Blog post by Jennifer Uber This online blog post features materials protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the US Copyright Act. All rights reserved to the copyright owners. While visiting the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, I was drawn to a particular style of women’s shoes featured in Figure 1. These […]
Name: Rachel Doran Class year: 2019 Major: Fiber Science and Apparel Design – Fashion Design Management When did you begin working in the collection and what inspired you to join the CCTC? I started working in the collection spring semester of my freshman year. I actually found out about the collection when I was visiting […]
Blog post by Samantha Stern ’17. Fashions come in many forms, but few realize the potentially dangerous aspects of vintage and antique fashion. The term “mad hatter” is common vernacular, and comes from milliner’s occupational exposure to mercury (and, as a result, going “mad as a hatter”) in the late 19th century. Less well known […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Blog post by Dr. Denise N. Green ’07 Believe it or not, my career was sparked by the First Ladies of Texas. I attended high school in a Dallas suburb and during my senior year I went on a field trip to the Texas First Ladies Historic Costume Collection. While I had visited every possible […]