I'm currently doing my master's in a collections management program and one of the best things I've learned so far is how to search for a museum's collections on their website and to be able to read what the accession pages say. There's a lot of information buried in museum websites that is waiting to be unearthed. I wanted to start yet another series highlighting what museums have in their collections because 1) it's fascinating and their collections are often drool-worthy, and 2) I want to highlight lingerie as an art form that is collected and sought after by major institutions. Not to mention that many museums don't put everything they have in their collection on display, so many of these pieces couldn't even be seen by the average museum-goer.
In one of my classes last term, we had to create our own fictional museums and it could house any collection we wanted it to. I obviously chose lingerie for mine, with my mandate outlining the technological nature of lingerie design and its relationship with social change. Anyhow, when I finished my presentation (which was mostly about accepting donations), I asked the class what they thought the proper way to deaccession a work of art that was found to be a fake in a museum's collections. One of my classmates argued and repeatedly stated that lingerie was not art, should not be treated as such, and that my question was invalid.
This stuck with me because I've always considered garments, and especially well made ones, to be works of art. But it reminded me that many people don't feel the same way and see clothing and lingerie as strictly utilitarian. I would love to change people's minds about that and also have some fun exploring some of the incredible pieces that are collected all over the world, and I'm starting with The Met's collection.
I've added two images of this divine number, because it's actually two pieces. This nightie is a 1964 piece by Iris Lingerie, designed by Sylvia Pedlar. Pedlar was born as Sylvia Schlang in New York city in 1901, and later studied at the Cooper Union and Arts Students League with the intent to be come a fashion designer. In 1929, Pedlar believed that lingerie design was not being explored enough and decided to do it herself. She named her company Iris Lingerie after Iris March, the heroine of the bestselling 1920s novel, The Green Hat. Pedlar's designs would later be regarded as "The Dior of lingerie" and was known as the designer who adapted the Roman toga into an evening gown.
In 1970, with the end of Iris Lingerie, Pedlar donated many of her best-selling designs to the Met and they have a nice collection of her work.
The above gown is one of two pieces Thea Twei donated to the Met in 1948 from her lingerie collection. Tewi was a German-born, American-based sculptor who had a brief foray into the world of lingerie in the 1940s. Twei was born as Thea Wittner in Berlin sometime between 1902 to 1915 (sources vary) and studied at Staatliche Kunstakademie under the direction of artist and designer, Bruno Paul. In 1938, Twei, her husband and son escaped Nazi Germany to the United States as Jewish refugees. As a lingerie designer, Twei was very successful in the 1940s, and her brand, Twei Lingerie Inc., was very highly regarded as being innovative yet luxurious. She was a highly regarded designer, but she returned to sculpting by the 1950s, abandoning her lingerie business.
The gown above is called "Busting Out All Over" and was designed sometime between 1946-1948.
Above is another beautiful Twei design, this one called "Ripe Roses" and was created in either 1947 or 1948. Both gowns are made of silk and have beautiful embroidery details. Ripe Roses was previously housed in the Brooklyn Museum, but made its way over to The Met in 2009.
The above is another stunning piece from the Met's collections. It's a gorgeous vibrant silk and lace European corset from approximately 1880. This piece was donated by the Isabel Shults Fund in 2001 and I suspect that this is from her estate, as Shults's name pops up as a donor in documents going back to 1944. I suspect she was a private collector as I can't find any written work about her and her family likely donated her collection to museums and galleries after her passing. I've found other pieces donated by Shults in other institutions and texts, mostly clothing and accessories, so I assume Shults was a wealthy person with a penchant for beautiful things.
This piece is a French silk corset, produced in 1891 by Maison Léoty. I haven't been able to find out much about Maison Léoty online, but I have found other pieces made by them and they seem to have been designing in the 1880s and 1890s. Along with more delicate fabrics like silk and lace, they also made corsets out of leather. The piece is labelled with "Maison Leoty / Place de la Madeleine, 8, Paris". This piece was a gift from Marion Hague in 1945, and like Isabel Shults, I couldn't find much information about Hague either. This corset was exhibited by the Met in 1994 for their "Waist Not" exhibit, and in 2001-2002 for their "Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed" exhibit.
The Met gives this description for this piece: "In the eighteenth century, the corset imposed a more-or-less conical configuration to the upper torso. By the late nineteenth century, a more softly rounded female form was preferred. This extended even to the body in profile. The straight and rigid busks of the eighteenth century gave way to busks that not only curved into the waist but also rounded out over the belly."
This gorgeous Charles James piece was accessioned by the Met from the Brooklyn Museum in 2009 and is made of silk, appears to be fully boned, and was made in 1957. It's a foundation piece that would have likely been made to be worn under James's structural gowns. It's reminiscent of a corset, despite the fact that corsets were long out of fashion aside from in fetish circles. This is because like the corset, this corset-inspired shapewear was meant to maintain the body's shape and uphold outwear and if it was made to wear under a Charles James gown, it could have to sustain the weight of up to 25lbs. This particular piece was gifted to the Brooklyn Museum by Marguerite Piazza in 1994. Piazza was an American opera singer and philanthropist.
