Blog post by Amanda Denham MA ’17 Part of my job here at the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection is to research and evaluate our items to determine how they contribute to our collection as a whole. Collections are just that: they are a sum of their parts. Sometimes I open a box and find […]
Month: March 2018
Secretary of Style: Oleg Cassini & the Cornell Costume & Textile Collection
Blog post by Jacqueline Fogarty ’18 The Oleg Cassini name has a vast history, associated with everything from inaugural gowns to tennis outfits, perfume to movie costumes. As the years progressed and the designer evolved along with his brand, he dove into new opportunities for expansion in different directions. With a career lasting seventy years, […]
Riding Apparel: Then and Now
Blog post by Karen Steffy. Formal English riding apparel for women really hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years. Women who ride astride (not in a side-saddle) still wear boots and breeches, a riding jacket and stock tie or choker, and gloves. There’s a reason for that: the attire is functional and everything has […]
Martha Van Rensselaer in Belgium
Blog post by Eileen Keating. In 1923, at the age of 58, Martha Van Rensselaer was selected by the National League of Women Voters as one of America’s twelve most influential women. This honor was in recognition of her twenty-three years of pioneering work at Cornell in the new field of home economics. Home economics […]
CCTC Research Assistant Profile: Regina Mun
Regina Mun is a junior majoring in fashion design. From developing expertise in dressing Japanese kimono to helping with exhibition installations and our inventory project, Regina has spent the last three years making herself invaluable to us! She’s studying abroad this semester at ESMOD (École supérieure des arts et techniques de la mode). She is […]
Paper Fashion in the 1960s: The Genesis of Fast Fashion
Blog post by Livia Caligor ’21 As my fingers skimmed through the funky, pattern-clad dresses hanging from the 1960s aisle in the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection, they suddenly halted when landing upon a rough metallic material. Perplexed by the unexpected texture in a sea of neon, geometric patterns and retro silhouettes, I pulled out […]
Dykes in the City: An interview with founder, Nicky Cutler
Blog post by Denise N. Green ’07 It was the summer of 2006 and I was in the thick of curating a costume exhibition about Ithaca’s fashioned youth subcultures when I met Nicky Cutler. Nicky had started a clothing brand, DITC (Dykes in the City), and back in 2006 you couldn’t throw a rock in […]
From the Runway to the Bleachers: A Review of #thenewCFC
Review by Amanda Denham, MA ’17 *The opinions expressed in this blog post are of the author, Amanda Denham, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection* It was an evening of high drama. After all, fashion has the potential to disrupt, transform, excite, amuse, betray, beautify, and to destroy. […]
The Cornell Fashion Collective & The Cornell Costume and Textile Collection: An Ongoing History
Blog post by Katie Williams ’20 From folding tables taped together to make a runway to a professional production and staged show, the Cornell Fashion Collective has transformed over the past 34 years. The Cornell Fashion Collective, formerly the Cornell Design League, is a student-run organization that was founded to provide members of the Cornell […]
The Power of a Winter Coat
Blog post by Amanda Dubin ’18 As all Cornell students and alumni know, surviving a harsh Ithaca winter is challenging. The streets are constantly covered in snow, which soon turns to slush and eventually freezes over into ice. Going to school in Ithaca, NY, it is no surprise that students pile on layers just to […]
A Dress to Remember
Blog post by Susan W. Greene, MA ’94 In the 1930s, Cornell University’s College of Home Economics received an amazing offer. The head of the Department of Textiles and Clothing, Professor Beulah Blackmore, was contacted by a Cornell alumna, Ida Langdon (MA 1910, PhD 1912) wondering whether the College would be interested in the Victorian […]
CCTC Research Assistant Profile: Jacqueline Fogarty
Jacqueline Fogarty ’18 majors in Fashion Design and will debut her senior collection in the 34th annual Cornell Fashion Collective show this coming Saturday! In addition to finding inspiration from the collection, she also uses her design skills to enhance our exhibitions. From suspending Liberian quilts from the ceiling of the Jill Stuart Gallery to […]