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Hot New Accession: La Femme dans la Décoration Moderne
Created in 1902, Julius Klinger’s book of design and ornament, La Femme dans la Décoration Moderne, is a graphic celebration of the feminine. The 30 pages of motifs contained within—which all feature women—were intended to be sources of inspiration for practitioners of the industrial arts: decorative painters and ceramicists as well as designers of jewelry, posters, rugs,…
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Couture Copies in America: A Case-Study
Over the last few years, Material Mode has frequently referenced the symbiotic relationship between Parisian couture and American fashion during the first half of the 20th century. US-based ready-to-wear manufacturers looked to Paris to set the mode, which they subsequently mimicked, with riffs and revisions. Inversely, the American dollar was a critical source of…
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The Fit Flapper
In 1924, American Vogue opined, “At the beginning of beauty lies the beautiful figure. For it is the single thing about a woman that comes nearest to dominating in the ensemble of her attractiveness.” It may not be able to be said more plainly the import placed upon a sleek physique during the 1920s, as…
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Fashion Plates: 150 Years of Style
Just released this week, Fashion Plates: 150 Years of Style, which features 200 fashion plates from our collection. Many of these beautiful images, which date between 1778-1928, have not been reproduced since their original date of publication. Thank you to Yale University Press for their unerring support of this project which is currently available as…
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From Russia with Love: Fira Benenson
While sorting though a recent donation, a small collection of exquisitely detailed sketches by one Fira Benenson came to perk my curiosity. Her name was unfamiliar to me, and as someone who spends a great deal of time immersed in fashion history ephemera, I know that often this means a fascinating discovery is at-hand. I…
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Tennis in the ’20s
Three tennis looks, created by an unidentified French designer in 1926, the year women’s professional tennis was established. Material Mode has a quibble. After attending the exhibition The Rise of Sneaker Culture yesterday at the Brooklyn Museum, we left feeling that some of the exhibition labels…
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What to Wear to a Revolution
(click to enlarge) In early November 1793, amidst the most violent period of the French Revolution, the National Convention issued this decree declaring that the citizens of France were “free to wear such garments appropriate to their sex in the manner they see fit,” adding that individuals attempting to force another to dress in…
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The Myth of Poiret as Debunked by 1906
As a fashion historian, working in a Special Collections unit which focuses almost entirely on the history of design, is both a fantastic job and a wonderful education in its own right. The objects which encompass my day-to-day routine continually reveal the inconsistencies, holes or misinformation that has been canonized into established design histories. I…
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Oral History Project of the Creative Industries
Beginning in the late 1970s, FIT library director John Touhey initiated the collection of oral histories as told by prominent members of the American fashion industry. Over the course of several decades, fashion designers, department store executives, Hollywood costume designers, models and style icons all generously agreed to sit down and speak about their…
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The Glamour Gowns of Joseph Whitehead
While is it true during the 1920s and 1930s, that Paris couture was a rich source of design inspiration, the garment industry in the United States—particularly in the realm of manufacturing—was a robust, thriving segment of our nation’s economy. Homegrown designers may not have been the first to garner the adoration and…