Through 4/18/18
Western Reserve Historical Society’s curator of costume and textiles Patricia Edmundson dug deep into the organization’s voluminous archives of more than 40,000 garments, accessories and other items to put together WOW Factor: 150 Years of Collecting Bold Clothes, on display in the society’s Chisholm Halle Costume Wing for the next year.
She divided the displays into four sections by theme rather than chronology: Whimsy, Romance, Confidence and Effervescence, with the oldest dress dating from the 1850s and the newest a 2014 outfit by currently working Cleveland designer, Valerie Mayen of Yellowcake.
She was as intrigued by the women who wore the clothing as by the garments themselves, telling stories of women like Ada Watterson Yerkes who earned a Phd in 1900 and worked as a zoologist. She’s represented by a flaming red dress she wore to a dance at Smith College in the 1890s when such a color on a young woman would have been considered faintly scandalous.
Many of the women represented were the cream of Cleveland’s society set; it was their gowns and special occasion outfits that ended to be lovingly preserved while those of working women were worn out and discarded. Others had a connection to the fashion business, such as Helen S. Andrews, fashion director at the Higbee Company, whose fur stole is pictured above. And some viewers will even personally know Denajua, who started designing in the ’80s and is represented by a garden made from fabric woven from VHS tape, or DJ/public relations maven Reena Samaan Goodman, who worked at the Rock Hall and loaned the black, gold paillette-accented dress she wore to he 2012 induction ceremony.
The exhibit also features jewelry and other accessories, but it’s the evolution of style (and the girth of waistlines!) and how each women expressed her personal style that’s most absorbing. The exhibit is free with regular admission.
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106