("If you don't like full skirts..." Article in Harper's Bazaar, Photographs by George Hoyningen-Huene March 1938.) Alexey Brodovitch was an Art Director for Harper's Bazaar under Carmel Snow. He brought a modernist eye (and modern artists like Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Raoul Dufy, and Marc Chagall ) to the magazine.
Yoshiki Hishinuma, evening dress, white and fuchsia polyester, cage crinoline with nylon, Fall 1996, Japan, gift of Yoshiki Hishinuma.
My trip to NYC this week is jam-packed with book related things, but I did manage to take in the RetroSpective exhibition currently on view at the Museum at FIT (May 22-November 16, 2013).
Curated by Jennifer Farley, with textiles organized by Lynn Weidner and accessories by Colleen Hill, RetroSpecitve is my favorite kind of fashion exhibition: It’s focus is on historical representations of fashion throughout history. Though small, it is well-informed and carefully selected to show how the history of fashion is a constant source of inspiration for designers, and has been for hundreds of years. This is not something new, as some would suggest. This small but significant exhibit covers 250 years of revivalism, “from the 18th century to grunge.”
Elsa Schiaparelli, evening dress, black and bronze shot silk taffeta, circa 1939, France, courtesy of Mrs. Michael Blankfort.
The culture of revival is presented here with beautiful examples from FIT’s collection of couture: ensembles, under-structures, dress-forms, textiles, and accessories. It is supported by two video’s from British Pathe, highlighting revivals of the 1920s style in the 1950s, and also of monastic dress in the 1940s.
After an introductory image depicting the changing silhouette of fashions by Ruben Toledo, the exhibition is grouped by style or trend, and includes sections on hoops, bustles, panniers, and 1830s style puffed sleeves, pin-stripes, and more. One of my favorite aspects of this show, was the connections draw between designers of different time periods. Cat Chow juxtaposed with Claire McCardell, Paco Rabanne paired with Yohji Yamamoto, a beautiful 1951 Balmain evening gown is paired with an 18th century robe a la Anglaise, and so on. Some of my favorites surprised me (as I don’t typically go for anything post 1980): a beautiful 1980 YSL evening gown of changeable purple taffeta with puffed sleeves (a la 1830s), a 1996 Yoshiki Hishinuma hooped gown (mixing eastern and western cultures, picture above), and not surprisingly, an Elsa Schiaparelli bustle gown from the 1930s (seen at right). Shoes, handbags, undergarments, upholstery, and other textile designs round out the exhibit and make for a rich experience.
If you happen to be in New York anytime soon, it’s well worth a visit.
P.S.: Did you know that there was a Fashion Archive at the British Pathe Website?
The book Madame Grès: Sculptural Fashioncommemorates the ever-ephemeral fashion exhibition of the same name (which closed at MoMu Fashion Museum, Province of Antwerp in February of this year) and adds to the growing body of knowledge on this important twentieth-century designer.
Often re-interpreting classical Greek sculptural forms, and best known for her classical draping and pleating, Madame Alix Grès (1903-1993) was inspired by the body and was fiercely dedicated to her work. Though active from the early 1930s (as Alix Barton), her career as Madame Grès began when she opened a couture house under that name in 1942. Her clients included the likes of the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dolores del Río.
With this volume, Olivier Saillard, director of Galliera, The Paris Museum of Fashion, adds his name to the prestigious list of fashion historians who have documented the work of Grès. Previous books have been penned by such fashion history giants as Richard Martin and Harold Koda of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Madame Grès 1994) and Patricia Mears of the Fashion Institute of Technology (Madame Grès: the Sphinx of Fashion, 2007).
Madame Grès: Sculptural Fashion is a wonderful resource for historians already familiar with her history and who are looking to add further to their libraries. It documents the garment and sketch collections held at the Galliera, while offering the best of the details of her career including: insights into her public persona, her relationship with the media, her opinions on exhibitions of her work planned during her lifetime (they weren’t positive), her design process and philosophy, and much more.
The 216-page-book is full of photographic evidence of her work, as well as some photos of work she inspired other modern designers to create (Jean Paul Gaultier and Yogi Yamamoto among them). The “Couture Studio” section of the book presents photographs of some sixty extant garments created between 1933-1988 (with captions at the back of the book), followed by a section of contemporary high fashion photographs of Grès work. A selection of the 2,800 sketches/illustrations donated by the Pierre Bergere – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation leaves you wanting more and a section called “Biography” presents a sort-of annotated narrative chronology interspersed with illustrative images. Despite all of the material included, I found the book’s small trim size and layout too be somewhat awkward –many images occupied only the top half of a page in a smallish size, making many design details difficult to see. This left the bottom third of the page more-or-less blank, yet captions were at the back of the book. This design made little sense to me.
Despite these few shortcomings, I’d recommend this book for the true fashion historian, museum fashion curator, libraries with strong fashion sections, and the devoted enthusiast.
Due to hit shelves on April 9, the next issue of Knitting Traditions not only includes 25 historical knitting patterns (including an article about Knitting and the Brontë sisters), but also has two extra treat: an article I wrote on the 40-year history of Jack Frost Yarn and a pattern I derived from a booklet the company put out in 1953.
