FIDM Museum Blog

Sketch to Screen exhibition at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art

As we told you in this post, eight costumes from the FIDM Museum collection are currently on exhibit in Sketch to Screen: The Art of Hollywood Costume Design at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Consisting of more than 85 original garments and accessories, the exhibition highlights the work of influential Hollywood costume designers, including Gilbert Adrian, Walter Plunkett, Edith Head and Travis Banton. Sketch to Screen closes on August 15, 2010, so you'd better visit soon if you haven't already!

For our readers who can't make it to Oklahoma City, we offer you the next best thing: installation photos of the FIDM Museum pieces accompanied by relevant segments of the audio tour. Narrated by our curator Kevin Jones, these short, informative segments are part of the Sketch to Screen audio tour. To listen, click on the link. Enjoy!

Kevin Jones discusses the gown worn by Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair

Paisley strapless evening gown worn by Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair
Irene/Edith Head
1949
HC 3633
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles, FIDM Museum
Photo by Jim Meeks, Oklahoma City Museum of Art

Kevin Jones discusses the "Suit of Lights" worn by Rudolph Valentino in Blood and Sand

"Suit of Lights" jacket worn by Rudolph Valentino in Blood and Sand
Natacha Rambova
1922
HC 4001
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles, FIDM Museum
Photo by Jim Meeks, Oklahoma City Museum of Art

The 'Little Girl' look and nostalgia in fashion

During the later years of the 1960s, the '"little girl" look was prominent in fashion. Many women dressed in loose, A-line shift dresses similar to those worn by little girls and accessorized with items (hairbows, headbands, flat shoes) associated with youth. Twiggy, with her childlike appearance and demeanor, is the iconic representation of this style. As described in a somewhat satirical 1968 New York Times article, designers "flipped over the princess dresses and little smocked numbers" worn by little girls and "made the dresses larger, used very expensive fabrics and put price tags on big enough to pay for a little backyard merry-go-round."¹

Smocked dress
Jeanne Lanvin
c. 1968
Museum Purchase
S2003.5.16

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

Dress form, mannequin or floating form?

Regular readers of this blog have probably noticed the variety of forms we use to display objects from the FIDM Museum collection. When we photograph an object for in-house documentary purposes, it's usually dressed on a headless dress form or mannequin. For exhibition and/or publication, we go all out, pairing garments with contemporaneous accessories (shoes, hat, jewelry, etc.) in an effort to present the garment as it might have been seen in its own era. The paper wigs worn by some of our mannequins are another aspect of this contextualization. More recently, we've used floating forms to display garments during exhibitions. The decision regarding which type of display to utilize is the result of a complicated equation involving time, resources, space, staff, garment condition and intended usage of the final image or dressed mannequin.

Evening glamour, c. 1922

Evening dress
c. 1922
Gift of Laura Stoneman
96.657.2

During the 1920s, nightlife was an important aspect of popular culture. In the United States, the Prohibition of alcohol led to the rise of speakeasies, where patrons could dine, dance and drink in an atmosphere of illicit pleasure. Glamorous evenings required eye-catching garb, such as the beaded velvet evening dress pictured here. As described in this post on the 1920s silhouette, the favored silhouette for both day and evening wear was slim and straight, uninterrupted by the curves of the body. Dresses were reduced to two simple panels of fabric, joined at the shoulders and side seams. For evening, these flat panels became canvases on which beading, sequins, embroidery and other embellishments created abstract or pictorial imagery.   

Sybil Connolly

The handling of homespun fabric in a sophisticated manner is the forte of Sybil Connolly.¹

In 1953, Irish designer Sybil Connolly was "discovered" by a group of American department store buyers and fashion reporters visiting Ireland. Having worked as a dressmaker in London and Dublin since the late 1930s, Connolly was actually an experienced designer. Connolly's designs were a hit with the American visitors, and she was invited to the United Stated to present her work. In March of 1953, Connolly arrived in Philadelphia to present a collection at Gimbels Department Store. Inevitably, the showing was scheduled for St. Patrick's Day.

