Separating the Artist from the Art

I am suffering from Karl Lagerfeld overload; since Monday’s Met Gala more ink about him has been spilled since he died in 2019. The theme of the Costume Institute’s major exhibition is Lagerfeld, and so he was the theme of the gala as well.

I want to start by saying that over the years, I really have loved Lagerfeld’s designs. His 2013 pre-fall metiers d’art show is my all-time favorite fashion show. You may remember it as the one with the Scottish theme, set in an old castle with swirling snow and mysterious atmosphere.

And so much of the work he did in the early 2000s was beautiful and influential. I remember gasping when I saw a couture suit from 2003 at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. The suit was deconstructed, and then reconstructed using gold mesh. Other designs in the same season looked like the tweed was melting toward the hem. The next year unfinished hems were everywhere.

Still, I was a bit perturbed when the Met announced this year’s theme. It’s not that Lagerfeld didn’t have a long and distinguished career. He did. But so much of what he did was based on the aesthetic of whatever line he was working on. He took the Chanel trademarks to whole new level, but at the end of the day, they were Chanel’s, not Karl’s. His clothes for Chloe looked like what one wanted from Chloe. But the clothes that bore the label that read “Karl Lagerfeld” were, to my eyes, a bit frumpy and boring.

I’m not the one who gets to determine who gets a one man show. That’s Anna Wintour’s job. She liked Karl, and so here we are, four years after his death with 200 of his best designs on view at the Met. I’ve seen photos, and can say it is stunning, even if so many of them are on ledges above eye level.

But it seems to me that when compared to the other subjects of single designer shows at the Met, Lagerfeld is just not in the same league. In recent years we have had Paul Poiret, Rei Kawakubo, Alexander McQueen, and Charles James. And the 2005 exhibition, House of Chanel, actually featured many looks from Lagerfeld.

One big debate in fashion exhibition circles has been, “Is fashion art?” Of course, the folks at the Costume Institute will give a firm yes to that question. The chief curator, Andrew Bolton goes to great lengths to give wordy, intellectual, interviews, and the overwrought show notes make even the most dedicated follower of fashion have crossed eyes.

So why, this year, does Bolton insist that this show is just about the clothes, and not the maker himself? Why has there been so much said to try and separate Lagerfeld’s persona from the clothing he designed?

I’m guessing that Wintour and Bolton thought that people have such short memories that we can’t recall what a disagreeable person Lagerfeld was. I’ll not go into all the ugliness that came out of his mouth, especially in his later years, but you can read any of the many articles written, questioning why the Costume Institute chose to honor a person who expressed so much hate. Did I mention he was Anna Wintour’s friend?

And even though Bolton insists that the show is not about Karl the man, there are traces of him everywhere. The exhibition has his shoes on display. Visitors are treated to a look at several dozen of his i-phones. The gift store is full of products that feature his image. People who paid the $50,000 to attend the Met Gala were instructed to be inspired by Karl, and to even channel him in their dress.

So what about the teachable moment? Why is the Costume Institute ignoring the elephant in the room? If fashion truly is ART, why can’t there be an honest conversation around the ugly human who created beautiful clothes?

Shadowline Lingerie at the History Museum of Burke County, NC

On a recent trip to the piedmont of North Carolina, I stopped in at the History Museum of Burke County in Morganton. The museum is about to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, and for an institution with such a short history, I was really impressed. I’ll be showing off the entire museum later, but today I want to write about a company that was a major part of the Burke County story – Shadowline.

Shadowline was started in 1946 by Sherrod Salsbury, and the company remained in the hands of the Sherrod family until 2009. The company is still in business, but like so many American companies, the products are no longer made in the USA.

Shadowline gained a reputation for producing conservative, high quality nylon tricot lingerie. If a product sold well, it remained in production for years. I imagine they did not bother to try to compete with more fashionable lingerie companies like Vasserette. They did not have to. Shadowline had a loyal following. To many, it was simply the best money could buy.

My grandmother was a loyal Shadowline customer. For Christmas and birthdays, a slip or gown from Shadowline was sure to please her. When she left her home in her eighties to live with a daughter, in cleaning out her house we found dozens of Shadowline boxes with the contents intact, never worn. All of it was in her favorite color, pink.

