Just an update from a previous post…Now that it’s the month of, I wanted to see which WT readers have confirmed that you will be attending this year’s CSA conference in Kansas City, MO. Perhaps we can work out to eat lunch at the same table Thurs or Fri.
Drop a note in the comments or send me a direct message.
My oral presentation is Thursday morning, and WT‘s intern Kat has a poster presentation Saturday morning.
Worn Through is now on facebook and Twitter.
Looking forward to having you as a facebook fan and Twitter follower. Pick your favorite way to read the blog!
I am a little pressed for time this week, and thus, I give you a homework assignment. The video below captivates me. The costumes displayed are important and beautiful, though some of the techniques being used are outdated. I think I know which Museum it is – Can anyone guess?
As a person who has embraced the internet as an invaluable resource for research as well as entertainment (and you, reading this blog, presumably feel similarly), I thought I’d share some of my favorite websites for fashion related queries.
THE COSTUME PAGE
This is one woman’s personal directory of thousands of costume and costuming-related links, for the benefit of those who make and/or study costumes. There are over 1,000 unique links listed on these pages.
FIRST LADY INAUGURAL FASHION
This U.C. Davis site has links to PBS inaugural fashion sites, related books, etc.
Iowa State University has an amazing collection of digital fashion plates in high resolution quality.
This site has a Fashion and History online resource with visual dictionaries, costumes pages, and more.
THE STATEN ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
This online collections database features over 100 selections from the extensive clothing collection at Historic Richmond Town, including women’s dresses and wedding gowns, men’s and women’s military uniforms, infant’s and toddler’s dresses, and women’s petticoats and other undergarments. Periods from Colonial American through the 21st century. Stories of individual wearers accompanies the artifacts.
VINTAGE TEXTILE
This site has a tremendous wealth of information both textile and general fashion-related, concentrating on Victorian through 1940s. Though it is technically an online store, there are articles, galleries with pictures, and more.
Though it’s a little tedious to browse, this site has great links to topics like Accessories, Armor, Dye & Paint, Ethnic Dress, Fashion Theory, Hats, How-To, Military Uniforms, and more.
THE COSTUMER’S GUIDE TO MOVIE COSTUMES
This site is for research on movie costumes. Many costumes just have reference images, some of them have “”how to’s”" or suggestions for different fabrics, trims, patterns, or other accessories. There are also links to existing online costume study groups.
LIBRARIAN’S INTERNET INDEX
Has great links to reputable costume-related sites.
BISSONNETTE ON COSTUME
Kent State University Museum’s visual dictionary of fashion. Search options include geography, time, and subject.
FASHION PLATE COLLECTION
University of Washington Libraries digital collection, with pictures and accompanying summaries of clothes.
L’OFFICIEL DE LA MODE ONLINE
Jalou Gallery has the entire L’Officiel de la Mode available online for researchers. Though it’s in French, it’s still helpful and you can print out the articles in their original layout (complete with images). You can view the issues, as if scanning them on a microfiche by clicking the “Plein Ecran” link. You can also zoom in by clicking on the “Freme” link and read the text, look for references and much more.
OTTOMAN FASHION ONLINE
Run by the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries, this online site provides the history of Ottoman dress.
DREXEL UNIVERSITY HISTORICAL COSTUME COLLECTION
Searchable costume collection, including 3D panorama views.
THE HISTORY OF COSTUME
This site is an online version of the classic costume work The History of Costume by Braun & Schneider, published between 1861 and 1880. The illustrated plates consist of historical dress from antiquity to the end of the 19th century.
THE COSTUME GALLERY
This site serves as a clearinghouse for websites and images on clothing and hairstyles. Scroll down the homepage for featured articles. To search for specific information, click on ‘Study’ to research in the Online Costume Library.
CLOTHESLINE JOURNAL
This site promote the study of costume and textiles and their relation to history and society, meant to be an academic journal. Articles can cover a wide array of topics and are fully sourced.
