, outerwear either mimics or complements the fashionable silhouette. This early 1970s graphic maxi coat looks very much like a maxi dress, a length of dress and skirt which first appeared in 1969-70. Though it might have been worn over a maxi dress, this maxi coat was possibly worn over leg-baring hot pants and platform boots. When walking, the 3 center front buttons would keep the top portion of the coat securely fastened, but the rest of the coat would swing open, exposing the legs of the wearer. Made of a heavy, warm wool, an interior tag indicates that it retailed at the New York store Henri Bendel.

Maxi coat
Wool
1970-72
Gift of Anonymous Donor
2003-40-55

Since we began our blog, we've featured a number of coats and jackets from our collection. Readers favored our orange 1930s velvet evening coat and a late 19th century military-inspired jacket. We also featured two Bonnie Cashin wool Noh coats and a Balenciaga coat and dress ensemble.

Readers, do any of these resemble the fall/winter coat you'll be wearing this year? How do you balance fashion and practicality (protection from rain, snow, etc.) when selecting a coat?

Balenciaga

Popular conceptions of 1950s dress usually fixate on the defined waist and full skirt of Christian Dior's New Look. Though this silhouette dominated fashion for much of the decade, in 1957 a new shape appeared. Called the sack or chemise, this new dress skimmed and enveloped the body instead of enforcing an hourglass silhouette. Presented by both Christian Dior and Balenciaga, credit (and blame) for the innovation went to Balenciaga. Variations on the chemise soon appeared, including this belted Empire-waist version designed by Balenciaga.

Chemise dress
Balenciaga
1959-1963
Transfer from the Museum at FIT
Gift of the Estate of Anita Loos Emerson
S2004.291.15A-D

Velvet evening coat

 

Evening gowns of the 1930s were usually floor-length and clung to the body. Made of silk or velvet, they were cut on the bias and often exposed a swath of bare back or shoulder. Of course, this exposure meant that a fashionable evening coat was necessary in the colder months. Though black was encouraged as a practical, wear-with-everything choice, another option would have been an evening coat in an intense shade of purple, raspberry red, bottle green, chartreuse or orange. In person, the FIDM Museum velvet evening coat seen here is an enticing shade of rich, bright orange. During the 1920s and into the 1930s, this particular color was sometimes called nasturtium after the orange flower of the same name.

Evening coat
c. 1930-32
Gift of Renee Sanders
2008.932.10

Details Make the Woman

During the Great Depression (1929-1941), many women could not afford to purchase new clothing on a regular basis. Instead, women exploited the potential of accessories to update an old frock. Carefully coordinated gloves, hat, handbag and shoes could be used to distract attention from a well-worn day dress or suit. Along with items such as a delicate handkerchief or modest jewelry, these accessories were prized as a means to providing a "moral uplift" in difficult times. Reframing necessity as a virtue, fashion journalists suggested that these "little triumphs" (i.e. accessories) were actually the key to a fashionable wardrobe.

Because they framed the face and drew attention away from outdated or worn garments, hats were a focal point of fashion throughout the 1930s. Hat shape was dictated by personal taste and women could choose from a seemingly endless array of available styles. Berets, fedoras, pillbox, platter, and sailor styles were all available, along with many others. Trim was also extremely varied with feathers, bows, beads, artificial flowers or fruit, ribbon and many other whimsical items appearing on 1930s headwear. Many 1930s hats were worn at a jaunty angle. Relatively simple turban shaped hats, as seen in the FIDM Museum example below, were also widely popular.

Coat and matching hat
Wool boucle with rhinestones
1938-39
Gift of Anonymous Donor
2003.40.17AB

Betsey Johnson for Alley Cat

Like Twiggy, Betsey Johnson's career began in the youth oriented 1960s. From the beginning, Johnson's designs had a playful, almost costume-like sensibility, an outlook her work maintains to this day. In numerous interviews, Johnson has suggested that this aesthetic stems from the colorful dance costumes she both wore and sewed as a child. "I can't believe how much I remember being an octopus, a butterscotch candy, a little flame" she stated in a 1972 interview.¹

Jacket of fake fur and quilted corduroy
Betsey Johnson for Alley Cat
1971
FIDM Museum Purchase
2008.5.2

Bonnie Cashin

Lots of designers start from scratch every six months or so, moving with the trends. Not Bonnie Cashin. Every season she adds a little to what has gone before--some new colors, an experimental shape. Nothing invalidates her previous season's clothes.¹

In her search for the "simple, elegant solution" to dressing, American designer Bonnie Cashin (1907-2000) developed a singular vision focused on practical wardrobes for busy, active women.² With an emphasis on uncluttered, clean lines, easy fit and functional details such as large pockets, Cashin's garments were designed with practicality, comfort and warmth in mind. Despite this quest for comfort, many of Cashin's creations were modern before their time.

