Original 1920s influencers Irene Castle, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Coco Chanel created freedom for women in their lifestyle and mode of dress. Explore the long history of influencers and how fashion innovations of the time often crossed racial, cultural, and global boundaries in this new exhibition. Objects on display are on special loan from the Cornell College of Human Ecology Fashion + Textile Collection, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Steepletop, Lyndhurst Collections, and Private Lenders.

Influencers will highlight the 1920s as the moment following World War I in which women gained certain freedom in clothing and lifestyle. The 1920s marked a major turning point from the strictures of the Victorian era and was a precursor to major changes in women’s lifestyles and dress that still hold true today. The exhibition highlights the impact of three major influencers – Coco Chanel (the global leader in couture), Irene Castle (the American actress and creator of ready-to-wear outfits), and Edna St. Vincent Millay (the IT girl of the bohemian/artistic/intellectual lifestyle) – and display how these innovators often crossed racial, cultural, and global boundaries to create societal shifts that allowed women to claim more freedom and control of how they lived, dressed and presented themselves in society. This exhibition also examines the technical side of the 1920s female fashion revolution. Women were finally freed from the imprisonment of restrictive undergarments and elaborate gowns. They began to wear athletic outfits, enjoy the popularization of makeup, stay fresh with new perfumes and underarm deodorant, use women’s razors, and celebrate the invention of simple undergarments. The culminating impact of these innovations is still undeniable a century later.

The 2024 Lyndhurst Season is presented by

Influencers exhibition made possible with support from:

 

| The Coby Foundation, Ltd

 

 

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The exhibition runs between May 25th, 2024 and September 23rd, 2024.

The 2024 special exhibition Influencers: 1920s Fashion and The New Woman will be on view in our gallery located at the Welcome Center. You can visit Influencers between 11 am and 4 pm on days we are open for tours Thursday- Monday in May & June;  Thursday – Tuesday, July-September.

Entrance to the exhibition gallery is free with your ticket for any guided tour or grounds admission at Lyndhurst.

¡Las etiquetas en la exposición también están traducidas al español!

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IRENE CASTLE AND SOPHISTICATED READY-TO-WEAR

Following the death of her husband and dancing partner, Vernon. during World War I, Irene Castle reinvented herself as a solo act and film star. Castle is photographed wearing a silver headdress in 1917 and the outfit in the exhibition recreates her style (see below). Castle became immensely famous and as a war widow had a wholesome yet daring persona — allowing her to be a major mainstream influencer. Castle was one of the most important fashion icons of the period and created a popular ready-to-wear line heavily promoted by the Hearst newspapers and in high-end fashion magazines like Vogue. Castle was also a trailblazer in many other ways and she and her husband only employed Black musicians in their dance band at a time when even in the North, this created difficulties. Castle’s silent films were made in Ithaca, New York, and Cornell University holds many pieces from her archive.

Many of the outfits relating to Irene Castle and Martha Van Rensselaer are part of the Cornell College of Human Ecology, Fashion + Textile Collection.

EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

A Brief Biography

Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) was the symbol of the free-spirited modern woman in the first decades of the twentieth century. The first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1923, throughout her lifetime she published more than a dozen volumes of poetry, five plays, an opera libretto, and a collection of essays under her pen name, Nancy Boyd. In her ground-breaking poetry, she married traditional forms with contemporary sentiments to express her belief in free love. She subverted conventional gender roles, writing exquisitely formed classical sonnets in which women pursued –and then often spurned–the lovers they desired. Reviewing Millay’s Pulitzer-winning “The Harp-Weaver,” editor of Poetry magazine Harriet Monroe noted that Millay might “perhaps be the greatest woman poet since Sappho.” Through her poetry, Edna St. Vincent Millay gave voice to a generation that sought personal freedom; her words still resonate today. Despite the fluctuating literary and cultural tastes of the past century, Millay’s poetry has had extraordinary staying power with readers, writers, and the general public across generations.

The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society is the current steward of Millay’s literary legacy and of Steepletop, the extensive property in Austerlitz, New York, where she lived from 1925 until she died in 1950.

