Author: Michelle

Costume Exhibit in NY at the Met

If you’re in New York before the middle of August, you absolutely MUST go see the “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity” at the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. Here is a preview of the exhibit that focuses on archetypes of American fashion, including “Gibson Girls” and “Screen Sirens”.

Jesse Franklin Turner gold lamé dress, 1933
Etta Hentz Grecian style evening gown, 1944
Charles James silk and metallic gown, 1936
Nellie Harrington sweater and pleated skirt, 1928
Silk and rhinestone evening gown, c. 1909-11

“American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity” is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 5, 2010 – August 15, 2010.

All images courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Collection.

Jo’s Picks: Chanel Resort 2010

The 350 guests reclining on sun beds in the famous white tented cabanas certainly felt privileged to be witnessing the extreme glamour of the designer’s learned-but-light invocation of an important part of Coco Chanel’s biography, one that was overlaid with passing allusions to Visconti, Fellini, the Venice carnival, and the city’s art treasures.

“I wanted to reinvent the mystique,” said Karl Lagerfeld, talking about locating the collection in one of Coco Chanel’s favorite summer haunts—she visited Venice for almost ten years beginning in 1919 and met Diaghilev here.

“Coco on the Lido,” as Lagerfeld called it, started with a tableau of figures in tricorne hats and cloaks—cover-ups for a play on girdles and bras as bathing suits. Next came Tatjana Patitz promenading in creamy lace as the picture-hatted Edwardian mother in Death in Venice, her sailor-suited son Tadzio and his two sisters in ingenue fan-pleated dresses trailing behind. From there, the sequence took off into matelot- and gondolier-inspired stripes, interpreted in long-line fine-knit cardigans and playful beachwear with funny red and white striped wedge booties. The references kept streaming out—a halterneck dress fashioned in plissé knit to suggest Fortuny, the deep Doge red and the golden lion motif of the city flag, shimmery sequins and glass embroidery made to imitate the light of Venice glancing off water.

Pictures and Blurb from Style.

Mother Maria F2010 Collection

“For Aussie label Mother Maria, baguettes met boomerangs to inspire one of the most charming collections of the season. Defined by chic shapes and feminine details, “Parisienne” brings springtime on the Champs-Élysées to the surf-friendly shores of Australia, sustainable fabrics included.

Designer Katie Ganon first started selling pieces to friends in 2002, before extending her sphere of influence to stores in 2006. Since her line’s inception, Gannon has dedicated herself to the pursuit of everything green and gorgeous. Her Fall/Winter 2010 collection (or rather, Spring/Summer, for those of us in the northern hemisphere) harkens back to the playful sophistication of the ’40s while using beach-friendly fabrics and soft colors.”

All of Mother Maria’s garments are ethically produced Down Under using mostly organic cotton and vintage fabrics, although—full disclosure—some new conventional cotton is included, as well. Not living in the land of Vegemite? Its online shop ships worldwide—g’day, indeed!

Photos and Blurb from here.