Vintage Miscellany – February 26, 2017

Earlier in the week it was 75* F here in the mountains, and so today the much more seasonable 50* seems like an icebox.  So, it’s a great day for sipping something warm and catching up on the latest fashion history stories.

•  An article of clothing serves as an historical document.  Here, the analysis of a bloomer dress from 1855.
• Many of the personal effects of fashion photographer Bill Cunningham have been donated to the New York Historical Society.  An exhibition is planned for the spring.
• FIDM, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, is in the process of sorting, storing and digitizing their collection of designer Tina Leser material.
• Fashion Weeks are happening, and that means a return to the issue of cultural appropriation.  Vogue got the ball rolling with a fashion shoot starring white model Karlie Kloss as a Geisha.  Some argued that it was not that a white woman was dressed as a Geisha that was so wrong, but that the use of the Geisha stereotype itself was wrong, even if the model had been Japanese.
• And then the Gucci runway show seemed to say, “Political correctness is dead.”
•  What exactly have textiles meant to North Carolina?
•  How are history and information and culture saved during times when the official officials disagree with historic fact and scientific data?
•   Thanks to a weaver’s daughter, a Harris Tweed operation is saved from closure.
•  This one is a blend of two of my passions – dogs and historical fashion.
•  As production in China becomes more expensive, opportunities in clothing manufacturing and textile production arise elsewhere.  Like Italy and South Carolina.
• My first historical research hero, Ivor Noël Hume, has died at age 89. His books were an inspiration.