Welcome - FIDM Museum

Costumes, Props, Photography, and Ephemera from Two Powerful Films – Till And Women Talking
Past Exhibition: The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design
Visit the FIDM Museum virtually through Google Arts & Culture
Catalogue Now Available
Past Exhibition: Capturing the Catwalk

Connect with
the FIDM Museum

Be part of the conversation
#fidmmuseum

Don't forget to tune in for tomorrow's Collection

Don't forget to tune in for tomorrow's Collection Conversation on IG Live—it's going to be a rollicking romp through the gritty & glamorous American fashion landscape! Who are some of the designers we lent to @lovefashionhistory's celebrated exhibition @crystalbridgesmuseum? And why did curator Michelle Finamore choose them? We know that our curator Kevin Jones knows why...and he's going to ask her for your edification.

We go live on IG tomorrow at 11am PT/2pm ET, so set your alarm...and p.s., we'll also have a special, related #FIDMMuseumUnboxing to share with you later that day!

Candid installation photos provided by Kevin Jones and Michelle Finamore. Gallery photography: Courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. 📸: Jared Sorrells
.
.
.

Cuffing season is in full effect! This chatelaine

Cuffing season is in full effect!

This chatelaine pin was but one item in a line of "solid gold look" hand-cuff themed jewelry manufactured by Alice Jewelry of Providence, Rhode Island. Other items in the Love-Cuffs line included earrings and necklace with tiny dangling handcuffs, a chunky gold handcuff necklace, and a pair of bangle bracelets decorated with a handcuff style clasps. Just don't lose the keys once they're on!

Less a symbol of enduring love and more a cheeky reference to the binding chains of love, Love-Cuffs can be seen as an optimistic continuation of the wartime trend (both World War I and II) of sweetheart jewelry. Dating to roughly a decade after World War II ended, this piece—still on its original stock card—continues the sweetheart tradition with a twist characteristic of 1950s humor. Like sweetheart jewelry, Love-Cuffs were a romantic way for a man to demonstrate his attachment to a special someone; however, this accessory also tells of the power dynamics between men and women, and societal notions of "property" and fidelity.
.
.
'Love-Cuffs' Chatelaine Pin, 1955
Gift of Jimmie Romero in memory of Christie Romero
2012.943.28AB
.
.
.

*STUD ALERT* Happy Birthday, Gianni Versace. Leat

*STUD ALERT*

Happy Birthday, Gianni Versace. Leather, luster, buckles, and baroque have never looked as 🥵 as they did in his hands!
.
.
Man's Ensemble by Gianni Versace, c. 1994
All Gift of Dorothy Washington Sorensen
.
.
.

It's been quite a year for American fashion histor

It's been quite a year for American fashion history, so let's conclude 2022 with a Collection Conversation which celebrates it! Please join us next Friday, December 9 at 11am PT/2pm ET on IG Live as Curator Kevin Jones welcomes independent curator Michelle Finnamore (@lovefashionhistory) to discuss her most recent exhibition, *Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour*, now on view at @crystalbridgesmuseum!

The FIDM Museum is proud to have contributed seventeen—yes, 17!—loan items to this important exhibition, which Finnamore organized to "re-look at American fashion with a more inclusive lens, rethink what the canon is, disrupt the narrative a bit, [and ask] who has been left out of the story." (as quoted in @vogue)

With such diverse loans, and so little time, they'll try to cram as much as possible into an hour-long convo, but you'll surely hear behind-the-scenes tales of curatorial decisions & installation challenges!

Got questions? Drop them in the comments below & we'll see you next week...
.
.
In progress: Kevin's installation photo of dressing our incredibly rare reception gown made by Olympe Boisse, 1866-67 (Gift of Cathy Gordon, 2007.893.1AB)
.
.
.

Chase away the grey with this electric pink Grès!

Chase away the grey with this electric pink Grès!

Today is Madame Grès' (1903-1993) birthday. A sphinx of fashion, the evolution of this designer's name is but one example of her mysterious ways. Born Germaine Emilie Krebs in Paris, she was known professionally as Mademoiselle Alix, Alix, and Alix Barton before becoming Madame Grès in the early 1940s. This name was adopted from her husband, a painter named Serge Anatolievitch Czerefkow, who signed his works Gres.

As a child, Madame Grès hoped to become a sculptor, an ambition not supported by her parents. Instead, she trained as a dressmaker, probably working as an in-house milliner at the Parisian department store Au Bon Marché and later as a designer for the Premet couture house. Her interest in sculpture is evident in her work, with early designs featuring drapes, twists, and gathers that suggest the garments portrayed in classical statuary. Madame Grès also drew inspiration from untailored garments like the sari and kimono.

