FIDM Museum Blog

Fashion Birthday: Miuccia Prada

Happy birthday to Miuccia Prada, born on May 10, 1949! Prada, the creative force behind her family's 100 year old company, has a knack for distilling her interests (in and outside of fashion) into influential collections that chart the course of fashion. Miuccia Prada's design philosophy revolves around a version of aspirational dressing: "Clothes should always represent your vision of yourself...or what you want to represent—even if it's only for one night."¹ Her approach to design is thoughtful. Rather than providing pat answers regarding her inspiration for a particular collection, Miuccia Prada offers explanations that hint at her interest in connecting fashion with broader cultural issues. Regarding her Spring 2013 collection, Prada declared, "Dream is forbidden, nostalgia is forbidden, to be too sweet is not good. Everything we used to feel historically, now you can't enjoy. The clothes are the expression of this impossible dream."²

Prada pumps
2003-2004
2005.5.91AB
Museum Purchase

Prada orchid shoes, Spring/Summer 2008

Shoes
Spring/Summer 2008
Miuccia Prada
Silk velvet, suede, leather & plastic
Museum Purchase
2009.5.11AB

Miuccia Prada (b. 1949) received a PhD in political science from the University of Milan, but altered the course of her life by entering the world of fashion. She is a major collector of modern art—a passion reflected in collaborations with emerging talents, such as artist James Jean (b. 1979), who drew enchanted forests filled with fairies, insects, and orchids for Prada's Spring/Summer 2008 line. Jean's sinuous illustrations were enlarged as a backdrop for the fashion show and advertising campaign, in addition to being printed on clothing, purses, and shoeboxes. His fantasy world came to life in Trembled Blossoms, a short animated film produced to correspond with the Prada collection. Transformation and fragility pervade the movie: a naked, nymph-like woman emerges from an orchid to be dressed in a complete Prada wardrobe by magical forest creatures that morph into clothing. Orchids blossom on the heels of this pair of pumps; their glossy sheen suggests hand-painted porcelain. The rich floral palette and girlish bows continue the theme of enchanting female charm.

Accessories from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection

The Annette Green Fragrance Archive Presents:
Accessories from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection

Shoes
Europe, c. 1800
Leather, canvas & ink
Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection
L2011.13.534AB

We are delighted to announce the opening of Accessories from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection, now on view in The Annette Green Fragrance Archive. This new exhibit complements A Century of Millinery Style: Hats from the Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection, 1820s - 1920s. Both exhibits are drawn from Helen Larson's exceptional private collection. Surveying footwear, fans, gloves, purses, and hats, these objects demonstrate Helen Larson’s acquisition prowess and appreciation of fashion history. From a pair of 1860s men’s floral Berlin woolwork slippers to a 1930s crimson reptile skin handbag, the importance of adornment is not lost on the viewer of this visually striking installation.

Accessories from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection is FREE and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10am–5pm. The exhibition is located in The Annette Green Fragrance Archive, on the second floor of FIDM's Los Angeles campus. Check-in is required at the security station on the ground floor. 

*There are no fragrance related objects on display at this time.*

Ferragamo Tavarnelle lace high heels, mid-1930s

Salvatore Ferragamo
c.1935-36
Permanent Loan, FIDM
2009.25.2AB

Fantasy footwear flourished during the 1930s, and Salvatore Ferragamo (1898-1960) was the leader in crafting shoes from unusual materials. At this time, his luxury output was completely handmade and custom fitted to individual clients--a perfect balance of style and comfort. The uppers on this pair are Tavarnelle needlepoint lace, a Tuscan specialty produced just outside Florence, Italy.¹ Often used in white for decorating undergarments, Ferragamo commissioned a colored version with pink and blue blossoms on a field of brown twigs and green foliage. The pliability of the lace must have delighted the wearer, as it easily allowed her feet to contract and expand in motion, and did not bind her toes tightly like fully-enclosed models.

1 Piacenti, Kirsten Aschengreen, et al. Salvatore Ferragamo: The Art of the Shoe, 1898-1960 (New York: Rizzoli, 1992) 47 & 79.

Side-button boots, 1870s

The Victorian woman's wardrobe was divided into a dizzying array of categories. Morning, visiting, walking, evening, traveling, shopping, and mourning are just some of the activities and circumstances that demanded a dedicated ensemble. Understanding the difference between a dress for morning and a dress for traveling was valuable knowledge that helped a woman maintain her social standing and good reputation. For those women who needed help unraveling the specifics of dress and social etiquette, guidebooks such as The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness (1872) and Etiquette: What To Do, and How To Do It (1885) offered detailed tips on polite manners and proper dress. Generally speaking, most 19th century etiquette manuals urge women to avoid excessively showy dress, and to ensure that accessories, fabric, hairstyle and other details are harmonious and suitable for the occasion. Though etiquette manuals offer startlingly detailed guidelines regarding most aspects of dress, they barely mention footwear. This is also true of the leading 19th century fashion magazines Godey's and Harper's Bazaar; these publications mentioned footwear, but relatively infrequently.
Side-button boots
c. 1870-79
Museum Purchase
2010.5.16AB

Boudoir slippers, c. 1939

 

Boudoir slippers
c. 1939
Daniel Green
Gift of Kevin Jones
2008.155.3AB

In the 1937 article, "Mules: The More the Merrier," Vogue claimed that, "all women are slipper collectors."¹ Though this is probably an overstatement, the article indicates that in the late 1930s, slippers were much more than soft and comfy shoes for scuffing around the house. Garnet satin mules for intimate evenings at home, flat black satin slides for hostessing, red flannel canvas flats for pairing with casual slacks or shorts, and rustic fur-lined reindeer moccasins are only a sampling of the slipper styles presented in the Vogue article. Slippers were playful, spanning the gap between sensible daytime footwear and refined evening footwear.

