FIDM Museum Blog

Evening dress, c. 1926

No matter what your feelings about director Baz Luhrmann's new cinematic adaption of  F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel The Great Gatsby, you can't deny that the film is generating interest in 1920s fashion. Though reaction to the film itself has been mixed, retailers, fashion bloggers, and magazine editorials all display symptoms of Gatsby fever. Retail collaborations pay homage to the era while also promoting the film. The Great Gatsby, a new collection from Tiffany & Co., features sparkling jewelry designed in collaboration with The Great Gatsby's costume designer Catherine Martin. Brooks Brothers has also introduced new styles based both on 1920s menswear, and the new film version of Gatsby. Though it remains to be seen how much the film and its costumes will affect mainstream fashion, it's interesting to see fashion history encroaching on popular culture.

Evening dress
c. 1926
France
Gift of Roxanne Wilson
2003.1.2

Sarah Elizabeth Craft’s Easter bonnet, 1852

According to superstition, wearing new clothes on Easter Sunday ensures good luck throughout the coming year. Those with a cynical bent might suspect this superstition was developed by retailers, but it predates contemporary holiday-themed marketing campaigns. A saying attributed to Poor Robin's Almanack, a series of almanacs first published in the late 17th century, indicates the belief is at least several hundred years old: "At Easter let your clothes be new, Or this be sure you it will rue."

Poised between winter and spring, Easter marks a symbolic transition from cold weather to warmer temperatures. During the Victorian era, Easter was both a solemn religious occasion and an appropriate time to replace a tired winter wardrobe with cheerful spring attire. It marked the beginning of the spring social season and the first time it was permissible to wear new clothing after the austerity of Lent. In 1890, Harper's Bazar described Easter Sunday as the day that "new bonnets and spring gowns first see the light."¹ 

Girl's bonnet
1852
Silk taffeta & silk ribbon
Museum Purchase
2009.5.73A

Jeanne Lanvin fashion figure

Fashion Figure
Winter 1921
Jeanne Lanvin
Museum Purchase
2008.25.1

The original purpose of this extremely rare Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) fashion figure is a mystery. It may have been associated with an extensive display of figures at the International Silk Exhibition held in New York City's Grand Central Palace in 1921.¹ Its construction is unusual: a flat, wooden body with lightly padded contours covered with flesh-colored silk crêpe and articulated copper arms with flipper-like hands in the angular Art Deco style. The haughty, painted face with its target-like rouge mimics the highly stylized makeup of the maison's super-attenuated fashion plate figures.

A corresponding croquis from the Lanvin Archive reveals this modѐle's title: "Rose Poupon," which translates to "Plump Rose." It is also a play on words referencing the fashion figures of the eighteenth-century called "poupées," or "dolls," that were sent worldwide to showcase the latest Paris fashions. Lanvin's romantic robe de style—a full-skirted dress with concentrations of gathers at the hips—was the antithesis of the sleek, tubular silhouette that dominated the 1920s. Gathered ribbon roses with hand-tinted pink centers trim the neckline and form a trellis on the skirt. They were called "roses de Polignac," after Gabrielle, comtesse de Polignac (1749-1793), confidant of Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). Lanvin's daughter and muse, Marie-Blanche (1897-1958), was a twentieth-century comtesse de Polignac.

1 Vogue (April 1, 1921), 42-43.

 

Fashion Birthday: Hubert de Givenchy

Couturier Hubert de Givenchy was born on this day in 1927. Now retired, Givenchy is one of the last living couturiers to have learned his art during the golden age of the haute couture. His training began in 1945 when he took a position with Jacques Fath. By December 1951, when Givenchy opened his own couture house, he had trained under Jacques Fath, Robert Piguet, Lucien Lelong and Elsa Schiaparelli. Vogue highlighted Givenchy's February 1952 debut collection, calling it "one of the most news-worthy happenings in Paris this spring."¹ The collection was notable for its emphasis on separates, including the crisp white Bettina blouse, modeled by Bettina Graziani. A version of the Bettina blouse is seen in this March 1952 Life magazine article on Givenchy's debut collection.

Evening dress
Hubert de Givenchy
Autumn-Winter 1968-69
Silk velvet, cockerel feathers
77.116.14
Gift of Mrs. Alfred Bloomingdale

Making paper wigs

When dressing a mannequin for exhibition, it's important not to overlook the details. Careful attention to the total look makes an ensemble, and an exhibition, complete. Fully dressed mannequins also help visitors better understand the time-period on display. Once we've selected a garment for inclusion in an exhibition, we consider accessories. Is jewelry appropriate? Should she carry a handbag? What about shoes? And most importantly...what about hair?

Curly hair c. 1895 topped with a straw boater. The waves were created by cutting paper on curved lines. To keep the curls from appearing limp, individual strands of hair were curled with a pencil

Red and black ensemble, 1894-96

In the 1890s, most women’s dresses were made-to-measure. Though ready-made clothing was increasingly common, garments that required a precise fit or featured delicate embellishment were typically custom-made, either by the wearer herself, or by a trusted seamstress. Though some women had the financial means to purchase their wardrobes in Paris, most women relied on the advice of their (hopefully up-to-date) dressmaker, example gowns made in the latest style, or on printed descriptions of new fashions. Fashion magazines gave detailed descriptions of stylish garments so that women could make, or have made, approximations of the styles described. This passage from June 1894 is typically detailed: "A dainty organdie with a pale lavender ground, deeply spotted with deep purple flowerets, has two simple six-inch ruffles finishing the skirt, each ruffle trimmed with two rows of narrow moire ribbon in the deep purple shade."¹ The description continues, providing the reader with enough information on cut, material, and embellishment to enable the creation of a similar garment. Simple line drawings sometimes accompanied these written descriptions.