Though her first collection featured a variety of well-received suits and day dresses, it was a ball gown of finely pleated Irish linen "of a quality so fine it was almost chiffon-like in weight" that received the most attention.² As her career progressed, Connolly's consistent use of this same lightweight, pleated linen became a trademark. In 1971, almost 20 years after Connolly's first visit to the United States, women attending a Sybil Connolly trunk show in New York were still enthusiastic about her pleated linen dresses.

Evening dress
Sybil Connolly
c. 1971
Gift of Jane Tucker
S2009.967.5

Texture in fashion

Color and pattern are usually the first aspects of a garment to catch the eye, closely followed by silhouette. But what about texture? Though texture might not be the first thing we notice, it plays an important role in establishing the mood of a garment. Would a roughly woven cotton textile be appropriate for a glamorous evening gown? Maybe, but it would take a talented designer to offset the rustic, outdoorsy mood of the textile and craft it into a glamorous evening ensemble. A smooth and glossy silk textile would seem equally out of place on a weekend camping trip.

Like colors and silhouettes, textures go in and out of fashion. Slippery, synthetic textures dominated the late 1970s, while starched cottons and stiff silks were popular in 1950s fashions. Do popular textile textures affect the spirit and culture of the era in which they are popular? Though it's impossible to directly pinpoint this relationship, it's certainly an intriguing train of thought. With that in mind, take a look at this selection of different textile textures from the FIDM Museum!

Evening or wedding gown (bodice detail)
1852-54
Gift of the Helen Larson Estate
2001.31.6

Nail head dresses

Young cosmopolitans love nail-head glitter!¹

Dresses embellished with decorative gold, brass or silver nail heads first appeared in the late 1930s. Usually seen on solid-color "background" dresses of wool or synthetic crepe, nail heads were used as glittering accents on bodice, sleeves, belt, collar, pocket or cuffs. Marketed towards the "smart, lithe, swift moving figures of youth" for evening or special occasion dress, nail head decoration was also used more sparsely on dresses intended for day wear.² Typical placement usually focused on the neckline and upper bodice, though print advertisements indicate that nail heads were placed anywhere and everywhere. In 1940, the New York City branch of Best & Co. advertised a slim, floor length gown of rayon crepe with "a skirt that falls slim and straight when still, yet flares into a sunburst of nail-studded pleats when you dance."³

Evening gown
Rayon crepe
1938-42
Gift of Women Helping Women
2001.788.1

Sailor suits

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, young boys and girls were often dressed in sailor suits. Worn as both school uniforms and everyday dress, the popularity of the style was sparked by this 1846 Winterhalter portrait of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. About 5 years old when the portrait was painted, Albert Edward wears a scaled down version of the newly standardized white and blue uniform of the Royal Navy.¹ Throughout the nineteenth century, the Royal Navy was the most powerful navy in the world, a symbol of the United Kingdom's colonial empire and position as a world power. By dressing Albert Edward and her other sons in naval uniforms, Queen Victoria indicated her aspirations for her children and her country. As royalty were the trend-setters of the day, the fashion for sailor suits soon spread across Europe and the United States. National versions of the sailor suit varied, depending on the specific naval uniform of individual countries.

Paisley day dress, 1854-56

Two-piece day dress
Printed wool challis
1854-56
Museum purchase
2004.5.40AB

The elongated, tear-drop shaped motif decorating this vivid 1850s day dress is known as a paisley. A motif with ancient origins, the paisley is a stylized derivation of naturalistic motifs portraying leaves, floral bouquets or small bushes. Known as buta, these motifs were common on woven shawls produced first in Kashmir, and then throughout India. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, finely woven shawls bearing the buta motif were imported to Europe, rapidly becoming a favorite fashion accessory. European weavers, realizing the potential for profit, began producing their own variations on the imported shawls. The Scottish town of Paisley became a particularly important center of production, lending the motif (and the shawl) its English-language name. The motif itself was so popular that it appeared on other textiles, ultimately outliving the popularity of the paisley shawl, which faded in the 1870s.