In 2007, the Textile Group of Los Angeles donated a late 19th century Silver Studio textile panel to the FIDM Museum. About 7 feet long and 2 ½ feet wide, this printed cotton textile features a dynamic pattern of orange poppies and white daisy chains on a pink ground. As our curators were familiar with the Silver Studio, they were certain that the textile had been used to decorate an interior, not for garment construction. Silver Studio
1897
Gift of the Textile Group of Los Angeles
2007.916.1
From 1996 to 1998, garments from Issey Miyake's Pleats Please Guest Artist Series showcased the work of selected contemporary artists. Using the one-size-fits all, permanently pleated polyester garments as a canvas, artists Yasumasa Morimura, Nobuyoshi Araki, Tim Hawkinson and Cai Guo Qiang created prints specifically for Pleats Please. The first collaboration, Guest Artist Series No. 1, highlighted the work of artist Yasumasa Morimura.
Born in 1951 in Osaka, Japan, Morimura's art is based on an egocentric reimagining of iconic paintings and photographs from art history and celebrity culture. Morimura hijacks these images, usually inserting a carefully costumed version of himself in place of the central figure. Using both and high and low technologies, Morimura has envisioned himself as Frida Kahlo, Van Gogh's sunflowers, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Albert Einstein, Che Guevara, and Judith holding the head of Holofernes. For his collaboration with Issey Miyake, Morimura placed himself within the neoclassical world of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres' 1856 painting, La Source. Instead of replacing the central figure with his own image, Morimura twined an inverted image of himself wrapped in red mesh around the painting's subject, a statuesque nude. The final print is a complicated layering of art historical and contemporary imagery that touches on a variety of constructs: male and female, east and west, clothed and nude.
Issey Miyake and Yasumasa Morimura
Guest Artist Series No. 1
Fall/Winter 1996-97
Gift of the Galindo Family
2010.886.2
Continue reading "Issey Miyake Guest Artist series No. 1 Yasumasa Morimura" »
Reception dress
1876-77
Maison Touin, Paris
Silk faille, wool & silk brocade, linen lace
Gift of John Kauke
82.405.2AB
Made by a Paris dressmaker, this purple and cream reception dress could have walked right off a fashion plate. The styling and details are up to the minute, a reflection of high fashion c. 1876. Since the reign of Louis XIV in the late 17th century, Paris had been the fashion epicenter of the Western world. In 1858, when Charles Frederick Worth and business partner Otto Bobergh established Maison Worth et Bobergh at 7 Rue de la Paix, this street and its environs became the heart of Paris' fashion industry. Maison Touin, the house that created this dress, was located at 3 Rue Ventadour, only a few blocks away from the Rue de la Paix and well-within the stylish orbit of the famous street.
Sixty-eight years ago today, on June 6 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Called D-Day, this invasion marked a turning point in World War II. At the time of the invasion, Nazi Germany occupied much of western Europe, including France. Due to Allied successes during D-Day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy, by August 1944, Paris was liberated from occupation and German forces were in retreat throughout Europe. Within a year, Allied forces had achieved military victory throughout Europe.
In light of this anniversary, we wanted to revisit our 1941 World War II propaganda dress. Made from yardage printed as a fundraiser for the volunteer British-American Ambulance Corps, it features a swirling print built around the patriotic slogan, "There'll Always Be An England." When we originally posted this dress in 2010, we were somewhat puzzled as to why this slogan was printed backwards. Our curators have recently settled on an answer to this question. Read on to learn more!
Day dress
1941
Gift of Madge Baker
2005.842.2
Bodice
Silk net with embroidery
Gift of Deane Funk
87.286.1
Made from ivory silk net embroidered with an allover floral pattern, this elegant bodice gives the impression of being completely sheer. Actually, the bodice is lined with a layer of ivory silk, thus preserving the modesty of the wearer. Though the bodice itself is made from a fragile, insubstantial textile, it was worn over a rigid foundation: the S-bend corset. This corset, with its flat front and steel busk, forced the hips back and the bust forward into a distinctive S-shape. The resulting silhouette idealized the body of a mature woman, featuring a full monobosom, tightly cinched waist, and full, rounded hips. This silhouette dominated women's fashion from 1900 until about 1908, when it was gradually replaced by the unarticulated, upright lines of the empire silhouette.