Born in California, Cashin spent her early years working in a series of dressmaking establishments owned by her mother, Eunice. The skills Cashin acquired at her mother's side led to successive positions as a theatrical costumer, both in Los Angeles and New York. By 1937, Cashin's costume designs had brought her to the attention of Carmel Snow, the legendary editor of Harper's Bazaar. With Snow's assistance, Cashin became the head designer for Adler and Adler, a New York based coat and suit manufacturer. Cashin designed for Adler and Adler until 1942, when she returned to California as a contracted costume designer for Twentieth Century Fox. Cashin remained at Twentieth Century Fox until 1948. During her tenure at the studio, she costumed at least 30 films, including Anna and the King of Siam, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Snake Pit.

Cashin returned to New York City in 1949 and opened Bonnie Cashin Designs Inc. in 1952. From this point on, Cashin's aesthetic solidified into that which we recognize today: uncomplicated clothing for women on the go, fabricated in unusual materials. Cashin is perhaps best known for her extensive use of leather and suede, which she used as both trim and textile. Her use of leather and suede came about because of a collaboration between Cashin and Sills & Co., a New York leather goods manufacturer. Working for Sills & Co, Cashin designed garments made entirely of suede and leather and also garments made of wool, canvas or jersey with the smallest amount of leather trim. From 1962, Cashin also worked as the designer for Coach, where she applied the solid metal fasteners that would become associated with her name and the Coach brand.

As an avid traveler, Cashin was deeply interested in a wardrobe that could be adapted to a variety of climates and situations. Thus, she developed a system of layered dressing, which resulted in a modular wardrobe that could be mixed and matched at will. A Cashin "five-layer outfit" from 1970 consisted of knee-length pants worn with boots, layered under a hooded jersey dress, and a leather skirt, all topped by a wool coat. For additional warmth, a wool mantle could be added on top.

The two wool coats pictured here are excellent examples of Cashin's aesthetic. Inspired by the two-dimensional qualities of Asian garments such as the kimono, this style of unfitted coat was called the "Noh" coat. Roomy and warm, Noh coats were intended to be worn over other garments as part of Cashin's layered wardrobe.

Coat
Attributed to Bonnie Cashin
c. 1965
Museum Purchase
2005.5.25

Detail of 2005.5.25

Looking closely at the image above, you'll notice velvet ribbons interwoven with the wool yarn. This textile was designed by Scottish textile designer Bernat Klein, who introduced "ribbon tweed" in 1964. Klein's novel weave was a sensation and appeared on runways and in fashion editorials throughout the mid 1960s. Beginning in 1964, Cashin worked as the designer for the Scottish company Ballantyne of Peebles. This position required Cashin to spend at least part of each year living in Scotland, where she probably encountered Klein and his textiles. This coat was featured in a 2006 article on Bernat Klein and his textile designs in the Costume Society of America publication Dress.

The image below features a classic example of the Noh coat in woolly brown and black mohair, trimmed with black leather binding at hem, cuffs and collar. Certainly warm, the coat could be layered over other garments as part of a versatile, layered wardrobe. As fashion critic Bernadine Morris noted in 1968, "women buy Bonnie Cashin's clothes because they are cozy and comfortable, not because they bowl people over. In a day when most fashions seem stamped out by cooky cutters, hers look as if they had been touched by human hands."³

Coat
Bonnie Cashin for Sills & Co.
1953-1957
Gift of Elenore Berman
2004.832.2

Detail of 2004.832.2

1 Morris, Bernadine. "For Bonnie Cashin, It's a Time to Shine" New York Times 5 May 1972: 36.

2 Steele, Valerie. Women of Fashion: Twentieth-Century Designers. New York: Rizzoli, 1991: 143.

3 Morris, Bernadine. "Fashion Catches up to Cashin" New York Times 3 May 1968: 56.

Iverson, Stephanie Day. Practical Dreamer New York: Museum at FIT, 2000.