The asymmetrical silk dress seen here dates from the latter years of Madame Grès distinguished career. Though much of Grès' work used the body as a foundation to explore the possibilities of twisting, draping, and pleating fabric, this cocoon-like dress almost ignores the body. An exploration of form, the dress displays a titillating amount of leg, a revelation aligned with late 1960s fashion. No zippers or buttons mar the lines of the dress. Instead, Madame Grès placed a line of hidden snaps at the shoulder, a natural breaking point for any garment.
.
.
Dress by Madame Grès, c. 1970
Gift of Doris Raymond in honor of Kevin Jones
2011.800.2
.
.
.

It's #GivingTuesday, and in the spirit of the day,

It's #GivingTuesday, and in the spirit of the day, we hope you will match our giving mood by considering donating to an indispensable resource: The Fashion and Race Database. Established in 2017 by Founder, CEO, and Principal Researcher @KimberlyMJenkins, FRD is an online platform filled with tools that expand the narrative of fashion history and challenge misrepresentation within the fashion system.

On many occasions, FIDM Museum curators & staff have been grateful recipients of FRD wisdom. Now, we are proud to announce our Institutional Subscription in support of The @FashionAndRaceDatabase's mission—and in an effort to enhance and strengthen our own purview.

If you haven't visited already, we highly encourage browsing their website & previewing all they have to offer! Individual and institutional subscriptions affirm their educational mission and directly support their ability to equitably and sustainably pay contributors and staff, which is quite uncommon in the fashion education space.

We’ve put a link in our bio to preview the site & inspire you. To borrow the database's phrase, it’s time to decentralize the study of fashion. Show your support for current & future scholarship in the field we love as much as you do!
.
.
.
Illustration: “Fabric of Fashion” by Museo de Moda, commissioned for The Fashion and Race Database. This image, plus info slides, are courtesy of The Fashion and Race Database.
.
.
.

It's all natural: the wool used to make this jacke

It's all natural: the wool used to make this jacket was most likely dyed & woven by Diné/Navajo weavers with one of many varieties of lichen native to the Southwest region of the United States. The dusty purple and cream fabric was possibly a blanket first, then fashioned into this garment; apart from the striped borders, stamped silver dome buttons and touches of fringe are the only ornamentation.

Look closely at the fabric and you will see variations in the purple tones. This is typical of wools dyed with natural dye agents in separate batches. Chemical dyes tend to be much more consistent from batch to batch, lacking the artisanal charm which often draws us to hand-weaving.

Today is #NativeAmericanHeritageDay, and we celebrate the knowledge & practices of indigenous people across North America.
.
.
Jacket (Diné/Navajo), 1940s
Gift of Deborah Sussman and Paul Prejza
S2018.1613.10
.
.
.

Thanksgiving Fashion Tip: make gravy & cranberry s

Thanksgiving Fashion Tip: make gravy & cranberry sauce stains a thing of the past. Throw your clothes away after the meal!

In 1967, DHJ Industries teamed with chemists at Du Pont to create printed "spunbonded polyester" fabric called Reemay. Reemay is a sheet material made from randomly arranged continuous filaments of polyester fibers which are bonded by heat and pressure. The construction is akin to felt techniques, which yield lightweight and strong fabrics. Today, we recognize the detrimental impacts of #disposablefashion, #fastfashion, #microplastic and #synthetic materials, but then, a fabric like Reemay was considered miraculous.

"Indispensible Disposables" was the first boutique in New York City devoted to these items deemed the wave of the future, opened in 1967 with an early-morning, sidewalk queue champagne party! High-end designers also embraced the fad. Later that year, a Reemay "paper ball gown" fashion show featured festive looks by #BillBlass, #JoCopeland, #GeoffreyBeene, #ArnoldScaasi, #DonaldBrooks, #LeoNarducci, #OscarDeLaRenta, #ChesterWeinberg, #AdeleSimpson, and #NandoSarmi.

Much as we'd love to show you the full dress, it's still ensconced in its original clear plastic package, so you'll have to settle for some press photos & sketches from 1967!

Final fact: Reemay is still in production, with applications in landscaping, packaging, and filtration systems.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
.
.
Disposable Dress by Reemay, 1967-1968
Gift of Louise Coffey-Webb
2001.20.7
.
.
.