FIDM Museum Blog

Traveling in High Style

Have you ever wondered how a complete exhibition gets from one museum to another? In this post, FIDM Museum Registrar Meghan Grossman Hansen fills you in on the process.

This month, the FIDM Museum’s award-winning exhibition High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture is hitting the road. A slightly modified version of the exhibition will be installed at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA from August 14, 2010-January 2, 2011. If you missed the exhibition in Los Angeles, this is your chance to learn about a style icon and the haute couture process.

As the FIDM Museum Registrar, I want to fill you in on the behind-the-scenes activities of traveling an exhibition. The shipping has to be planned in great detail, from the number of objects, the size of the crates, to the size of the truck. In our case, the total volume does not warrant an exclusive truck, so we are fortunate to tag along with other artworks on an art-transportation shuttle from Los Angeles to the east coast. (Yes, there are trucks filled entirely with art objects criss-crossing the country!) Next, a packing list is planned with a number of considerations in mind: dimensions, weight, condition, and object accessibility (for instance, the order in which objects will be installed may be an important factor in where they are packed).

Assistant Registrar Dani Killam creates the packing list.

James Galanos cocktail dress, c. 1955

During the 1950s, French haute couture was a dominant force in fashion. Elite American women traveled to Paris and purchased their wardrobes directly from renowned couturiers, while many others experienced haute couture through mass-produced versions of the latest French styles. This was a strength of the American fashion industry; producing stylish and affordable garments in large quantities, whether the latest haute couture copies or playful sportswear. Only a very few American designers worked in the style of the haute couture, producing meticulously crafted garments on a limited scale. Los Angeles' own James Galanos (b. 1924) was one of these designers. In 1954, when Galanos first presented a collection in New York City, fashion critics noted that his "cut and detail smacked of Parisian couture."¹

Cocktail dress
James Galanos
c. 1955
Gift of Susan Lister
S2007.894.1A-C

Koos van den Akker

In a Koos van den Akker garment, fabric is always the focal point. Not just a single luxury fabric, but a riotous mix of fabric patches and panels combined into a surprisingly unified whole. According to the designer, his garments always "start with the fabric. Silhouettes come later."¹ Though van den Akker apprenticed at Christian Dior from 1963-1965, his work demonstrates little interest in a precise fit, one of the traditional concerns of the haute couture. Nor is van den Akker interested in the interaction between garments and the human body, declaring that "shapes are not really what I'm interested in."² Instead, van den Akker prefers to use his garments as an arena in which to explore the visual and tactile qualities of different textiles.

Blouse
c. 1976
Koos van den Akker
85.423.1
Gift of Devra Korwin

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.

Refashion

As a concept, fashion is based on the appeal of the new. Every season, silhouettes, colors and shapes are re-combined in an effort to create garments of such great appeal that you will replace (or at least supplement) your existing wardrobe. With the appearance of inexpensive, mass-market retailers that stock their racks with "fast fashions", it has become even easier to fill your closet with garments that resemble the latest runway offerings. Though the savvy shopper is often encouraged to pursue quality over quantity, it is far too easy for many shoppers to believe that new clothes = a new me.

In recent years, consumers and creators of fashion have begun to look at the issue of fashion consumption with a more critical eye. Some creators and producers of fashion struggle with what sustainability and eco-fashion can mean on a practical level through altering production methods or utilizing eco-friendly textiles. Many consumers have taken the issue into their own hands by purchasing only second-hand garments or sewing their own clothes. Others engage in wardrobe refashioning or remixing, a concept which promotes rethinking your closet by recombining or altering those garments you already own.

Refashioning or altering garments to update their style or function is not a new concept. Until the mid-to-late 20th century, most garments were costly enough that they were worn until no longer functional, passed on to someone else or refashioned. In the FIDM Museum collection, we have several examples of garments that have been reimagined to suit the changing needs of the wearer.

Day dress
1853-54
Gift of the Helen Larson Estate
S2001.31.18A-C

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

Tailored suit

In the 20th century, the tailored suit became a standard uniform for professional working women. Consisting of a jacket and skirt in matched or closely coordinated fabric, it developed in the late 19th century as an evolution of specialized garments worn for outdoor activities such as horseback riding, croquet and bicycling. Like its sporting predecessors, the tailored suit had a function: it served as a professional uniform for the newly emerging class of women who worked outside the home as educators, social workers and clerical employees. Tailored suits were also worn for leisure activities like travel or an afternoon promenade. With styling borrowed from menswear, most tailored suits featured solid colors and a minimum of decorative trim.

Two-piece suit
1913-1914
Gift of the Manlove Family
2006.870.33AB

Coco Chanel

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) distinguished her design aesthetic through a strict insistence on comfortable, lightweight garments and a pared-down silhouette. Chanel's interest in simplicity is seen in her earliest millinery designs from the 1910s, which relied on a single, dramatic embellishment for decoration rather than the "assemblage of materials" then in vogue.¹ This interest in "less is more" also demonstrated itself in her earliest garment designs, ready-made suits and dresses often made from inexpensive wool jersey. These garments, almost the exact opposite of popular feminine fashions, launched Chanel's career. Throughout her career, Chanel adhered to the basic principle of crafting soft, lightweight fabrics into functional (yet luxurious) garments.

Though Chanel produced a variety of garment types throughout her career, one that reappeared over and over was the suit. Borrowing from menswear, Chanel created a feminine suit which offered ease of movement and capitalized on the implication of power inherent in the masculine suit. The basic, stripped down silhouette remained consistent, but the textiles changed with the times. It became a classic and functions today as shorthand for the designer herself.

Two-piece suit
Chanel
Spring 1964
Transfer from the Museum at FIT
S2004.291.24AB