My article, The Jack Frost Yarn Company and the History of Handknitting in the United States was a joy to research and write, has some nice historical photos, with a good dose of fashion history to boot. The little vintage basket-weave baby sweater, in butter yellow, knit-up quickly and was easy to do. The pre-order page forKnitting Traditions Spring 2013 issue notes:
Learn about the history of the Jack Frost Yarn Company and its popular, now-vintage knitted pattern books, as written by Heather A. Vaughan. Enjoy photographs of early Jack Frost pattern booklets and create your own vintage baby cardigan with the Jack Frost Baby Cardigan knitting pattern.”
I can’t wait to get my copy in hand, and see people start to actually knit up the cardigan! All the more reason to look forward to springtime.
Over the past few months some books have landed on my desk all surrounding the same topic: dress and appearance in early Hollywood. Here’s a quick round-up of these newly available resources (all still on my ‘to read’ list):
In the early part of the twentieth century, migrants made their way from rural homes to cities in record numbers and many traveled west. Los Angeles became a destination. Women flocked to the growing town to join the film industry as workers and spectators, creating a “New Woman.” Their efforts transformed filmmaking from a marginal business to a cosmopolitan, glamorous, and bohemian one. By 1920, Los Angeles had become the only western city where women outnumbered men. In Go West, Young Women! Hilary A. Hallett explores these relatively unknown new western women and their role in the development of Los Angeles and the nascent film industry. From Mary Pickford’s rise to become perhaps the most powerful woman of her age, to the racist moral panics of the post-World War I years that culminated in Hollywood’s first sex scandal, Hallett describes how the path through early Hollywood presaged the struggles over modern gender roles that animated the century to come.”
In Precocious Charms, Gaylyn Studlar examines how Hollywood presented female stars as young girls or girls on the verge of becoming women. Child stars are part of this study but so too are adult actresses who created motion picture masquerades of youthfulness. Studlar details how Mary Pickford, Shirley Temple, Deanna Durbin, Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Jones, and Audrey Hepburn performed girlhood in their films. She charts the multifaceted processes that linked their juvenated star personas to a wide variety of cultural influences, ranging from Victorian sentimental art to New Look fashion, from nineteenth-century children’s literature to post-World War II sexology, and from grand opera to 1930s radio comedy. By moving beyond the general category of “woman,” Precocious Charms leads to a new understanding of the complex pleasures Hollywood created for its audience during the half century when film stars were a major influence on America’s cultural imagination.”
This exploration of fashion in American silent film offers fresh perspectives on the era preceding the studio system, and the evolution of Hollywood’s distinctive brand of glamour. By the 1910s, the moving image was an integral part of everyday life and communicated fascinating, but as yet un-investigated, ideas and ideals about fashionable dress.”
As you might have noticed, the last few weeks here at FashionHistoria have focused on book reviews. In October I began to receive a steady-stream of packages with glorious, lovely, over sized, and decadent fashion history books. I slowly, but methodically, began sharing their insides with you, starting back in October with Katherine Hepburn’s Costumes: A Book and An Exhibition. Each week in November, there was a new topic and a new book to explore:
Available as of November 15, Vernier: Fashion, Femininity, and Form by Robert Muir and Becky Conekin (Hirmer Publishers) offers a highly illustrated documentation of Eugene ‘Gene’ Vernier, a photographer at British Vogue from 1954-1967. Beautiful, evocative photographs of 1950s British high fashion are included in this volume, with equally stunning essays by Robin Muir, Becky Conekin and Alistair Layzell.
British Vogue, January 1959 (Cover photo by Eugene 'Gene' Vernier)
Admittedly, I had not heard of Vernier (blame it on my American bias), but his covers and interior photography for Vogue in the 1950s and 1960s are absolutely stunning, and deserve the attention that this publication brings. For a quick over-view (and sneak-peek at the images included in the book), BBC News has a great video interview with Vernier from May of last year. More images can be found in this Flickr set.
Allstair Layzell’s essay, “Eugene Vernier: A life” uses the uniquely modern invention of the QR code to link still images to nine clips of film online, allowing readers to see some of Vernier’s early film work for Pathe (he was a camera man). (I’ve included one below) It’s a unique feature of Vernier: Fashion, Femininity, and Form, and one that I’ve not seen implemented in a book before.
Around Britain: 1947 (Click Image to go to watch the video)
I was so excited when Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft by Sandy Black arrived on my doorstep. Black is a well-known clothing and textiles scholar from the London College of Fashion (who also founded the journal Fashion Practice). Sandy Black’s work in this book is not only fascinating, but satisfying to someone (me) who’s been looking for a comprehensive history of knitting. In four well-illustrated chapters Black covers the history of knitting:
Red toe socks, 4th-5th century, found at Oxyrynchus (now El-Bahnasa), Egypt. "This pair of ankle length socks in red wool is in good condition with only one hole in the sole. The sock is worked seamlessly in single needle knitting..." (10)
1. History, Tradition and Mythology: from the Third Century to the Late Nineteenth Century
2. Livelihood and Industry: Hand- and Machine-knitting from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Centuries