F.I.T. E-MUSEUM
This searchable database includes beautiful images, descriptive essays, and a number of designer biographies on 350 objects from the Museum at FIT’s holdings.
V&A / BERG ONLINE FASHION LIBRARY
1600 images from the V&A fashion collection. Users can search and browse for specific items of dress and to move between text and related images. Thumbnail images will be displayed within the Berg Fashion Library, and users will be able to click through to the V&A website for the full-sized image and further information. Launching in June
Happy researching (and please contribute your own favorite fashion image and fashion text links)!
CALL FOR PAPERS
MESDA Conference on American Material Culture
October 28 – 30, 2010
Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, Madison Georgia
The seventh biennial MESDA Conference for recent research in the field of early American material culture and decorative arts will take place on October 28-30, 2010 at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center in Madison, Georgia.
The conference provides a major forum for scholarly presentation and interaction on American material culture and decorative arts. Dr. Bernard L. Herman, George B. Tindall Professor, Department of American Studies, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will deliver the conference keynote.
The MESDA Conference includes the Gordon Seminar, a day of presentations on a variety of topics in American material culture moderated by Dale L. Couch, curator of decorative arts, the Georgia Museum of Art, and director of the Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts; Dr. Maurie D. McInnis, associate professor and director of American Studies, the University of Virginia; and Dr. Bernard L. Herman, George B. Tindall Professor, Department of American Studies, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
The conference also includes a day of field trips to regional material culture and decorative arts collections in the Georgia Piedmont.
Papers on topics relating to early American and southern material culture are encouraged from Scholars, curators, and graduate students in American studies, southern studies, decorative arts, history, art history and other fields. Subjects with an interdisciplinary approach to the study of material culture are highly encouraged.
Proposals will be accepted for individual papers or for panel sessions. Paper proposals must include the author’s name, the paper title, a one-page abstract and the author’s curriculum vitae. Session proposals must include a chair, list of presenters, cover letter, a one-page summary of the session theme, presenter curriculum vitae, and abstracts for all papers.
Deadline for proposals: May 15, 2010
Notification of acceptance: on or before June 15
Accepted papers submitted in full: September 1, 2010.
Electronic submissions in Word format are preferred.
Please send email proposals to [email protected] or via US Mail to:
Sally Gant
MESDA Conference on American Material Culture
924 South Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
To receive more information on attending this conference, contact MESDA at 336-721-7360 or email [email protected].
The deadline for this conference is in a week, but several intriguing and relevant topics will be covered. Might be best for someone who already has a paper or presentation that falls into one of the categories, or for someone who is really good at writing abstracts under pressure.
CALL FOR PAPERS
College Art Association (CAA) 99th Annual Conference
February 9th-12th, 2011
New York, NY
Historical Studies, Contemporary Issues/Studio Art, Educational and Professional Practices, CAA Committees, and Affiliated Society Sessions (listed alphabetically by chairs). Proposals, sent to session chairs and not to CAA, must be received by May 3, 2010.
The 2011 Annual Conference is held in New York, NY, Wednesday-Saturday, February 9-12, 2011. Sessions are scheduled for two and a half hours. Chairs develop sessions in a manner that is appropriate to the topics and participants of their sessions. A characteristic, though certainly not standard, format includes four or five presentations of twenty minutes each, amplified by audience participation or by a discussant’s commentary. Other forms of presentation are encouraged (ie: poster sessions).
Papers must be based on conference topics. Some topics relevant to fashion studies include:
For detailed information about selected topics, please refer to their brochure.
Proposals for participation in sessions should be sent directly to the appropriate session chair(s). If a session is co-chaired, a copy should be sent to each chair, unless otherwise indicated. Every proposal should include the following six items:
1. Completed session participation proposal form, located at the end of this brochure.
2. Preliminary abstract of one to two double-spaced, typed pages.
3. Letter explaining speaker’s interest, expertise in the topic, and CAA membership status.
4. CV with home and office mailing addresses, email address, and phone and fax numbers. Include summer address and telephone number, if applicable.