James was a British-born designer who worked out of the US and was known as "America's first couturier". James's pieces were recognizable for their highly structural aesthetic. James moved from the UK to the US in 1939 and developed his line out of New York. In 1947, James showed his collection at Paris Fashion Week and a year later, Cecil Beaton photographed eight Charles James gowns for Vogue. James was incredibly influential among his contemporaries, like Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga, and Dior cited James's work as inspiration for his famous "New Look". Charles James pieces have been in display in museums since the 1970s, and this was one of James's goals as a designer. He convinced socialite Millicent Rogers to donate some of her pieces from his collections to the Brooklyn Museum (these pieces have since been gifted to the Met) and the museum put on a Charles James exhibit from 1982 to 1983. In more recent history, the Chicago History Museum exhibited their show, Charles James: Genius Deconstructed from October 2012 to April 2013. The Met put on their show in collaboration with the Anna Wintour Costume Centre, Charles James: Beyond Fashion from May to August in 2014.
This bra is another Charles James piece -- the Met has quite a few exceptional Charles James undergarments -- and is a 1956 piece that was gifted to the Brooklyn Museum in 1993 (and accessioned to the Met in 2009) by Erik Lee Preminger in honour of his mother, burlesque legend, Gypsy Rose Lee. The description on the page for this piece says that the bra was made to order for Gypsy Rose Lee, which is incredibly fascinating. Another Gypsy owned bra by James is in the Met's collection and it's also from 1956:
When asked about dressing Gypsy Rose Lee in an interview, Charles James said:
I made clothes for very special people, and I would say that Gypsy Rose Lee, absolutely; from a personal point of view of originality, judgment, general sense, and unique imagination was very special. Her career as a strip artist was strictly contrived. She really didn’t strip anyway; it was something that is akin to someone who compulsively takes their clothes off in public. She built around this compulsion as an act. Her final act is when she appeared fully dressed, in a dress I made, which was able to be taken apart in five different sections which she draped on five naked girls who accompanied her, and in so doing, practically undressed herself and dressed them. That was her final act, the one that Dorothy Kilgalan wrote the article about in which she said that Gypsy had the training of someone brought up in comparative poverty, and it was necessary for her to continue all her life thinking in terms of petty cash.
This fantastic peignoir set is by John Kloss and was gifted to the Met by him in 1980. The set itself is from 1971, and usually I don't find myself drawn to lingerie (or much of anything) form the 70s onward, but this piece is incredibly beautiful. It reminds me of the Vanity Fair Conversation Pieces set that I have in my collection. Kloss was born in Detroit and initially studied architecture in high school and later moved to New York to work on Wall Street. He studied fashion at the Traphagen School of Fashion while he was in the city and apprenticed with American couturier, Bob Bugnand in Paris when he was 20. After this, he turned down an offer to work for Nina Ricci in favour of starting his own brand, which was produced and stocked by Bendel's in New York. In the 1960s, Kloss designed evening gowns and lingerie, often times emulating one another. By the late 60s, he was using chiffon, jersey, and crepe de chine for both his gowns and lingerie. These are fabrics that would glide with the wearer's movements. Kloss was most notable for developing a nearly invisible bra in the midst of the "no bra" bra trend of the 60s and 70s for Lily of France called the "glossie". The glossie was seamless and wireless but provided enough support for women who didn't want to wear a structured bra. Sadly, Kloss committed suicide in 1987.
This is an interesting set in the Met's collection from Fredericks of Hollywood because it's the only piece the Met has from Frederick's. This set is from the 1990s, past Frederick's heyday, and was accessioned in 1997. The set was gifted by the estate of Luciana Martinez de la Rosa, an actress in the 1970s turned painter. It's interesting to me that with all of the vintage Frederick's floating around, that the Met hasn't picked up any of it.
Frederick's of Hollywood was started by Frederick Mellinger in 1947 and still exists today. They became the top lingerie retailer for decades with their racy styles, including the introduction of the push-up bra, that was distributed through their catalogs. While many customers ordered Frederick's lingerie through the catalogs, there were Frederick's stores across the USA, with their flagship store on Hollywood Boulevard. However, Frederick's was usurped by Victoria's Secret in the 1980s, and the brand eventually went bankrupt in 2015. Frederick's was bought out by Authentic Brands Group and closed all of their stores, selling only online. Frederick's housed The Lingerie Museum in LA, which had a collection of celebrity worn lingerie. The museum was looted in 1992 and a corset worn by Madonna was stolen and never returned.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of information about these tap shorts other than the fact that they were made in 1926, likely of French origin, and donated by Joan Van Raalte Hellinger in 1975. The lace and embroidery is truly exquisite and stitching of this kind is rarely seen in modern lingerie. I tried looking up Joan Van Raalte Hellinger but little came up online about her other than the fact that she donated quite a few garments to the Met. This makes me think that maybe she was young in the 1920s, the era most of the pieces she donated seem to be from, or was a lingerie collector with an interest in the 1920s. Regardless, these are truly stunning.
