FIDM Museum Blog

Alexander McQueen, you will be missed.

All of us at the FIDM Museum were saddened and shocked to learn of Alexander McQueen's death. Such a tremendous loss of creative talent is difficult to comprehend. McQueen's aesthetic was provocative and never shy of pushing limits. Individual garments (recent examples include "armadillo" shoes and bone patterned suits) were provocative, as were the narratives that inspired each collection. In addition to his creative abilities, McQueen was a master of his craft, with many calling him the finest woman's tailor of his generation. For anyone who questions the impact of a provocative designer on everyday dress, take a look at the jeans you're probably wearing right now. If they're low-waisted, you have Alexander McQueen to thank, as he first introduced the low-cut "bumster" trouser in the mid-nineties.

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

Lanvin

As designer for Lanvin since 2002, Alber Elbaz has brought new life to what had become a house on the periphery of fashion. Founded in 1885 as a millinery shop, Lanvin flourished under the direction of its founder, Jeanne Lanvin. Lanvin excelled in the creation of elegant, sophisticated garments with a distinct silhouette and inventive surface decoration. After Lanvin's death in 1946, a series of designers headed the house, though none to such acclaim as Jeanne Lanvin herself. It was only with the hiring of Alber Elbaz that Lanvin began to return to a position of prominence. Though Elbaz's designs for Lanvin are lauded for their modernity, it is possible to find traces of Jeanne Lanvin's aesthetic running throughout his work.

Evening dress
Winter 2004
Alber Elbaz for Lanvin
Gift of Barbara Bundy
2006.37.8

Marimekko

With its oversized imagery and brightly clashing colors, Marimekko textiles are unmistakable. The Finnish company began in 1951 as a textile design firm specializing in hand silk-screened cotton fabric. The patterns created by Marimekko designers were a departure from traditional Finnish floral patterns, though the graphic, modern Marimekko imagery was definitely inspired by aspects of Finnish heritage and landscape. To promote their textile designs, the founders of Marimekko created a collection of unrestrictive garments utilizing their textiles. From the beginning, Marimekko garments were loose and unstructured, meant to allow freedom of movement. Marimekko gained widespread popularity in the United States when Jackie Kennedy purchased several Marimekko dresses in 1960, which she wore throughout her husband's presidential campaign.

Belted dress
Marimekko
1972-74
Gift of Dora Lou Davis
2004.835.1AB

Sonia Rykiel

Sonia Rykiel's signature garment is the striped sweater. Her earliest versions were shrunken, body-hugging "poor boy" sweaters with horizontal stripes designed in the early 1960s. The use of soft, knit fabric (often striped) became a trademark, earning Rykiel the title "Queen of Knitwear." Rykiel intended her knitwear to take shape on the body, so early in her career, she encouraged woman who wore her garments to forgo undergarments. When she opened her eponymous Left Bank boutique in 1968, it quickly became symbolic of the 1960s movement way from haute couture and towards youthful ready-to-wear.

Rykiel's designs from the 1970s and 80s often suggest silhouettes popular in earlier decades. Drop-waisted dresses similar to those seen in the 1920s were a particular favorite as were wide-legged pants. Though the pant and sweater ensemble below dates from the 1980s, it could have been worn by a daring woman of the 1930s or 1940s, such as Katharine Hepburn.

Wool knit ensemble
Sonia Rykiel
1980-82
Gift of Patricia G. Waldron, M.D.
2002.149.15AB

Moschino Cheap and Chic

By the time Franco Moschino (1950-1994) introduced his "Cheap and Chic" line in 1988, he had already earned a reputation as the irreverent "court jester" of the fashion world. From the time he debuted his first "Couture!" collection in 1983, Moschino treated fashion as an absurdist playground. Models were sent down the runway with candy-box tops instead of hats, wearing dresses patterned with faux tire tracks or dressed in giant Moschino shopping bags instead of garments. Tailored suits featured quirky details such as a collar made of teddy bears or pockets resembling miniature purses. "Stop the Fashion System" was a favorite catch-phrase, used in Moschino ad campaigns and as a logo on garments. Moschino considered being a fashion designer "a superficial, stupid job," stating that he was more interested in the "social-psychological aspect" of fashion.¹