5. Documentation of work when appropriate, especially for sessions in which artists might discuss their own work.
6. If mailing internationally, it is recommended that proposals be sent via certified mail.
Proposals for papers to session chairs due: May 3, 2010
Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2010
Final Abstract due: August 3, 2010
Full texts due: December 1, 2010
For more information, please contact Lynn Catterson, Columbia University or Anita Moskowitz, State University of New York, Stony Brook.
This post is the first in a series of posts on the textile design and history topics essential in an introductory textiles course.
As many of you already know, one of my courses this term is a basic fiber and textiles course. This one has presented several enjoyable challenges thus far. One, it has been a couple of years since I last taught this course; two, I used a different textbook last time; and three, the official course outline has me deviating from your typical introductory textiles course. Truly, all three are welcome challenges. After all, they just make my job that much more interesting–not that what I do is ever in danger of losing my interest—maybe after 40 or 50 years, but even then, I doubt it.
Have I ever mentioned that I am a graduate of the program I now teach in? It was, as I like to tell my students, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and smoking was still allowed on campus, that I, myself, sat in their places, yea, in that very room, and took my first basic textiles course. Since that time, the room has been remodeled, my mentors have retired, and yet, I have available to me many of the instructional materials that were used when I was a student.
Several years ago, I was preparing a lecture on wool at a previous institution, ten years after taking my first textiles course, and I thought to myself, “Man, I wish I had that picture of the model astride the merino sheep,” an image my teacher showed in lecture when I was a student. Just another one of those moments when I again confirm for myself, that, yes, I am a born professor, if ever there was one.
Can I tell you just how overjoyed I was to find that photo in my current classroom? Did I put it in my lecture on wool this year? You bet I did.
See? The merino is a darn wooly breed of sheep. It’s wrinkled like a sharpei. And you just know that the sheep in the picture has never been washed in its life…well, maybe once a year, but only after being shorn…and that model is wearing a micromini. At least she’s wearing hose. It could have been worse.
But enough of vintage models suffering for fashion so future generations of fashion students could learn about fine quality specialty wools and animal husbandry.
I mentioned earlier that my official course outline is atypical. What makes it unique is a special focus on textile history. Typically, as this course has been taught in the past, several weeks are devoted to the coverage of world textiles and textile design history. Now that I am the instructor, I am covering most, if not all, of the topics I was taught, plus others I find relevant.
We start with the Pazyryk rug, cover Greek and Roman motifs, travel to North Africa for Coptic textiles of the 5th and 6th centuries CE, and then work our way through European textiles, including eastern Europe. I also cover sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South American, and Middle Eastern carpets. When this class ends, my students will know the differences between a kirman and a kilim, bobbin lace and battenburg lace, an Arras tapestry and a Willam Morris, and a mola and a Hmong reverse appliqué.
How many of you dear readers were exposed to any of the above in your fashion education? In your introductory textiles course, what textile history, if any, was covered, other than Richard Arkwright and Samuel Slater? In other schools, I have seen this type of material relegated to another course, sometimes mentioned in a history of dress course, other times in another design history course never offered because no one can be found to teach it. Other times, this information is left out of the curriculum altogether. My program, on the other hand, is one of the lucky ones. It is important to know where you’ve come from, now isn’t it?
Photo credits:
Top: From Weaving a Tale by Michael Sherer, Central American Travel Examiner
Middle: Unknown.
Since my March Rat Race post was all about getting involved in every way you can while in grad school, I thought this one should be the flip side of the coin–Maintaining your personal life while being that busy with school-stuff.
