Opening Week!

Finally, my class exhibition—which we have been toiling over since August—opened this past week. Since most of you won’t be able to see it, I feel I should avoid waxing rhapsodic about how wonderful it is, but I have to admit it is a pretty good show. Because I wasn’t one of the curators (or even someone with one of the larger jobs) I assumed I wouldn’t feel that emotionally attached to it, but the experience of seeing it complete has been almost magical.

To top it all off, the response we have gotten has been overwhelming. The museum staff they had never seen so many members of the press show up for a preview of a student show, and when the doors opened to the public there were people outside waiting eagerly. By Thursday all the gallery guides we had printed had disappeared, and every day we get an e-mail about the show being mentioned in another blog or magazine.

The opening reception for friends and family was fun, but the press preview was more exciting for me. Basically, members of the press checked in at a table and then were free to walk through on their own, get a tour or interview with the curators, and take photos or videos of the gallery. There were several people from the Museum as well as the media office for the college, but I was one of only four from my class. The curators were there, of course, and then otherwise it was just me and the project manager. As I mentioned, the turnout from was really good. I don’t think the curators ever got a break from interviews, and at one point there was a line of people waiting to talk to them. As a result I ended up answering a lot of questions and even gave a short tour to a woman from Forbes.

My big moment came with a news crew from China (we have gotten a lot of international coverage—don’t ask me why). They filmed an interview with the curators and then I ended up chatting with one of the reporters about the project. They hadn’t understood that there were many people working on the exhibition, and were fascinated by what I told them about the process. Eventually she turned to me and said, “we want to film you saying this.” So before I knew it I had a microphone clipped to my dress and a camera pointed at me. I think I spoke relatively intelligently, but I can’t be sure. Once I was done they wanted some background shots so they asked me to walk slowing down the hallway and look like I was looking at the exhibition. Then they had me talk to one of my classmates and point at things on the wall. I’m pretty sure that is the part that will be embarrassing when I finally see the video. They promised to send me a link when it is finally posted, so we call all look forward to that.

Vivienne Westwood has launched!

We had our opening party on Monday night, the press preview Tuesday morning, and it was open to the public at noon on Tuesday! The website also launched this week so be sure to check that out. More dish on opening week coming soon...

Little Black Dreck

This week in my symposium class (the one where we are writing papers that de-bunk fashion myths) we watched a short documentary about the Little Black Dress. The show was actually part of a series called Love/Lust currently showing on the Sundance channel, and the episode about the LBD was the first to air. I was particularly interested to see it because the research team for the show had come to Special Collections many times and spent hours going through sketches and making scans. They seemed like nice people but we did have one moment of suspicion when they asked to see a 1926 issue of Vogue because it supposedly showed the "first ever" little black dress (designed by Chanel, of course). I brought the volume out for them but tried to gently suggest that while this may have been an important little black dress, this was certainly far from the first black dress of moderate size in the history of fashion. As a response, they literally stuck their fingers in their ears and said they didn't want to hear it.

So in class we decided to watch the show with the expectation it would include a few myths that we could discuss. But what we witnessed was awful beyond our expectations. We spent the whole hour alternately laughing, gasping, and groaning at the sheer number of flat-out incorrect statements. They didn't imply untruths, they made made statements that were just flat-out wrong, wrong, wrong. It was quite appalling actually. The core issue was that it was fashion history as told in a VH1 "I love the 80's!" kind of way. They interviewed "experts" tha were really just photogenic people with some connection to fashion who were willing to make statements like "F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald were totally the Brad and Angelina of the 1920s!"

The show kicked off by not only claiming that Chanel had invented the first ever little black dress, but she was the first woman (besides nuns) to ever wear black, and that in 1926 she saved the world from Victorian fashion (which actually ended circa 1901) which included bustles (last gasp 1892) and crinolines (R.I.P. cage crinoline 1868). But lest you think this is nothing more than the rants of a picky fashion stickler, there were plenty of groans for everyone else.

For the Historian / People over 55

-By the early 1960s, the tensions of the Cold War were basically over

-The Kennedy Presidency co-existed with the height of the hippie movement.

For the Feminist:

-The LBD is a great way to show the world you are an empowered woman! In fact, Kate Middleton got her man by wearing an LBD in a fashion show Prince William attended. Now she is going to be a princess!! Girlpower!

