Fashion & Textile History Gallery
Open Date TBD
Accessories are often considered ancillary to clothing in women’s fashion, yet they
have always been integral to the overall ensemble. Public historian Ariel Beaujot
notes that, from the nineteenth century, accessories “helped women create a sense
of who they were, with important consequences for how they experienced gender, class,
and race.” Head to Toe explores more than two hundred years of women’s dress from 1800 through the early
twenty-first century, focusing on the role that accessories play within the total
ensembles of Western women’s fashion, as well as the messages that they communicate
about social and cultural values.
Sangster, parasol, late 19th century. Museum purchase.
Lace dress with ivory silk hat and pink satin parasol, circa 1907-1910. Gift of DuBois
Family (dress) and
Gift of Fernanda Munn Kellogg (parasol).
In her book Accessories to Modernity: Fashion and the Feminine in Nineteenth-Century France (2011), French cultural historian Susan Hiner writes that in nineteenth-century France,
“A cashmere shawl might obliquely refer to imperial conquest in Algeria but openly
indicate married status in Parisian society. A silk parasol could whisper racial and
cultural supremacy but loudly proclaim the delicacy of the fairer sex. A painted fan
might conceal aesthetic and social inauthenticity but also reveal the uncontested
power of social status buttressed by wealth.”
The consumer revolution of the mid-nineteenth century led to an explosion of available
fashion goods at increasingly affordable prices. More middle- and even working-class
women could buy industrially produced accessories; however, this accessibility created
class tensions between the aspirational and those who had traditionally participated
in luxury fashion. These anxieties were expressed in intricate rules of dress that
dictated how and when proper ladies should wear certain garments and accessories.
Social commentators judged women as extravagant or ruinous by the style of their hats,
marked morality by the cleanliness of their gloves, and condemned by the vulgar color
of their shoes. Etiquette books were created to aid women new to fashion’s intricacies.
In 1860, author Florence Hartley advised that “white kid gloves, full trimmed, a fine
lace trimmed handkerchief, and a fan are indispensable” at a ball, while the book
Practical Etiquette (1899) admonished that “necklaces and jewels in the morning are monstrous, no matter
what the fashion of the moment may be.”
Courrèges, ivory plastic sunglasses, Spring/Summer 1965. Gift of Abel Rapp.
Dr. Martens, ]work boots, 2000. Gift of The School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
J. Duvelleroy, fan, circa 1860. Gift of Barbara T. Eisendrath.
The communicative properties of fashion accessories did not diminish into the twentieth
century. The “new woman’s” straw boater hat indicated her vitality and independence
as surely as a flapper’s embellished compact and cigarette case displayed her modern
urbanity. During periods of hardship, such as the Great Depression and the world wars,
when fashion goods were less available, accessories provided flexibility by changing
the look of simple garments to suit multiple occasions. A jaunty hat or fanciful purse
also played the important function of raising morale and creating an outlet for social
anxieties. Elsa Schiaparelli’s circus-themed brooches and Marcel Rochas’s flower petal
sunglasses were deliberately bizarre in defiance of Europe’s unravelling political
situation, while the hats and shoes created during World War II ranged from the patriotically
staid to creative flights of fancy that made use of unrestricted materials to a farcical
extreme.
These accessories contrasted with the ultra-feminine and historically inspired bags,
hats, and shoes of the “New Look.” Post-war prosperity encouraged women to return
to traditional gender roles and nineteenth-century ideals of fashion and etiquette.
However, the lady-like fashions of the couturiers in Paris were challenged by a sportier
femininity embodied in the “American Look,” as well as by the growing influence of
youth culture on mainstream style. During the following decades, young subcultural
styles found expression in accessories such as the bright opaque tights and flat Mary
Janes of the Mods, the sleek metal-link purses and futuristic sunglasses of the Space
Age style, and the home-crafted, ethnically inspired hippie look. Music was a major
influence on fashion, expressed by metallic disco platform sandals; asymmetrical,
post-modern New Wave sunglasses; the gender- bending styles of the New Romantics;
and the heavy work boots made fashionable by grunge.
As women gained social freedoms during the late twentieth century, accessories helped
mark their move into the workforce and proclaimed their financial independence. Fashions
from designer labels such as Gucci and Manolo Blahnik were prominent symbols of success
that women bought for themselves. By the 1980s, a new attitude toward flaunting one’s
wealth was articulated by over-the-top accessories such as Versace’s bold handbags
that screamed affluence and status — almost to the point of vulgarity. As fashion
moved toward the new millennium, shoes and handbags dominated as the most coveted
accessories — a concept reinforced by popular culture. They continue to be the most
lucrative products sold by fashion houses around the world.
Over the past two centuries, accessories have maintained the power to communicate
vital information about women’s lives and their roles in society. Today, a pair of
exclusive sunglasses has superseded the luxurious parasol of the nineteenth century,
yet both convey aspirational status as they shade their wearers. Likewise, a designer
cell phone case may have replaced a bejeweled makeup compact of the twenties, yet
both speak to ideas of modernity and progress in a continually evolving world.
Roger Vivier for Christian Dior, evening pumps and matching purse, 1955-1959. Gift
of Arthur Schwartz.
Black silk satin embroidered bag, circa 1915. Gift of Josie Balaban Couture.
Manolo Blahnik, evening pumps, 2003. Gift of Manolo Blahnik.
This exhibition was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Couture Council.