When I started my Ph.D. program I was told upon one of my entrance meetings with a student services person to kiss my husband goodbye as I’d see him in 4 years. To that I said “forget it!” That’s ridiculous. Getting a graduate degree is like having a busy job with weird hours, and not everyone with a busy job forgoes their entire personal life. Some do, certainly some of my lawyer and doctor friends who also have nuts hours have struggled with time management. But that’s what it is, time management, and it’s worth trying to manage. Plus, for a lot of people with families, second jobs, and other commitments it simply isn’t an option to not balance.
Throughout my Masters and PhD (at different schools in different states) I’ve seen every end of the spectrum:
First, students who are so busy doing personal things they never get involved in school stuff. They do the bare minimum in the school/professional context, maybe show up for class, turn in a bland and short paper, and fly out the door making no impression. They never join societies, clubs, committees, apply for awards/grants, have assistantships, etc. Sure, I’ve then watched some of them get jobs they want, but mostly they are the ones I have witnessed sort of flounder post-grad. And the profs, other mentors, and peers aren’t singing their praises behind closed doors, even if they are perfectly lovely people. But, I totally understand that there are personal commitments that do overshadow schoolwork…
Second, there are students who spend every waking second with nothing else going on except grad school. It’s all they talk about. It’s often the only place they ever go. They eat all their meals there (urgh). They live next door. Consequently, they often do some the most boring research of anyone I know. Their work is consistently uninspired and frequently unrealistic as they’re not connected to the “real” (outside) world, and it often lacks objectivity as they never step away from academic perspectives. I totally get the notion of wanting to make the most of your money, wanting to be competitive, and trying to throw yourself into your profession, but if the result is that you’re a big lonely yawn and so is your work, then what was the point? Again, I’ve seen some of these people get jobs they wanted (admittedly more so than the first group), but it appears to me many of them maintain that same style once they get those jobs, and consequently things never get much better.
Third is a group I’d like to say I fit within. Or at least I really strive to. It’s the students who work very hard to balance both personal and professional lives. I was once told by a peer that from her point-of-view her classmates that were handling the pressures of our rigorous Ph.D. program best were those who also had lots going on in their personal lives. Her argument was that busy people become accustom to multi-tasking, prioritizing, etc., be it with time, energy, and passion.
Well I think I really agree with her. I’ve seen through my own and my peers’ experiences that in addition to the sometimes head-spinning multi-tasking, a 3-dimensional life gives insight into different facets of society. This wide-eyed view then seems to inform one’s research and makes for more ideas for topics, increased ability to see multiple sides of a story, and flexibility when working with others.
And seriously, having a life outside of school let’s you blow off steam! Steam that builds up from being very involved managing assistantships or other jobs, personal life, homework, class time, committees, etc. Trust me, I understand.
I’ve had graduate assistantships and often also part-tome jobs throughout my Master’s and Ph.D. programs. Two of those graduate assistantships were basically five days a week, on campus, meaning everything else was relegated to nights and weekends. This pushing of homework right into my otherwise personal time was a drag. I sometimes more so enjoyed the assistantships where the time table was more fluid and I could be on campus sometimes, and do prep work from home whenever. But the on-campus 9-5 world led to homework on the weekends and concerts/movies/nice dinners in the evening, after growing exhausted from basically a 7 day work week (5 at my GA, 2 on homework & related).
Last semester I worked a 5 day week at 8:30am while struggling thru 1st trimester morning sickness and hadn’t told anyone at school i was pregnant yet. Now that’s balancing the personal and professional! So this semester I opted to only work a 1/2 time assistantship for the 1st time since my Masters. I was offered full time, and the benefits are very tempting..tuition, health care, more time on campus mingling with faculty, etc. But when weighing it against being pregnant, trying to finish my dissertation, a recent move that took me from living 5 to 20 minutes away, WT, and the desire to live it up a little pre-baby….I turned down the (sort of) lucrative full time offer and went for the half-time. Balance, balance, balance. Although of course now it’s tougher to balance that check book, but, my diss is almost done and my mind isn’t really spinning too often. I’ll take that as a win!