Cheap and Chic sweater
Franco Moschino
1992-1994
FIDM Museum Purchase
2005.5.26

Holly's Harp

Los Angeles based designer Holly Harp (1939-1995) began her fashion career in the late 1960s, designing theatrical, psychedelic clothing for iconic performers such as Janis Joplin and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane. Harp's early designs were in tune with the catch-all aesthetic of late 1960s hippie fashions, and her garments quickly gained a reputation for "being wild and wonderful, feathers and fringe."¹ A maxi-dress worn by the singer-songwriter Dory Previn was typical of Harp's aesthetic. Constructed of an old table cloth, green doily and a piece of vintage satin, it was described as a "clothing mosaic."² In 1968, Harp opened Holly's Harp, a small boutique on the Sunset Strip where she sold both her ready-made and custom-designed garments.

Within a few years, Harp's designs had taken on a very different character. Instead of merely incorporating bits and pieces of the past by using vintage textiles, Harp started designing slinky, overtly sexy dresses and separates that referenced the glamour of Old Hollywood. Using silk textiles such as jersey, crepe and chiffon, Harp created what she called " fantasy-oriented...mood clothes."³ These mood clothes often referenced 1930s evening wear, as in the Holly's Harp bias-cut dress seen here.

Evening dress
Holly's Harp
c. 1978
Gift of Gloria Strasburger
99.655.3

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

Twiggy

The girl herself is the extravaganza that makes the look of the sixties.¹

Twiggy exploded onto the scene in 1966 though pure happenstance. While getting a haircut at the London salon Leonard of Mayfair, 16 year old Twiggy (then known as Leslie Hornby) was persuaded to try a short, boyish hairstyle. A promotional photo of the resulting haircut was displayed at the salon. Within a few days, a fashion editor for the British newspaper Daily Express spotted the photo and asked for the name of the young woman pictured. Twiggy met with the editor, who had a few more photos taken. A few weeks later, Twiggy's father opened a copy of the Daily Express to see his daughter named the "Face of '66."

In comparison to other models, Twiggy was tiny. Her short haircut and the doll-like black eyelashes she painted under her eyes reinforced an impression of childlike androgyny. This girlish self presentation perfectly suited the clothing of 1966, which focused on garments that deemphasized the female body. Photographs of Twiggy show her in childlike poses, such as on a child-size tricycle or throwing herself at the camera, arms outstretched. During interviews, Twiggy further reinforced her youthfulness by frequently responding to questions with "I dunno" and by fidgeting like a child.

Despite her apparent naivete, Twiggy knew that her celebrity wouldn't last forever. To capitalize on her stature, Twiggy (apparently at the suggestion of her father) started Twiggy Enterprises, which licensed her image to numerous manufacturers. Though a clothing line designed by Twiggy was a financial flop, Twiggy merchandise was lucrative. False-eye lashes, notebooks, pens, paper dolls, lunch boxes, wigs, dress-up kits and hosiery are only some of the Twiggy licensed items marketed to her fans in 1967-68.

Twiggy tights
Trimfit
1967
Gift of Stephanie Kline Morehouse
2004.148.5

Fast fashion

Over the last few years, collaborations between clothing designers and mass-market retailers have become increasingly common. These fast fashion or capsule collections consist of a small group of designer items created for a specific retailer and are only available for a limited time. Capsule collections allow the average consumer to purchase a designer item at significant savings while allowing mass-market chains to increase their profile through targeted marketing campaigns. For new or unestablished designers, capsule collections help spread their name and design aesthetic, while well-known designers are able to bring their designs to a wider audience. Though these collaborations are now commonplace, one of the very first high/low collaborations was between Karl Lagerfeld and H&M, which launched in November 2004.

As the first such collaboration, Lagerfeld's capsule collection received a tremendous amount of attention from both consumers and the press. Carried in roughly half of the H&M stores, customers lined up for hours before stores opened in order to purchase one of the Lagerfeld designed items. The collection sold out within hours at many H&M stores and there were reports of customers actually grabbing garments out of the hands of sales clerks. The FIDM Museum black silk cocktail dress seen below is one of Lagerfeld's designs for H&M.

Cocktail dress
Karl Lagerfeld for H&M
Fall 2004
Museum Purchase
2004.5.47A-C