Blog post by Rachel Doran (’19)

There’s no better way to enjoy a gorgeous Ithaca summer than to spend your days in a windowless room. You may think I’m kidding, but I chose to trade sunshine, gorges, and waterfalls for 19^th century dresses. No regrets.

This summer I received a College of Human Ecology Summer Research stipend to conduct research using the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection. I inventoried the majority of our collection of 19^th century dresses as well as pieces from the late 18^th and early 20^th centuries and made one visit to the Seward House Museum to examine their costume collection. Later this fall I will be curating an exhibit on changing ideals of the female body and how they correspond with Euro-American fashion trends and silhouettes over the last 250 years. My summer research project provided insight into the 19^th century and helped me to get a head start on the curatorial work I am immersed in this fall.

In order to spend 8 weeks researching our 19^th century dresses, I had to develop an efficient way to go through 114 boxes containing over 300 dresses. My final process went something like this:

1. Distract my fellow CCTC research assistant Kate Greder from her own work by asking her to help me removing boxes from the shelves (60-inch boxes are nearly impossible to carry on your own!)
2. Open up the box, remove the top layer of acid-free tissue, and gasp at whatever amazing piece I had just uncovered. I would then begin to examine the dress and record details like size, cut, silhouette, fabric type, embellishments, and construction techniques into an Excel spreadsheet.
3. Test the tissue paper using a pH testing pen to see if it had turned acidic.
4. Check the accession number of the item and find the record in the online database.
5. Check the donor file for additional info to be added to database.
6. Fill in accession number, object date, donor, notes, and condition in my spreadsheet.
7. Photograph the item on a dress form if a photo did not already exist in the database.
8. Repeat steps 4-7 for each item in the box.
9. Replace all acidic tissue with new, acid-free tissue.
10. Carefully repack all items and place lid back on box.
11. Repeat steps 2-10 for each box.

Of course this is an imperfect system and I hit speed bumps along the way, but I dealt when them as they came. While this process may not sound thrilling to your average college student (or non-college student, for that matter!), I had the summer of a lifetime and was given the chance to see some of our most incredible gowns, many of which hadn’t seen the light of day in decades.  The last major inventory of our dresses from this era was completed by our former curator Elsie McMurry, which resulted in her 831-page manuscript, American Dresses 1780 – 1900.

1914 court gown, CCTC #838

Of all the dresses I had the privilege to examine this summer there is one that truly took my breath away: a 1914 court dress of cut velvet, metallic net, silk chiffon, and embellished with beadwork gorgeous enough to take your breath away (#838). The bodice of this dress has a draped surplice line, with chiffon edged in beaded lame around the wide neckline. The velvet sleeves have chiffon inner sleeves that are decorated with metallic net and beaded fringe. The skirt front consists of layers of pleated and shirred chiffon with deep bands of cut velvet at the bottom while the skirt back has panel of cut velvet with beading incorporated into the design and a velvet train to boot. Unfortunately, the shoulders were too fragile to allow me to put this on a dress form, but with some stabilization this piece could be displayed. In the photo you will notice I climbed on a ladder to snap a shot of this exquisite piece.

1837 gold damask gown, CCTC #76

Another gown that I became enamored with is this gold silk damask dress from 1837 that features a plunging v-neck that exposes sloped shoulders characteristic of this era of fashion (CCTC #76). The wide V-neck really intrigued me because this remains a popular style today. The short sleeves are trimmed in off-white lace and the bottom of the full skirt is banded in gold satin. This piece originates from Dublin, Ireland.

1870s gown, CCTC #2000.07.02

Since changing silhouettes really capture my interest, this green silk two-piece dress is another gown that captured my attention (#2000.07.02). This piece exemplifies the dramatic silhouette of the early 1870s. The waist is so tiny it wouldn’t even fit a size zero dress form, and  appears even more dramatic against the voluminous skirt. As the side view shows, the majority of skirt volume resides in the backside where it is supported by a bustle. Believe it or not the bustle was more practical than skirts of the decade prior, which boasted enormous circumferences.  The late 19^th century brought increasing migration from rural regions to urban centers, meaning that more women used public transportation, joined the workforce, and needed greater mobility.  The bustled skirt accommodated greater mobility, as compared to skirts from decades prior which had gratuitous volume all the way around.

1920s velvet and chiffon flapper dress with beadwork embellishments, CCTC #2724

As one might expect, the so-called “flapper” dresses of the 1920s were a sight to behold. While most people think of an all-over fringe shift when they hear the term “flapper,” I was able to examine many different styles. One of my favorites was this rose velour and chiffon evening dress from 1924 (#2724). The overskirt is made of chiffon in sections that form an uneven hemline. The surface embellishments include strips of pink beads and rhinestones arranged in a spiral motif. A beadwork and rhinestone medallion draws visual attention at the center front, and in repeat along the velour at the hemline. One of the great tragedies of my summer research was finding a dress of shattered silk, or otherwise poor condition.  This happened most commonly with flapper dresses: one of the reasons 1920s dresses are difficult to preserve is because they are often so heavily beaded, the weight of which cannot be supported by fragile, lightweight silk fabrics (fabrics which have sometimes been weighted with metallic salts, which now results in silk shatter). For these reasons, we lay beaded dresses flat, and store in boxes surrounded and supported by acid-free tissue.

Early 1930s evening gown, worn by Gertrude Remey, CCTC #1309

One final piece that really stood out to me was this early 1930s evening gown made of chiffon and crepe, complete with matching ostrich plumes (#1309). The bodice features rhinestone straps and rhinestone embellishments at bosom with flesh colored net inserts at the top of the bodice. It has a shirred midriff with tiered poufs in back and a fall of white ostrich plumes down back of skirt. The skirt is gathered and draped with a matching crepe understructure.

The research I completed this summer in the Cornell Costume & Textile Collection will be used to enhance our online database and improve our inventory of the 19^thcentury dresses in the collection. We are currently transitioning to a new database system, which will eventually make this information more accessible and useful to a wider audience.  I hope that the work I’ve completed this summer, alongside our larger collection inventory, will make our database a useful research tool for students, teachers, and anyone else with a passion for the history of fashion. My research this summer also created a foundation of knowledge that will help me as I curate my first historical costume exhibition: Go Figure. This exhibit will explore changing ideals of the female body over the last 200+ years, aesthetically and conceptually examining how beauty ideals have both informed, and been impacted by, broader fashion trends and cultural context. Go Figure will open in the Human Ecology Display Cases (Level T) on November 13^th.  The exhibition installation and curatorial design is made possible through the 2017-18 Charlotte A. Jirousek Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Touring visitors through our summer exhibition, “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.” I’m looking forward to giving tours of my upcoming show, “Go Figure!”

Rachel Doran (’19) is a research assistant in the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection and majors in Fashion Design Management. She is in the process of curating a historical costume exhibition, “Go Figure!” which will open November 13, 2017.