For people with a basic understanding of size:

-A floor-length evening gown counts as a little black dress

For Humanity:

-Miley Cyrus is the perfect example of class and style today.

The final insult was that the images that they used from Special Collections were literally on screen for about a second. They scrolled through about 10 images from our Bergdorf Goodman archives in rapid fire for one moment at the end. But as my professor pointed out, it was probably good that we were barely associated with that train wreck. It has been thrilling to help people who are working on documentaries or films, but this would be one case in which seeing "Special Thanks to Clara Berg!!" would have been a downright embarrassment.

Next week we plan to see what they have to say about the high heel shoe.

Historical Buddies

Coco Chanel once said that we are only dead when others stop thinking about us. Whether or not we heard it from her, most of us seem to believe that. When we talk about seeking “immortality,” what we really mean is leaving behind a legacy that will be memorable long after we are gone. It occurred to me recently, that as a historian, I seem obsessed with creating immortality for others. Whether it be a research project for school or a mystery collection at work, I love researching the history of someone largely unknown to the public. I like the idea that I am somehow bringing them back to life, and I imagine that if they could thank me, they would.

Perhaps this is why I wouldn’t have been a good curator for the Vivienne Westwood show. She is a respected living designer whose history and fame is already well recorded. In fact, she already had a big retrospective at the V&A a few years ago. What new insight could I possibly add?

Obviously, one of the reasons I am so excited about my John Doyle Bishop project is that I feel like I’m rescuing him from the historical dustbin. Here is someone who was a big deal in his own time, but has nearly slipped into oblivion because no one has kept his memory alive by writing about him. And he isn’t the first. I now have a little running list of dead people whose legacy I feel a personal connection to. One is Nina Hyde, the Washington Post writer whose collection of papers I organized when I was an intern in Special Collections. Another is Richard Bennett, a fantastic artist from the Seattle area whose sister donated a large collection of his stuff to MOHAI. I was the first person to process the material, and have excitedly looked on as the collection was fully accessioned into the collection, written about, and eventually exhibited. I feel like John Doyle Bishop, Nina Hyde, and Richard Bennett are like my historical buddies whom only I understand.

But sometimes I get a dose of reality. When I was researching Nina Hyde I came across recent newspaper article about one of her daughters. Oh right. She might be my historical mascot, but for someone else she was real—she was Mom. I also can’t take credit for Richard Bennett’s recent success as the subject of an exhibition and a book—it was his sister Helen who pushed for these things in the hope of keeping her brother’s memory alive. I often wonder what John Doyle Bishop’s niece thinks of me. I’m sure she is charmed that this student is so excited about her uncle, but for her he was real and for me he is a school project. How can I think that I really “know” him?

In the end, I think I imagine that this is all a game of historical karma. If I do a good job rescuing people from being forgotten, someday someone will do the same for me. They might not have any real idea of what I was like, but they will create some idea of me in their head, and the will decide that that person must have been pretty cool.

P.S. If you live in Seattle and you haven’t checked out the Richard Bennett exhibition at MOHAI, you really should. Buy the catalog too.

Vivienne Westwood...the final countdown!

My class's long-awaited exhibition opens two weeks from today! The curators are scrambling to finish the wall text, the exhibition designers are overseeing the installation, and the rest of us are helping out however we can. Once it opens a lot of the pressure will be off, but we will have tours to lead and an event to plan for a large group of high schoolers.

Did I force you to read about the exhibition yet? Well, if not, here is the press release (written by me and then heavily revised), and here is a shorter blurb from the museum website (written by me and then lightly revised).

Solved and Unsolved Mysteries

Sometimes grad school can make me feel like I am part of some kind of fashion detective agency. Besides the fact that I can go all CSI on a piece of fiber, I really enjoy the thrill of the chase when I am doing research. Here are some cases I am working on now.

Case #32: The many brands of John Doyle Bishop

When I was writing my thesis proposal, one of the key pieces of information my advisor was interested in was what brands JDB sold in his shop. Since I haven't found any business records, I mainly rely on what I can find out from actual garments. Between MOHAI and items I've seen listed on ebay, I now have a running list of names that are confirmed and those that are likely. I can confirm a name when I find something that has both the maker's label and John Doyle Bishop's. Like this:

But there were many cases (particularly with items at MOHAI) where the garment only had one label, and the donor provided the other information. That is strong evidence but not proof, since donors can be forgetful or might be repeating incorrect information from someone else (proof positive- the donor who believed they had a bloody scarf from the Lincoln assassination).