Because the museum was in operation when Shadowline left North Carolina, they were able to take possession of some great artifacts, including samples, mannequins, sewing stations, and sales literature. They even have some of the original patterns.

Sears Junior Bazaar Swimsuit, 1976

Sometime in the mid 1960s Sears started a new line, designed for teen girls. Named Junior Bazaar, it was the hippest Sears label to date. Those days, we did all our clothes shopping at Sears. My dad had worked there briefly while attending business school, and fifteen years later his friends at the store still gave him the employee discount. I loved Junior Bazaar because the clothes were similar to what I saw in Seventeen, at a price my parents could afford.

Recently I spotted this bathing suit on the Instagram of my friend Susan of Blackbird Antiques NC. I added this swimsuit to my collection for several reasons. First, Susan found the catalog page featuring the suit. That’s always a plus.
But mainly I love how the design is a thinly disguised version of Jantzen’s trademark diving girl. And finally, it has that sleek 1970s nostalgia thing going, with the diver in her 1920s swimsuit. That’s a lot to think about in one garment.

Here’s the original 1976 catalog featuring the suit. That looks like a pre-Mork and Mindy Pam Dawber as the model.

Shopping with The Vintage Traveler, Spring 2023

It’s time to go shopping again. I’m getting geared up for the big Liberty Antiques Festival which is at the end of this week. Wish me luck in my quest for antique and vintage sportswear and ephemera.

In the past few months I have shopped from Greenville, SC to Sevierville, TN. Here’s what caught my interest, but not enough for me to add to my collection.

I’m always looking at thread selling cabinets and displays. What makes this one so great is that the rack is still filled with the original thread. I also love it because Lily threads were somewhat local to me, being located in Shelby, NC.

I may have shown this fencing outfit before. I was tempted.

Antique skates are not something one expects to see in the southern USA, so I’m always happy when I see them. The wooden bases did not look old, and the leather straps were missing, otherwise I would have bought these.

Nice 1960s skating graphics, but I didn’t need the skates.

I’m always amazed at how women engaged in sports or activities associated with men, were increasingly used on magazine covers.

Please be kind to old paper.

Okay…

Cowgirl calendar art.

I do not pretend to understand the fascination with vintage blow mold ornaments, but that’s okay. I just wanted to say this Santa is the biggest one I’ve ever seen.

Art-o-mat sighting in Asheville. Best use of a cigarette machine ever.

Some sad, old dress forms. Someone really abused the one on the right.

Time for a rant. These 1920ish shoes were completely ruined by the use of those horrible flexible metal shoe trees. Please, if you have any of these, do not use them. Do not sell them. Look at those poor shoes!

This is a luggage tag. Why can’t we have cute things like this today?

All this consisted of was a plastic embroidery ring and a plastic thing to slip buttons through to measure them. I bet experienced sewers really laughed at this product.

And finally, an antique carpet bag, which I regret not looking at more closely. I guess I should go back to see if it is still there, and to have a good look.

The Scottish Tartans Museum, Revisited

I first visited this museum almost thirteen years ago after several conversations here about cultural appropriation. You can read about my initial visit, so this time around I can focus on other issues.

I visit a lot of small museums, but when it comes to having a clear focus and mission, The Scottish Tartans Museum in Franklin, NC, is one of the best I’ve seen. But what I really love about it is how Scottish history is told through textiles. I can imagine that a lot of textile lovers have persuaded a reluctant non-textile loving friend to accompany them on a visit, only for the non-enthusiast to have enjoyed the exhibits as much as the textile lover.

I have revisited museums years after a first visit to find them virtually unchanged. In some cases things just end up looking dusty and tired. Not so here. The exhibits have mostly been reimagined, with new exhibit notes. They have also expanded a section on Scottish history, which I imagine a lot of people skip, but that I felt was really great background information.

As you can see here, there are enlargements of historic prints which give context to the display. Even people who don’t want to read the notes can’t help but compare the mannequin’s dress to the illustration.

I loved this series of photographs. They illustrate how to properly wrap a tartan into a kilt. Yes, kilts were not originally pleated and sewn. They were a long length of tartan which would double as a sleeping wrap.

This Scottish clansman is prepared for almost anything the world throws at him. It’s almost too easy to contrast this imagine of masculinity with what is accepted as manly today.

