Dress Code at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

A place to reflect on one's own life in clothing?

Dress Code is a small but thoughtfully curated and visually beautiful display of over 200 years of women's clothing, and the relationship of that clothing to changing women's roles, on display through April 30, 2011 at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (the MAC) in Spokane. Issues of female beauty, personal identity, political power, and societal shifts are illustrated by clothing from the MAC's permanent collection.

Although the clothing itself is just the medium of the message, there are some splendid items on display, including an Empire-style dress worn to George Washington's inaugural celebration.

French silk brocade dress, remade in 1789 from a 1730 wedding dress imported from Paris

Please visit my blog for more information and photos from the exhibit.

My visit to the Théâtre de la Mode

Taking a closer look at an ivory silk damask evening dress by Worth in a set designed by Jean Cocteau

Created in Paris starting in 1944, the Théâtre de la Mode is a work of haute couture, theater and art, with stage sets and dolls designed and created by artists, and fashions by over 55 design houses. They came together for the survival of haute couture.

Some of the clothing designers who dressed these artful dolls in miniature versions of their best and most current fashions include Balmain, Balenciaga, Fath, Hermès, Lanvin, Paquin, Schiaparelli and Ricci.


Sound interesting? I have just completed a seven-post series about the Théâtre for my blog, including:



My visit to the Théâtre de la Mode, part I

Théâtre de la Mode, part II: The Dolls

Théâtre de la Mode, part III: The Sets

Théâtre de la Mode, part IV: The Fashion Designers

Théâtre de la Mode, part V: Down to the Tiniest Details

Théâtre de la Mode, part VI: Loss & Rebirth—Again

Théâtre de la Mode, part VII: Seeing the Exhibit at Maryhill

Fashion Book Shopping is Grand

We got to take a little trip this month up to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. And as ever, the visit was a treat. While our visit fell between fashion and textile exhibits,we has a picnic on the grounds, and found a selection of great little fashion books in the museum gift shop, a great cup of coffee, wonderful art, the fabulous grounds of the Lily house and a too brief tour of the Lily home. Plus a fine dinner out in the Fountain Square are. It was a treat.

Fashion books are like hen's teeth in our area. So we hit the museum shop and these are the too few books I brought back:

A short but thorough bio of Balenciaga and his house with loads of photos. Easy to read, straightforward and affordable.

And a selection of the small books from the Assouline series on Poiret, Gres and the Little Black Dress. Fun, quick reads, not a lot of text, and heavy on the photos.

What did I leave? Coffee table size books on Balenciaga and Dior, more of this small series, another series on decades of costume history, modern Japanese fashion, and several more. I will just have to take more money next time.

V & A LONDON Fashion Frocks

...Fab Frocks

from the V & A costume rooms...

(click to enlarge )

bodice detail from a Celia Birtwell designed fabric & dress late 1960's

1920's beaded column gown, Jean Patou

Zandra Rhodes early 1970's

A classic Chanel three piece worn by Gabrielle herself

Catherine Walker dress & jacket designed for Diana, HRH Princess of Wales

for the Royal Tour, Hong Kong

looks like something Morticia would wear!

fabulous glass beaded back detail

floral Dior dress garnished with beads

and a jewel in the crown

a Vivienne Westwood gown I would love to own!

... and here is a soupcon of fashions of the future

new designs from young designers, students of fashion

Abraham Lincoln's Suit & Top Hat on Display

On the eve of the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama, the National Museum of American History has re-opened and is featuring on display a suit and top hat owned and worn by our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.

From the article on Yahoo...

"A black broadcloth suit and top hat worn by President Abraham Lincoln during his presidency is seen in an undated handout photo released by the Smithsonian Institution Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. More than 60 objects from President Abraham Lincoln's life are going on display at the National Museum of American History days before President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, which will echo themes from the 16th president".

Something pretty impressive to make plans to see if you are lucky enough to attend the inauguration!

A VFG*** Must See*** Exhibit Brooklyn

"Modern Cuff" bracelet, 1948

"From Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith" is on view at the Brooklyn Museum through May 17, 2009.

This exhibition honors the gift of twenty-one pieces of silver and gold jewelry created by the Brooklyn-reared modernist jeweler Arthur Smith (1917–1982), primarily from Charles Russell, Smith’s companion and heir.

The presentation of Art Smith jewelry is enhanced by archival material from the artist’s estate, such as sketches, the original shop sign, Smith’s tools, and period photographs of models wearing the jewelry, along with thirty pieces of modernist jewelry from the permanent collection by such artists as Elsa Freund, Claire Falkenstein, Ed Weiner, and Frank Rebajes.

Inspired by surrealism, biomorphicism, and primitivism, Art Smith’s jewelry is dynamic in its size and form. Although sometimes massive in scale, his jewelry remains lightweight and wearable. The jewelry dates from the late 1940s to the 1970s and includes his most famous pieces, such as a “Patina” necklace inspired by the mobiles of Alexander Calder; a “Lava” bracelet, or cuff, that extends over the entire lower arm in undulating and overlapping forms; and a massive ring with three semi-precious stones that stretches over three fingers.

Trained at Cooper Union, Art Smith, an African American, opened his first shop on Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village in 1946. One of the leading modernist jewelers of the mid-twentieth century, Smith was also an active supporter of black and gay civil rights, an avid jazz enthusiast, and a supporter of early black modern dance groups.

A VFG*** Must See*** Exhibit Los Angeles & Canberra

"Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008" opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on October 26, 2008 and runs through March 1, 2oo9. Featured will be 150 of the magazine's iconic portraits from the past century. Included will be several photographs by Edward Steichen, who was Vanity Fair's chief photographer for 13 years. Don't miss your chance to see this original portrait of Gloria Swanson, photographed by Steichen in 1924 and published in VF in February 1928.

The exhibit will travel to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Autralia, June 12 - August 30, 2009.