3. Knitting in the Home: from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day
4. Classics to Couture: Fashion Knitwear from 1900 to Now.
Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craftis full of historical eye-candy for those looking for inspiration, but also includes plenty of the hard facts that historians crave. I was particularly drawn to the “Knitting in the Home” chapter (since that’s what I often do and write about). It includes a section on the evolution of the knitting pattern that begins:
With the development of printing and the rise of literacy, the popular market for needlework and knitting had grown considerably by the end of the nineteenth century. To reach this audience at more accessible prices than the drawing-room manuals, there emerged several series of low-priced monthly journals. Significant among these were the Family Friend (1849-66 and 1870-1921) and Weldon’s Practical needlework series (1886-1929), including Practical Crochet and Practical Knitter. . . . Knitting instructions also evolved. Gradually, more attention was paid to teaching the basic knitting skills in printed form, and reference began to be made to the notion of knitting tension and needle gauge. instead of continuous prose, instructions were separated into lines. Despite Mrs. Gaugain’s pioneering efforts, the standard knitting abbreviations now in common use were first established by Weledon’s in 1906.”
Bonnett. 19th Century, Britain. The back of this intricate textural bonnet forms an unusual six-pointed figure made up of obrdered leaves on an openwork mesh ground. (V &A)
Granted – the vast majority of in-text examples and photographs in Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft relate more specifically to knitting in the UK, and many of the objects shown are held in the collections of the V & A. Of course, that isn’t all that surprising, given that this is a V & A book.
That said, major American companies – like Oregon-based Jantzen – are mentioned. Smaller American companies, like Jack Frost, are not. American knitwear is occasionally mentioned in a number of places, like the sportswear section. World history of knitting is included (Europe, Americas, Asia), as are technological developments and knitwear trends in high fashion through history.
Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft includes a diverse number of viewpoints, and perspectives on knitwear throughout history: and also includes knitted dresses by designers like Jean paul Gaultier and Julien Macdonald; as well as World War II knitting; intricate lacewear; Victorian beaded bags; and socks from all eras.
It seems a thorough examination, and I can’t wait to dive into it more deeply.
Amy de la Haye, better-known to many fashion-scholars as the co-author of, Fashion Since 1900, and Professor of Dress History and Curatorship at the London College of Fashion has just published this A to Z of Style book with Abrams. De la Haye calls this a “quotationary” and it includes A to Z listings of quotes from famous designers, stylists, historical publications as well as the fashionable elite on specific topics from as far back as 1850.
When I first saw this short, gift-book-style publication, I was concerned that de la Haye was abandoning her academic roots, but after reading her introduction and a few of the entries, my fears subsided. Her work remains academic, but also entertaining.
"A" page layout (via Emma Farrorons blog - click for more)
A to Z of Style is a both fun and useful reference for casual readers and researchers alike. In many ways, it functions as a mini-encyclopedia. Entries are often accompanied by contextual notes explaining a vestigial garment no longer in use for context and better understanding. Longer entries provide a greater understanding of a person or era. An example entry:
PERFUME: “To find the name of a perfume is a very difficult problem because every word in the dictionary seems to be registered. The colour flashed in front of my eyes. Bright, impossible, impudent, becoming, life-giving, like all the light and birds and the fish in the world put together, a colour of China and Peru but not of the West – a shocking colour pure and undiluted. So I called the perfume ‘Shocking.'” (pg 94).
While most historians find line-illustrations to be problematic for documentation purposes (they usually impart the stylistic references of the current era onto historical objects), the illustrations provided here by Emma Farrarons are of specific objects in the collection of the V & A. A complete list of the objects depicted, with accession numbers is included at the back of the book.
A to Z of Style offers a creative and entertaining way to learn the history of fashion, without loosing the academic rigor we expect from the V & A and Amy de la Haye.
The book Madame Grès: Sculptural Fashion commemorates the ever-ephemeral fashion exhibition of the same name (which closed at MoMu Fashion Museum, Province of Antwerp in February of this year) and adds to the growing body of knowledge on this important twentieth-century designer.
Handknitting in the United States was a joy to research and write, has some nice historical photos, with a good dose of fashion history to boot. The little vintage basket-weave baby sweater, in butter yellow, knit-up quickly and was easy to do. The pre-order page for Knitting Traditions Spring 2013 issue notes:
Available as of November 15, Vernier: Fashion, Femininity, and Form by Robert Muir and Becky Conekin (Hirmer Publishers) offers a highly illustrated documentation of Eugene ‘Gene’ Vernier, a photographer at British Vogue from 1954-1967. Beautiful, evocative photographs of 1950s British high fashion are included in this volume, with equally stunning essays by Robin Muir, Becky Conekin and Alistair Layzell.
Amy de la Haye, better-known to many fashion-scholars as the co-author of, Fashion Since 1900, and Professor of Dress History and Curatorship at the London College of Fashion has just published this A to Z of Style book with Abrams. De la Haye calls this a “quotationary” and it includes A to Z listings of quotes from famous designers, stylists, historical publications as well as the fashionable elite on specific topics from as far back as 1850.