I've attached other items from her gift to the Met:
There is little information about this black set as well, but it, like the tap shorts, also appears to be French and from the 1920s. The designer is likely to be the French brand, Callot Soeurs, who were active from 1895-1937. Callot Soeurs was created and run by four sisters: Marie Callot Gerber, Marthe Callot Bertrand, Regina Callot Tennyson-Chantrell, and Josephine Callot Crimont. Marie, the eldest sister, was a trained seamstress and was likely the one who made all the garments while the other sisters worked with antique laces and ribbons to enhance their blouses and lingerie. In 1900, the brand was taken to the World's Fair and this grew their brand hugely that year. Callot Soeurs was very popular in the US and American sales were vital in WWI as Europeans had very little spending money. In the 1920s, Marie ran the brand on her own as the other sisters had retired or passed away, but the brand was still very popular internationally. But in 1928, Marie passed away and Callot Soeurs was passed down to her son, but the business did not last and was closed in 1937.
This gown and knicker set was gifted by Natalie Rector in 1962 to the Brooklyn Museum. There is little information about her online and I suspect she was not a high profile person. She also donated this stunning 1920s Callot Soeurs gown at that same time:
This piece, unlike all the others on this list, was purchased by the Met for their collection. It's a 1940s Italian bullet bra that was purchased in 2001. The label doesn't list a brand so it's hard to find any additional information about this piece. The Met does include this paragraph with this piece:
The gored cups of this late 1940s brassiere created an aggressive pair of breasts set high on the chest, an ideal shape to give form to a tight-fitting sweater. The 1950s saw an almost comical elaboration of the technology of the brassiere, including intricate topstitching, underwires, various paddings and inserts, and multiple methods of suspension that could raise, separate, or push together the breast as desired. The 1950s also marked the first widespread use of breast implants in the form of the since banned ivalon sponge.
This pretty little number struck my fancy because of its unusual vivid colour (though by the 1960s, when this piece is from, bright colours were more common in lingerie) and the detail put into it. This is a 60s piece by Daphne Hughes, a British designer I could find little information about online, but had been designing since at least the 1930s as the Met has another piece by her from about 1930-1935. Its label is marked "An Original by Daphne Hughes" and that search yielded only one result on Google and it was for this piece. The Met does give a description about this garment and they say:
"A quintessential 1960s undergarment, this slip has a striking color combination. It has a sense of the 1890s, when the mode for seductive underwear began to emerge and contrasting vivid colors with black lace was very popular. The lace insertion and overall sheerness of the slip make this garment extremely seductive. Possibly, the hem of the slip was meant to be exposed, peeking out from the fashionable miniskirt of the period."
It was gifted by Lady Emilia Dreher Armstrong in 1989 to the Brooklyn Museum and it seems to have been one among many items she gifted from her wardrobe over the years. This piece was gifted by the Brooklyn Museum to the Met in 2009 and has been housed there since.
This gorgeous bra has no indicator of a designer and the Met also doesn't seem to have an idea of who the designer may be either, but they do list it as a French piece. This is a beautiful example of a 1920s bra, made of silk and cotton, that was a complete contrast to the heavy undergarments of the decades prior to it. Like most 20s bras, it does not have separate cups, something that would become more popular in the late 1920s and 1930s with the popularity of the Kestos bra. The Met gives a description about this piece, saying:
"This early brassiere is a feather-light dream in comparison to the heavy corsets that had previously been relied on to support the bust. Brassiere-like undergarments, such as Herminie Cadolle's breast girdle, had been developed in the late nineteenth century, but they were intended to be worn in combination with a corset. The invention of the modern brassiere is credited to Caresse Crosby (also known as Mary Phelps Jacob), who patented her creation in 1914. Like Crosby's brassiere, the 1920s brassiere shown here is soft and lightweight. Although it has an almost bandeaulike appearance when laid flat, there are small tucks that give room for some fullness of the breast. Such a delicate garment was clearly not intended for a full-figured woman, but instead for the boyishly slim flapper who was the ideal in the 1920s. Women who did not conform to that ideal had the option of securing their breasts in a sturdier bandeau."
This piece was gifted to the Met by Mrs. M. Lincoln Schuster (also known as Ray Haskell) in 1977, who I believe was the wife of Max Lincoln Schuster, a very successful publisher. Schuster co-founded Simon & Schuster in 1921 and had a very successful run with the company, but retired from it in 1966. Schuster passed away in 1970 and it would make sense that Ray would pass not too long after if they were around the same age. I believe they were when they married because she had three kids from another marriage.
What do you think of these pieces? Let me know in the comments!
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