Contact: Mike Horyczun
Director of Public Relations
(203) 413-6735
For Immediate Release
April 15, 2010
The Dressmaker’s Art:
Highlights from the Bruce Museum’s Costume Collection
May 15, 2010 - September 5, 2010
Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830
Ball gown, c. 1895,
Worth, Paris,
Gift of Mrs. William Bender, 1960
Bruce Museum Collection 20480
The Bruce Museum’s major summer exhibition, The Dressmaker’s Art: Highlights from the
Bruce Museum’s Costume Collection, opens on Saturday, May 15, 2010, and runs through September
5, 2010. The show, organized by guest curator Adrienne Saint-Pierre, features twenty-four elegant gowns
and dresses along with displays of lavishly embellished accessories and underpinnings such as taffeta
and lace petticoats, primarily taken from the collection of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Additional items are on loan from the Fairfield Museum and History Center. The exhibition is supported by
a Committee of Honor under the leadership of Myrna R. Haft and Tamara Holliday, and the Charles M. and
Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.
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The early 19th-century revolution in textile manufacture saw a dramatic shift from labor-intensive
hand methods to more efficient machine production. This revolution paved the way for many new
industries - in fact, new ways of doing almost everything, especially in America. Fashion and
dressmaking, as beneficiaries of this vastly increased textile production, were an integral part of this
sweeping change. Manufacturers responded to the demands of an increasing middle and upper middle
class population for all things “new,” which also drove more rapid changes in fashion. Changes in the
style, silhouette, cut, and fabric of women’s attire accelerated as the 19th century progressed. The
invention of the sewing machine made it possible to create ever more elaborate gowns, despite the
machine’s original purpose as a labor-saving tool. Keeping pace with fashion and its requisite specialized
garments - morning, afternoon, and evening wear, with further subdivisions of occasions for wear became almost a full-time occupation for the woman of means. Dressmaking - the art of creating a
custom fit, fashionable, and aesthetically pleasing garment - rose to new heights in the 19th and early 20th
centuries.
The Dressmaker’s Art exhibition covers this 100-year period, an era that offered a wide array of
silhouettes and styles: from huge “leg of mutton” sleeves to tight, movement-restricting sleeves; stiffened
high collars to wide, low necklines; bell-shaped hoop skirts to bustles; and floor-length skirts with trains to
leg-revealing short dresses. The earliest gown on display is a light bronze-color satin, which dates from
the late 1820s, the Romantic era, and features large puffed sleeves, hinting at the balloon-sized sleeves
which followed in the 1830s. Most of the gowns on view represent the closely fit fashions of the mid- to
late Victorian period and the opulent Edwardian Era. A few examples of the more “modern” styles of the
1920s are also included. Two stunning wedding gowns and an extraordinary hand-made lace veil from
the latter half of the 19th century are also featured, as well as a selection of lightweight cotton summer
gowns from the 1890s to 1920.
Many of the most beautifully designed dresses in collections of 19th-century gowns remain as
anonymous works of art. This is true of many gowns that are shown in this exhibit, although there are
examples from famous and lesser-known dressmakers as well. The best-known dress designer of the 19th
century was Charles Frederick Worth, considered the father of haute couture, an Englishman who built
his career in France. The exhibition includes a dress from the House of Worth, a mid-1890s gown of ivory
silk satin woven with pink roses, and trimmed with emerald green silk velvet. The House of Worth was
famous for their sumptuous textiles, custom-made by silk mills in Lyon.
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A circa-1908 dress created by the House of Doucet, established by Parisian designer Jacques
Doucet, reflects the pastel colors and delicate fabrics characteristic of the Edwardian palette. The light
cream color gown is richly embroidered in shades of rose, ecru, and pink, representing flowers and
tasseled swags, a delightful design.
Another Paris gown that will be shown was cleverly designed to rivet viewers’ eyes on the
wearer’s corseted hourglass figure. Made of light yellow-green satin, it is overlaid with ecru lace upon
which vertical bands of narrow black velvet curve inward at the waistline and then flare out with the
graceful lines of the long flowing skirt, a feature of Edwardian gowns that reflects the sinuous lines of Art
Nouveau style.
A wedding dress from 1879, the creation of an anonymous dressmaker, uses trimming details to
accentuate the bride’s slender yet curved figure. The “Princess style” gown is made of one-piece bodice
and overskirt which forms the train. The edges are trimmed with pleating and reveal the satin underskirt.
Although it was very common to feature two or three distinct textiles in gowns of the 1870s and 1880s,
this one is really a “study in white,” being made entirely of a lustrous ivory satin. Another gown made
about the same time features both a patterned silk satin and a plain satin. A deep cream and ivory color
combination, this gown probably served its wearer as a best dress for evening occasions after its initial
wearing as a wedding gown.
Accessories, both worn and carried, are also on view. A Brussels lace wedding veil dating to the
late 19th century, and worn in 1903, will be displayed for the first time. The magnificent 115-inch veil,
entirely handmade of Point de Gaze needlelace, is a recent gift to the Bruce Museum from Mrs. Patty
Auchincloss. Other accessories in the exhibition include silk capes and parasols, which would have been
the completing touch to gowns worn in an open carriage or when strolling in a public garden or park. Even
corsets and stockings, though not intended to be seen when worn, were made of luxury materials and
were sometimes very colorful indeed. A selection of silk petticoats, satin corsets and fancy silk stockings
are included in the exhibition.
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The Bruce Museum is located at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. General admission is
$7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, and free for children under five and Bruce Museum members.
Free admission to all on Tuesdays. The Museum is located near Interstate-95, Exit 3, and a short walk
from the Greenwich, CT, train station. Museum hours are: Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and closed Mondays and major holidays. Groups of eight or more require
advance reservations. Museum exhibition tours are held Fridays at 12:30 p.m. Free, on-site parking is
available. The Bruce Museum is accessible to individuals with disabilities. For information, call the Bruce
Museum at (203) 869-0376, or visit the Bruce Museum website at www.brucemuseum.org.
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