Woman's ensemble
1894-96
Silk
Gift of the Manlove Family
S2006.870.22AB

Butterflies abound

Though we're not a natural history museum or a science center, we have lots of butterflies in our collection. No taxidermy specimens here, FIDM Museum butterflies are woven, printed, painted, and embroidered. Our curatorial team has no specific intent to collect garments and accessories decorated with butterflies, but the popularity of the motif makes it easy to acquire compelling pieces featuring this colorful, winged insect. According to our Curator Kevin Jones, "I would never accept an object into the collection just because it has a certain motif. It would have to be fab for a number of other reasons."

Butterflies can be found on every continent, with the exception of Antarctica. Diverse cultures have developed symbolic interpretations of the butterfly, many of which focus on its dramatic life-cycle. Hatching from the egg as a larva or caterpillar, the insect grows and eats until it reaches the chrysalis stage. During the chrysalis, a shell forms around the caterpillar, protecting the insect as it undergoes a metamorphosis into a beautifully colored butterfly. In ancient Greece, butterflies represented the soul, while Christian interpretations use the butterfly's life-cycle to symbolize resurrection. In parts of Asia, pairs of butterflies represent marital harmony and happiness. Butterflies have also been used to symbolize the transience of childhood, and are often used to decorate garments worn by little girls.

Child's "Dainty Blossom" Ensemble
Daisy Stanford
Hand-painted silk
c. 1925
Museum Purchase
2003.5.24A-C

Video from the Costume Colloquium III

If Christina's recent post describing her experiences at the Costume Colloquium in Florence piqued your curiosity, you're in luck! Videos of all the conference presentations are now available on the Costume Colloquium website. You can watch Christina's presentation, “Doris Langley Moore: Ultimate ‘Woman in Fashion’” here. Find Christina's presentation by clicking on the button reading 9/11/2012; her presentation is the second listed. According to the Costume Colloquium's website, you'll need to view the video using either the Internet Explorer or Chrome browsers.

Pictured below is the c. 1878 wedding gown that started Christina's research on Doris Langley Moore almost 10 years ago! She was first introduced to this princess-line gown by Moore's book, The Woman in Fashion. In 2001, the gown was donated to the FIDM Museum by the Helen Larson Estate. Readers, watch the video of Christina's presentation to see how this wedding gown fits into her research.

Wedding Gown
c. 1878
2001.31.4
Gift of the Helen Larson Estate

From the Archives: Quilted petticoat, c. 1840-45

This quilted petticoat is a fascinating garment. Though worn as an undergarment, it features detailed quilting and a cheerful textile. We first published this post in late 2009, but with winter weather on the horizon, it seemed a good time to revisit this warm and visually striking petticoat.

**********

Before the introduction of the cage crinoline in 1856, women typically wore multiple layers of petticoats. The petticoat layers (sometimes as many as 6!) not only shaped the skirt into a fashionable bell-shape, but also provided warmth. Between about 1825-1850, petticoats with elaborate quilting were fashionable. Called "quilted coats," "wearing quilts" or "quilts," these petticoats were simply large quilts meant to be worn on the body. They were often created in the same manner as bed quilts, with women working together to complete the patterned stitching. After stitching up the single, vertical back-seam and gathering the drawstring waist, the quilted petticoat was ready for wearing.

Quilted petticoat
c. 1840-45
Gift of Anna Bing Arnold
2003.795.12

Bat hat, c. 1916-18

What's Halloween without a bat? These small, flying mammals are a favorite Halloween motif, appearing as costumes, decorations, even candy. Though they're generally harmless to humans, western cultures usually consider bats the eeriest of creatures. Blame this bad reputation on their nocturnal lifestyle, and the blood-sucking habits of vampire bats. Though most bats eat insects or fruit, vampire bats eat blood, sucking it from cows, chickens or other livestock in the dark of night. Though humans aren't the vampire bat's preferred meal, they occasionally bite people, sometimes transmitting rabies. Though a vampire bat's bite doesn't turn an animal or human into a blood-sucking monster, western culture typically associates bats with death, danger and disease.

During the latter half of the 1910s, the bat was a surprisingly popular motif. In 1916, Vogue featured a cut-steel bead bag with a red-eyed bat as the central motif. A year later, a Vogue article on women's millinery fashions highlighted a hat with two fully extended bat wings cupping the crown of a beige hat trimmed with sable fur. Bats were not the only animal-based millinery embellishment; feathers and fur were also widely used to create the statement hats popular during the second decade of the twentieth century. Our bat hat is composed of silk velvet, faux astrakhan fur and bat heads.

Hat
c. 1916-18
Museum Purchase in honor of Julia Long
2009.5.69AB