Giving yourself a social life helps force you to end projects, not just drag them on forever; and generally you won’t procrastinate getting things started either as you want to finish to be able to get somewhere else. If you only have until 5pm to complete reading all those journal articles because you have a romantic dinner date, you’ll get it done! You’ll learn to skim and scan and search for the main points. Call a social life “motivation.” One peer said he rewarded himself with a special social activity for each school benchmark. Whatever works for you.
It is sometimes very tough to find middle ground. It’s hard when you move to a new town for school and then school is all you know since you haven’t met anyone yet or gotten familiar with your surroundings. But there is something to be said for enjoying the fruits of a new environment beyond the classroom walls. New food, new people, new sites can be stimulating, and get you to think clearer about that research project you’re stumbling with. It’s also hard when school is in your hometown and everything around you at times seems more pressing and and interesting than school. I’ve done both equations and found while both are a challenge, a few minutes away at a street fair can free up your mind to feel reinvigorated when you sit back down at the computer again.
That’s what happened with my dissertation. It’s been rough this semester as I’ve been pushing to finish and with my busy personal/work calendar I had to briefly institute a policy to work on it weekends afternoons only. When a deadline came up it took over weekdays as well. But not evenings. From dinner on I’m not doing schoolwork. That’s where I draw the line. However, earlier in the semester when it was relegated to weekends, I actually enjoyed doing it tremendously, because all week I hadn’t labored over it. I was refreshed each time I sat to work on it, and thus would get more flow with each visit to the file.
So the basic message here if you haven’t gotten it already is definitely be a workhorse when it comes to school and all the things you can to be involved in the related professional activities. But, don’t turn your back on a life separate from all of that. Sure for a surgeon maybe it’s easier to be at the movies and not have it overlap with her profession. For someone studying dress, we’re constantly analyzing the world around us, scoping for ideas etc. But sometimes you can just rock out at a good show for fun and nothing more. Don’t skip your yoga class, your favorite comedian, or your guilty pleasure TV show. That stack of books will still be there tomorrow.
Now of course I need to follow this advice and get back to working on my oral presentation for CSA since I don’t want to be working on it tonight when Lost is on! (this was written on Tuesday)
“INSPIRING WOMEN: SELECTED DESIGNERS FROM PARSONS’ ANNA-MARIA AND STEPHEN KELLEN ARCHIVES”
Through May 31
Parsons The New School for Design [New York, NY]
As students, teachers, mentors and professionals, women from Parsons have been at the forefront of design study and practice since the school’s founding in 1896. Inspiring Women offers glimpses into the education and professional lives of 16 women who attended and taught at Parsons between the 1910s and the 1990s. Through original design work, photographs, notebooks, publicity materials, correspondence, clippings and business records, Inspiring Women explores changes in the worlds of graphic, interior and fashion design over the course of the 20th century, changes often spearheaded by Parsons’ women as they broke new creative and professional ground, mentored and promoted one another, experimented with new modes of representation, and won expanded opportunity and recognition for women in design.
Click here for details.
“FLORA IN FASHION”
Through June 12
Ohio State University Costume and Textiles Collection [Columbus, OH]
This exhibit showcases botanically themed buttons, and the floral aesthetic in clothing and accessories, including 19th and 20th century period fashion with their original buttons, hats, gloves, handbags, and shoes. A section featuring prints from the Chadwick Arboretum Emanuel Rudolph Collection of Botanical Illustrations will accompany it. Textile artifacts made from plant fibers including cotton, linen, pineapple fiber, bark cloth, bamboo, and raffia will also be showcased.
Click here for details.
“UNDER THE SUN: SWIMWEAR IN CALIFORNIA”
Through June 13
The Judith Tamkin Fashion Center, Woodbury University [Burbank, CA]
This exhibit will look at the development of the California swimwear industry within the context of American sportswear and the California lifestyle. Examples range from the early 1900s to the present and will include swimsuits from Catalina, Cole of California, Caltex and Rudi Gernreich.
