High Style 20th Century Couture Fashion Exhibit 1900-1980

Good morning readers! Something different for you today!  A very picture heavy post about a recent art exhibit I attended at the Cincinnati Art Museum.  I love that place!  And now that it is FREE how can you miss it?  For locals the Contemporary Arts Center, downtown Cincinnati, also now has free admission.  

This exhibit was originally curated for the Metropolitan Museum of Art via the Brooklyn  Museum Costume Collection.

The exhibit begins with some Victorian~esque fashions.  I was really loving the cut and fabric of this first one.

Then some more traditional Victorian.  The beadwork is exquisite.

The 20's brought a wider variety of garment styles including infamous "flapper" styles.

The peacock feathers in this material are gorgeous.  My photos don't do it justice.

I actually learned about shoes!  These are very expensive and molded to the owner's feet.

So expensive that special trunks were made to hold the shoes on forms to keep their shape.  This was a very elite item.

These shoes are from later and a different designer. There is only one of each because these were prototypes. 

Check out these heels!  Super cool and still sturdy!

Now to my favorite designer of the exhibit.  

Elsa Schiaparelli

Italian

1890-1973

Her range of work is incredible!

This piece was based on the night sky.

I love this butterfly print and parasol!!

She was the first couture designer to boldly bring the zipper out of hiding!

Tiny pianos for buttons!

Now we move on to some more familiar names:

Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Halston.

The FIRST little black dress!

more modern shoes

This hat was made famous by Mame Eisenhower.  I believe she wore a version during the inauguration parade but in a different color.

Modern travel wear for the jet set.

This outfit is a bit dramatic but this designer designed theatrical costumes as well.

Geometrics accentuating new areas.

The third part of the exhibit focused on the most modern couture and one particular designer, Charles James.

Halston

This is Charles James' famous clover leaf ball gown.

Charles James

His sketch of the Clover leaf ball gown.  It has a "structural system" to hold the dress in such form.  He "engineered" most of his work.

The James part of the exhibit was very extensive and had muslin prototypes and cut aways of his most famous designs.

This particular dress is famous for looking like a completely different dress from every angle.

There was a virtual slide show on the constuction of this dress.

The dresses with their muslin prototypes.

You can definitely see the similarities in his work for framing the female figure.

If you looked through all of these good for you!  Now perhaps you are ready to see some crafts based on formal attire?  I thought this was appropriate to post just prior to the next blog hop:

See you back in a couple of days!

Alicia