It's been another lovely holiday season shared with family, friends and my favorite delectable goodies. But, it’s not over quite yet. It’s New Years Eve and there is still one important party left to go. Many, like myself, put a great deal of thought into what will be worn for this particular occasion – it does, after all, set the stage for a new and fresh year ahead!As I flipped through the Jan 2008 issue of In Style magazine for inspiration, I was not surprised to see the glitz and glam that is popularly advertised around this celebratory time of year. However, one page in particular did grab my attention. It was an interview with the stars of ABC’s Cashmere Mafia. They were asked: “If you could slip into a different guise for a day, what would it be?” Lucy Liu responded with dress-up from the 1940s sharing her passion in a Christian Lacroix’s silk organza, floral-printed party dress with short-puffed sleeves worn with an elegant belt and satin hat tilted ever-so slightly. Bonnie Somerville who also plays a character in Cashmere looked back in time as well for her dreamy look claiming: “In the fifties you’d never leave the house without your hair done, your face on, and a nice dress. Me, I have my staple uniform of jeans, tank tops and flats.” Her yellow, cotton, fitted day dress designed by Lela Rose brings one back to the days of Audrey Hepburn when fashion was more about looking as what was further described in the article as perennially polished. Dress with historic detailing for these ladies (an opinion that seems to be shared by many) is thought to bring us back to another time when life was somehow different…
Fashion magazines like In Style are sprinkled with references to dresses in particular and their place in history. It is the one area of popular history that I would describe as almost inescapable. Generally we know a great deal about fashion history as it is all around us – maybe even more intimately than other forms of history because it is literally on us helping to shape our personal image everyday of the week. Due to the cyclical nature of fashion (a constant reference point, reminding us of what we once wore, why we wore it and what we were doing while we were wearing it) we relate to fashion and engage with it's history quite easily. This can be observed in the Costume Institute’s recent special online exhibition Blog Mode where a different piece of fashion history is explored every day. With plenty of blogging being done by the public for this exhibit it seems everyone has an opinion on fashion.
Party dresses in particular provide the opportunity to really express our passion for fashion history, possibly in some part due to tradition - we tend to spend more money on these garments, they are more lavish than our day-to-day wear and are part of a planning process where more thought is put into deciding what will be worn. A photo in the McCord Museum's collection shows friends dressed for a party in Montreal in 1881. Themed parties were popular at this time - these could be on sports as seen in the photo of the tennis costume or on the lady to the right, the costume "Winter" which the museum's curator Cynthia Cooper suggests would be popular at skating carnivals. Historic costumes were considered the most popular by both men and women though. A photo of a man dressed in Tudor costume is shown on the right. The museum holds many other photos as well in their collection of fancy dress that are inspired by history.
Fancy dress has changed since this period and is maybe a little less extreme than it was (well, at least in my social circles). But it does demonstrate that the fashion-savvy from other periods also enjoyed the ability dress has to bring us to another place in time. As for my own personal party dress, with a snow storm edging my way, I think it's time to put away my In Style because dressing up as "Winter" is looking to be the best option, this form of fancy dress will feature a cozy toque and mitts!
McCord Museum Photo Reference: http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/II-60125.1/ Photograph Miss Allan and friend as "Tennis" and "Winter", Montreal, QC, 1881 II-60125.1
McCord Museums Photo Reference: http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/II-60041.1/ Photograph Mr. Waldo in "Tudor" costume, Montreal, QC, 1881 II-60041.1
Intersting reading: Cynthia Cooper, "Dressing Up: A Consuming Passion," in Fashion: A Canadian Perspective, ed. Alexandra Palmer (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, forthcoming) .
Pink Zac Posen party dress found at: http://www.glamour.com/fashionbeauty/blogs/suze/2007/11/new-shape-dress.html
