Nail head dresses
Young cosmopolitans love nail-head glitter!1 Dresses embellished with decorative gold, brass or silver nail heads first appeared in the late 1930s. Usually seen on solid-color "background" dresses of wool or synthetic crepe, nail heads were used as... Read Article ››

Koos van den Akker
In a Koos van den Akker garment, fabric is always the focal point. Not just a single luxury fabric, but a riotous mix of fabric patches and panels combined into a surprisingly unified whole. According to the designer, his garments always "start with the... Read Article ››

Norman Norell flower coat
"Flower power" is usually associated with the late 1960s hippie aesthetic, but flowers were actually a popular decorative motif throughout the decade. The early years of the 1960s witnessed a proliferation of stylized and patently artificial floral... Read Article ››

The Little Black Dress
During the nineteenth century, black clothing was usually worn to signify a special status, i.e. mourning, religious piety, extreme poverty or a position of economic and social authority. Because many professional men adopted black suit coats after 1850,... Read Article ››

Hand painted silk ensemble, c. 1925
Child's "Dainty Blossom" Ensemble Daisy Stanford Hand-painted silk c. 1925 Museum Purchase 2003.5.24A-C Hand-painted novelties, including dresses, scarves and ribbons, enjoyed a burst of popularity in the teens and twenties. A Paris fashion... Read Article ››

Morning gown, c. 1895
For the Victorian woman, correct dress was an essential component of social acceptance. Women of the aristocratic classes and the nouveaux riche changed outfits multiple times each day, always with the knowledge that dress played a crucial role in determining... Read Article ››

1920s cloche
Some of you are probably wondering why we didn't discuss the close-fitting cloche hat featured in our most recent post, 1920s silhouette. Given its iconic status as the IT hat of the 1920s, we thought the cloche deserved its own entry. Though the term... Read Article ››

Patrick Kelly
Patrick Kelly’s (1954-1990) irreverent mini-dresses embellished with buttons, bows or rhinestones were his most iconic creations. One 1988 version featured tiny billiard balls sewn to the bodice! When interviewed, Kelly always credited his grandmother... Read Article ››

Wheat motif
Widespread cultural preoccupations or anxieties are often expressed through dress. This can be extremely overt, as in the case of a T-shirt slogan, or much more discreet, as in a frequently recurring decorative motif. In the 19th century, anxiety relating to... Read Article ››

Mirrorwork embroidery
Though the focus of the FIDM Museum collection is on objects related to Western European and North American dress, we do have a small number of outstanding objects related to the sartorial traditions of other cultures and countries. Many of these objects,... Read Article ››

Tailored suit
In the 20th century, the tailored suit became a standard uniform for professional working women. Consisting of a jacket and skirt in matched or closely coordinated fabric, it developed in the late 19th century as an evolution of specialized garments worn for... Read Article ››

Egyptomania
In late 1922, the British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed and opened the sealed tomb of King Tutankhamun in Luxor, Egypt. Though Egyptian art and ornament had served as a source of artistic inspiration for many centuries, the discovery of King... Read Article ››
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