As my list of confirmed and likely brands grows, I've been doing research about each one so that I can better understand the kind of business JDB was buying from. Before I started this project, names like Pauline Trigere, Ben Zuckerman, Ben Reig, and Maurice Rentner meant almost nothing to me. But I have since discovered that they were all very successful and respected luxury ready-to-wear brands in their day. I also learned that Pauline Trigere stayed young by standing on her head every morning and dating men in their 20s. But those tidbits might not make it into my paper.

Case #47: The mark on the teacup

For our decorative arts class we were each assigned an object from FIT's study collection. I picked this pink teacup:

Which has this mark on the bottom:

As we learned our first day of class, there are apparently huge reference books full of makers marks that you can page through when you need to identify something. I pulled a few for porcelain and was surprised when I came across the answer relatively quickly. Because the mark was hand-done it can look slightly different each time, but this is certainly the mark of porcelain from Derby.

Case #36: George Taylor, where were you in 1926?

I've gotten started on my research of the "hemline index" and have already run into a major mystery. If you google "hemline index" many of the articles (mostly fluff pieces in newspapers) mention an economist named George Taylor and say that he first presented the idea in 1926. The problem is that I can't find any information about what he actually said. No articles cite the original source, and I suspect that they are all just getting their information from each other. There is some information on the web about the George Taylor in question, but he didn't really rise to prominence until later- in fact, in 1926 he was still in school for his Phd. I've tried to find books of his writings, but a library search for "George Taylor" brings up thousands of unrelated hits. This mystery remains elusive and unsolved.

On the plate for the final semester

Here is the rundown of my courses that started this week:

Exhibit- Plan and Interpretation: As far as workload goes, this will be a class in reverse. The exhibition that we have been working on since August goes up March 8, so our heaviest workload is right now. Once it opens we’ll have events to manage and tours to lead, but the bulk of the work will be done. There will be a bit of follow-up once it closes in April (yes, all this work for a one month show) tapering off to no work at all in May. Click here to see the press release for the show.

Modern Textiles: For our first week we visited a show at the Museum of Art and Design and talked about the questionable distinction often made between high art and craft. It seemed like a promising start. The interesting thing about this class is that our professor is the head of our rival program at NYU. That either proves that our program is superior somehow, or we are about to be majorly sabotaged.

Advanced Curatorial- Acquisition Theory and Practice: The funny thing about this class, is that it has almost nothing to do with the title. It should really be called Grab Bag of Things We Think You Should Know. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It sounds like the course was built around feedback from alums regarding knowledge and skills they wished they had acquired in grad school. The first part of the class will essentially be a crash course in Decorative Arts. The reasons being that A) Many of us will probably end up in small museums where we will be expected to manage more than textiles and clothing and B) Traditionally the study of dress has fallen under the umbrella of Decorative Arts, so future employers often expect textile people to be knowledgeable in that area as well. I think it is going to be fun. Our professor seems great and I’ve already been assigned a pink teacup to research. The dec arts portion only lasts until April, and then we get another teacher coming in to drill us on terminology that they think we should know. I’m not sure what that will be like, but I envision myself making flashcards to remember what a dolman sleeve looks like as opposed to a raglan one.

Advanced Theory- Professional Seminar: This is one I’m really excited about. Each year the class has a theme that everyone writes a paper about. Then we all present our papers at a symposium which we plan and organize. This year’s theme is “Fashion Mythbusters” –each of our papers with research and question some commonly held myth about fashion or fashion history. I will be taking on “The Hemline Index,” the supposed connection between the height of women’s skirts and the health of the economy (I can tell you right now—the theory is totally crap). Much like DDR last semester, I can sense that this is the one I will want to talk about the most.

Then, of course, I’ll be trying to fit in a much thesis work as possible. On Tuesday I went to the office of Grace Rose, John Doyle Bishop’s niece and the owner of a scrapbook full of clippings about her uncle. I had seen the scrapbook once before, but this time I confirmed that I was allowed to print the photos I found in it. So I am now officially authorized to share this with you

In case you are unclear, this is a picture of John Doyle Bishop surrounded by other pictures of John Doyle Bishop. How can you not love him??