For details contact Melinda Webber Kerstein at [email protected].
*Thank you to the Costume Society of America and Jenny Swadosh for this information.
*
Captain Edward Molyneux was a British born Parisian haute couture designer best known for his work in the 1920s and 1930s. He trained under Lucile/Lady Duff Gordon before opening his first shop in 1919. Pierre Balmain and Marc Bohan are among those who worked under him. His designs were considered conservative, but not matronly — comparable to other 1920s and 1930s designers such as Mainbocher, Vionnet and Chanel. The rich, thin, society women of Europe; actresses; and celebrities worldwide coveted his clothes. One would think of him as having had a full career when he retired in late 1950/ early 1951, making it all the more surprising when Molyneux returned to the world of couture in early 1965 at the age of 70. (Click here for an image of Molyneux as pictured in Life Magazine 1965).
After more than ten years of retirement ( to paint and grow flowers on a 70 acre farm) Molyneux wanted to come back to the fashion lime-light. According to the New York Times announcement in January of 1964, he was coming back because “I just don’t have enough to do.”(1) – but I suspect he was inspired by Chanel’s recent and lucrative return to couture.
When Molyneux retired in the early 1950s, it was because an old World War I injury was threatening his eyesight (he did end up loosing sight in one eye). His comeback was initially with a collection of “50 models for spring, [that] can only be described as ready-to-wear,”(2) Though later fashion journalists referred to it as “semi-couture.” He seems to have had no desire to open up a fashion house – that task seemed too daunting for a man of his years: “Life is too short” (3)
Given the styles and designers popular in Paris at the time (specifically, the sleek lines of Madame Gres and the resurgence of sculptural qualities of YSL) it makes sense that his design philosophy could fit within the contemporary aesthetic. And so, on February 1, 1965, Edward Molyneux re-entered the world of high fashion with a collection of, as the New York Times put it, “tailored suits with custom details and easy, bias-cut dresses.”(4) It seemed a welcome return – Chanel sent him tulips, former muses and clients attended the show with excitement. The hope was that if enough foreign buyers bought the line, he would return to full couture. (Sketches and photos of this fashion show can be seen here: Givenchy returns to fashion February 1, 1965).
By April of 1965, the truth about that first show had become clear: “the general unspoken decision was that the Captain had been away too long.” (5) That said, his next collection, for fall/winter 1965, was much more warmly received - sending “pleasant shock waves up and down the Rue Royale.” (6)
It was this second show seemed to solidify his return. Most notably, it presented an opposing version of the ubiquitous Chanel suit (in black) a welcome change by those who saw it. The bulk of the design work here, however, was executed by his nephew, with Captain Molyneux only acting in a supervisory role and may have been key to the success of this collection.
In later collections, his work would be compared with other re-emergent designers of the 1930s, Chanel and Gres: a trifecta of influence. Molyneux Studio, his label, would continue until his death in March of 1974 at the age of 82.
Additional Resources:
Notes:
1. Farnsworth, Clyde. “Molyneux, 70, Plans Return As Couturier,” New York Times, Jan 28, 1964, pg. 34.
2. Emerson, Gloria. “Molyneux Sets Return to Paris As a Couturier,” New York Times, Oct 9, 1964, pg. 44.
3. Emerson (ibid).
4. Peterson, Patricia. “Molyneux — and His Fashion Philosophy — Return to Paris,” New York Times, 2 Feb. 1965, pg. 26.
5. Emerson, Gloria “Fall Designs At Molyneux Draw Raves” New York Times, 29 April 1965. pg. 42.
6. Emerson (ibid).
*Edward Molyneux evening gown, 1926-27: Met, C.I.42.33.3, Gift of Mrs. Adam Gimbel, 1942.