"Many a room has been "made" by a single panel of Fortuny fabric. As furniture coverings and curtains these prints are infinitely rich and adaptable. And the superb gesture is to hang entire wall surfaces with Fortuny stuffs."1
Textile panel detail
Mariano Fortuny
c. 1915
Gift of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum
87.1010.1
Mariano Fortuny's interest in the past influenced all of his work. His most iconic garment, the finely pleated silk Delphos dress, was based on the pleated garments portrayed in ancient Greek sculpture. To complement the Delphos, Fortuny created loose-fitting coats, capes and wraps and patterned with rich designs. Fortuny's tastes were varied and his textile patterns referenced a wide array of artistic traditions. The Italian Renaissance was a consistent inspiration, but Fortuny also borrowed design elements from sources as diverse as the pre-Columbian art of Central and South America, Chinese brush paintings, Coptic textile designs, and Arabic calligraphy. Fortuny's first encounters with historic textiles were through his family. His parents collected historic textiles, and Fortuny continued this collecting tradition, amassing a large collection of historic textiles that were kept in trunks at the Palazzo Orfei, Fortuny's home in Venice.
If these black mitts remind you of circa 1980s Madonna, you're not alone. The first time I encountered a pair of black 19th century mitts, I instantly remembered the fingerless lace gloves Madonna wore throughout much of the 1980s. She wears a black pair in the video for her 1984 hit Lucky Star.
Fingerless mitts or gloves
1830s
Cotton and embroidery
Gift of John Kauke
82.404.3AB
Jacket
c. 1946
Wool, cotton, brass buttons
Lanz Original
Gift of Patricia Marks
2003.45.3
Lanz originated in Salzburg, Austria during the early 1920s. Founded by Josef Lanz and Fritz Mahler in 1922, Lanz of Salzburg specialized in ski wear and traditional Austrian dress. Salzburg was also home to the newly established (and increasingly popular) Salzburg Festival. Founded in 1920, the Salzburg Festival's summer program of music and theatre quickly attracted international attention. By the early 1930s, the Salzburg Festival was a fixture on the international event calendar and attracted visitors from around the world. Lanz benefited from the popularity of the Salzburg Festival, and quickly gained an international clientele for its regional styles. In 1933, Vogue mentioned Lanz in an article describing the jet set's transformation on arrival in Salzburg: "The women take off their Mainbochers and Augustabernards and put on a cotton dirndl dress and rakish Tyrolian [sic] felt hat with a feather (bought at Lanz in Salzburg, probably)."1
Vibrant patterns and bold colors are common characteristics of textiles dating from the 1920s. Rejecting the Belle Epoque palette of off-white and cream accented with pale pink or soft blue, textile designers drew from a variety of eclectic sources to create patterns showcasing a rainbow of saturated colors. Design inspiration came from near and far, with elements of European folk art, modern art movements, non-western cultures and classical civilizations all influencing 1920s textile designs. Though noteworthy in their own right, these textiles were also part of a larger design movement called Art Deco. Originating in France around 1910, Art Deco was based on a luxurious interpretation of modern life. The movement influenced all areas of design, including architecture, fashion, graphic design and decorative arts. Disseminated via the well-attended Paris Exposition of 1925, Art Deco became a universal style that influenced both mass-produced and elite design throughout the world.
Evening dress
1925-27
Gift of Mrs. Geroge Holden
83.360.1
The most popular post of 2011 is truly deserving of this honor! Associate Curator Christina Johnson's investigation into a a 1900 gown in our collection and its relationship to the Paris Exposition of 1900 is a joy to read.
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Did you know that working at a museum requires ace detective skills? In this blog post, Associate Curator Christina Johnson describes her research on a evening gown in our collection. This research, aka sleuthing, led to a wealth of knowledge about the gown itself, its wearer and the context in which it was created.
Evening gown
1900
2005.842.22
Gift of Madge Baker
FIDM Museum Collection
My research began with the evening gown you see above, donated to the FIDM Museum in 2005. The gown is part of a collection of about 25 garments and accessories dating from the 1890s to the 1940s worn by Ida Irwin Jones and her daughter Katharine. The items were donated by Katharine’s daughter, Madge Baker. The original wearer of this evening gown must have been Ida who would have been about 28 years old at the time.