Fred Astaire's dancing shoes

 

Tap Shoes
Worn by Fred Astaire, c. 1930s
Suede, leather & metal taps
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles/FIDM Museum
L88.1.125AB

By the time he first appeared in a Hollywood film in 1933, Fred Astaire was already an experienced and popular performer. Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1899, Astaire first encountered dance classes as a toddler, when his older sister Adele was enrolled in ballet classes. Their parents believed that Adele might be talented enough for a performance career, so when the children were only 5 and 7, the family moved to New York. The family (still using their original name Austerlitz) had no connections in New York, very little money, and the name of a dance academy recommended by Adele's Omaha dance teacher. Whether by design or happenstance, once the Astaire family settled in New York, Fred and Adele were both enrolled in dance classes. Fred and Adele's teacher felt that the children had some talent, and developed a brother-sister act for the siblings. Changing their last name from Austerlitz to Astaire, the siblings began performing a comedic dance act on the vaudeville circuit.

Mae West objects on display

 

Originally posted in 2009, this post explores Mae West's larger-than-life persona. Visit the 20th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibition to see one of Mae West's corsets and a pair of her platform shoes on exhibit. The exhibition closes on April 28, 2012.

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Mae West's (1893-1980) most famous attribute was her figure. Buxom, rounded and held in place by rigid corsets, West's silhouette provoked a degree of outrage, while also serving as her best publicity. Her hourglass shape was immortalized in 1937 when the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli used West's silhouette as the basis for her Shocking perfume bottle. Hired to design costumes for West's 1937 film Every Day's a Holiday, the Paris based couturier would not travel to Hollywood and West could not travel to Paris. A solution was reached whereby a torso based on West's measurements was sent to Schiaparelli's Paris workshop. The resulting perfume bottle serves as an iconic representation of both Mae West and Elsa Schiaparelli.

Shocking by Schiaparelli
c.1937
Gift of Annette Green
F2005.860.820A

Spring flowers

 

Spring is here! Today, March 20, is the first day of spring for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Spring brings longer days, warmer weather and a host of colorful blooms. In celebration of spring's arrival, we offer you an array of flowers from our collection. Enjoy!

Evening boots
1850-55
Gift of Barbara Bundy
2006.37.3AB

This pair of nineteenth century evening boots feature a pattern of roses and twining foliage. Made of a lightly iridescent silk damask brocade accented with green leather foxing at the heel and toe, these boots were almost certainly made to match an evening gown. Because of their delicacy, they would have been worn indoors only. As was common throughout much of the 19th century, these boots have undefined left and right soles. Shoes with distinctly different shapes for the left and right food didn't became widespread until the late 19th century.

Leather booties worn by Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc

 

When Joan of Arc was released in 1948, Ingrid Bergman was already a star. Born in Sweden in 1915, Bergman starred in several Swedish stage and screen productions before her 1939 American debut in Intermezzo. An English-language adaption of a Swedish film, Intermezzo featured Bergman reprising her role as Anita, a piano teacher who pulls concert pianist Holger (Leslie Howard, also known as Ashley in Gone With the Wind) away from his family. Bergman's next major role was in Casablanca (1942), now considered a cinema classic. Throughout the 1940s, Bergman starred in a string of successful films: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944), and the Hitchcock films Spellbound (1945), and Notorious (1946). In 1947, Life magazine claimed: "polls have rated her No. 1 feminine star of the year."¹

In 1947, Ingrid Bergman made a move to the New York stage, playing the title role in Joan of Lorraine by Maxwell Anderson. Constructed as a play within a play, Joan of Lorraine tells Joan of Arc's story through a contemporary staging of her remarkable story. For her onstage portrayal of Joan of Arc, Bergman won a Tony Award. Bergman had wanted to play Joan of Arc for many years, and her investment in the role led to her involvement with the 1948 film Joan of Arc. Based on Joan of Lorraine, the 1948 cinematic version of Joan of Arc is a straightforward retelling of Joan's saga. Broadly summarized, Joan of Arc was a 15th century peasant girl who heard voices. According to Joan, these voices were saints telling her she must lead the decimated French army to victory over the occupying English. Historical record indicates that Joan existed, and did actually serve as a figurehead and/or military strategist during a series of remarkable military victories in the early 15th century. In 1431, she was burned at the stake by a faction sympathetic to the English occupation.

Worn by Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc, 1948
Designer: Dorothy Jeakins
Maker: La Ray Footwear
Leather 
Department of Recreation and Parks, City of Los Angeles/FIDM Museum
L88.1.190AB