This ensemble is a real treasure. It was donated to the museum by the family of the original wearer, Samuel Glass. There are even photos of him, circa 1898, wearing it.

Along with the antique tartans and lots and lots of knives, the museum has a nice display of vintage sewn kilts. They are framed in shadowbox frames, and make a very effective display along one wall.

This little boy’s kilt and jacket are also framed to good effect.

This beautiful circa 1910 Scottish wedding dress, not so much so. It looked to be in good condition, and would have looked so much better on a mannequin. But maybe there’s something I don’t know about the fragility of the textile.

It was nice to see a Scottish textile that was not tartan. What could be more Scottish than the thistle?

1950s and 60s Border Prints

I have loved and collected vintage border prints for some time now. I especially love the 1950s ones by artist Saul Steinberg, like the one above. I have five different Steinberg prints and I’m always looking for the five or so that I’m missing. The problem with them is that for the past ten years or so the prices have sky-rocked out of sight of sane vintage buyers.

And it’s not just the Steinbergs. All novelty border prints have greatly increased in price. Because I refuse to pay $400 for a cotton print skirt, I have not bought one since 2014, until today.

I have been looking for this skirt from 1957 for years. It has come up for sale from time to time, but I just could not justify the asking price. But today I spotted it in a red, white, and blue colorway in a very fair price. Good things really do come to those who wait.

Vintage clothing is just like any other commodity. The price goes up and down depending on many factors, but it seems to me the deciding factor in vintage clothing is what is trendy. Yes, there are trends in old clothing, as odd as that might seem. What was unsellable last year is suddenly the hottest thing on eBay.

And I’ve noticed for a while now that gathered border print skirts are cooling. I don’t think they will ever completely fade from the vintage marketplace, because they really are clever and cute and even thought-provoking. But I hope that these skirts do continue to come down to a more realistic price because I do have several gaps to fill in my collection.

People tend to associate border prints with the 1950s, but they first caught on in the late 40s, and I recently found some great examples in a 1963 Sear catalog. That a pretty long-lived fad. I have found that one of the best sources for these cotton prints is the vintage mail order catalog. This was not high fashion. It was an everyday look for girls of all ages, as well as border print shirts for the boys.

The Scottie print in the catalog reminded me that I have a piece of it in my fabric stash.

That 1963 Sears catalog also had a version of the ever popular puppies in a basket print.

And here’s one for the horse lover.

Border prints were not just for skirts. Many were designed as home decor fabrics. These would have made kitchen curtains, or matching bedroom curtains and pillow cases.

Other good sources of border skirt images are catalogs like Lana Lobell and Florida Fashions. These mail order catalogs featured reasonably priced goods that would have been hard to find in small town America.

I have seen this cat print numerous times.

A fun project (for someone other than me) would be to gather together all the documented border prints into a website or even a book. Feel free to steal this idea.

Some Old Friends

About a year and a half ago I decided to sell the little Victorian cottage where I kept my collection. It was a hard call to make, but as we age we realize that our possessions can simply be too much. In selling the house and reducing my storage space, I knew I had to tighten the focus of my collection, and then to remove items that were redundant or outside this focus.

My solution was to donate most of the removed items to the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. I have been friends with the museum’s founders, Jonathan Walford and Kenn Norman for years, and had already written the museum into my will. Curator Jonathan got first pick of the items, and the rest went to my friends at the Fashion Conservatory to be sold.

This is not the first time I have donated items to museums. I especially like to find and buy items manufactured in the many textile mills and clothing factories that once spread across the South. Small local museums are usually thrilled to add items made locally to their collections.

I recently got an email from Jonathan showing two of my donated garments that are in the FHM’s current exhibition, 300 Years of Fashion. What a treat it is to see my former things in an exhibition where hundreds of people will see and enjoy them!

Above is a mid-1960s Mary Quant Ginger Group dress. Perfect for doing the twist or the frug.

Also in the exhibition is this superb early 1920s dress. I found it years ago at the old Metrolina Flea Market in Charlotte. I remember haggling with the seller, who told me I was ruthless. It’s so nice knowing my skill as a haggler led to this dress being preserved in a museum.

If you find yourself in southern Ontario, pay the museum a visit. It’s only about an hour and a half from Niagara Falls.