COCO CHANEL, FRENCH COUTURE, AND THE FLAPPER STYLE

As a fashion designer, Chanel had a direct impact on the style of women’s clothes. However, Chanel was keenly aware that much of her power was as a lifestyle influencer who just happened to design clothes. As Chanel is supposed to have said famously, “They don’t want to buy Chanel, they want to be Chanel.” In 1926, Chanel designed the “little black dress” championing a simple elegance with models for daytime and cocktail hour, the latter an invention of the prohibition era. This simple black dress punctuated by a rhinestone clasp at the low waistline and a Japonesque rising sun ray pattern, was quintessentially Chanel. This is also an early example of the wrap dress, something usually associated with later designers of the 1970s. This dress has not been previously exhibited. The little black dress, Chanel No 5 perfume, and costume jewelry were all 1920s Chanel inventions. The firm did not start designing their signature spectator pumps and quilted handbags until the 1950s when Chanel was able to reopen her atelier after her collaboration with the Nazis during World War II was largely forgotten by the public.

Prior to the 1920s, women’s undergarments were extensive and included pieces that maintained the exterior silhouette of the dress by shaping the female body to the desired idealized contour of the period--an 18-inch waist and full bosom. Women were required to wear a foundational chemise next to their skin over which the corset would be placed as the corset could not be laundered. Women were essentially imprisoned by their undergarments, and travelling out of the home, including use of a restroom, required advance planning and assistance. The large hoop skirt, while creating a stylish silhouette meant that women essentially created a barrier around them and could not be close to others easily. The disorienting impact of wearing dresses far larger than one’s body meant that many women died when their voluminous skirts caught fire while walking past an open flame or fireplace.

Women’s Foundation Garments Comprising a chemise, pantaloons, cage crinoline, and corset Circa 1880s Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection

During the 1920’s, women’s apparel and the commensurate undergarments changed dramatically. With a new style of revealing dress, a woman’s undergarments were supposed to provide the illusion that the wearer was essentially nude underneath her gown. While such undergarments still provided sometimes uncomfortable shaping, including the stomach-tightening girdle with its light boning and the chest suppressing brassiere, they were no longer as restrictive as prior undergarments. Notably, such undergarments allowed a woman to dress herself with the typical flapper dress slipped over one’s head, significantly simplifying the process of dressing.

1920s Undergarments Girdle, probably French, 1931-32 Brassiere, Lover’s Form, American, late 1920s/early 1930s Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection Brassiere gift of Margaret Day Girdle gift of Charles Mason Remey

Riding habits were one of the ways in which women of the 1920s could legitimately wear pants and tailored clothing of a more masculine style. In her 1916 film serial Patria, Irene Castle wore a riding habit. By the 1930s, film stars, such as Katharine Hepburn, made wearing pants more fashionable and acceptable. However, full acceptance of men’s tailored dressing for women was decades away. Athletic outfits also hinted at a former college education and an ensuing life of leisure and affluence. This riding ensemble belonged to Gertrude Heim Remey who passed away in 1932. This is one of the many pieces from her wardrobe donated to the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. The spurs related to these boots have never been used as the leather straps were not punched with holes for the buckle. Remy was considered one of the best dressed women in Washington DC and a surviving photograph shows her wearing the outfit.

Riding Ensemble Blouse, W. A McLaughlin, New York, 1920s Jacket, Ted Marks, Kansas City, Mo., 1920s Boots, James Moore, 21 West 47th St., New York, 1920s Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection Gift of Charles Mason Remey

Following the death of her husband and dancing partner, Vernon. During World War I, Irene Castle reinvented herself as a solo act and film star. Castle is photographed wearing this headdress in 1917 and the outfit shown here recreates her style. Castle became immensely famous and as a war widow had a wholesome yet daring persona —that allowed her to be a major mainstream influencer. Castle was one of the most important fashion icons of the period and created a popular ready-to-wear line heavily promoted by the Hearst newspapers and in high end fashion magazines like Vogue. Castle was also a trailblazer in many other ways and she and her husband only employed Black musicians in their dance band at a time when even in the North, this created difficulties. Castle’s silent films were made in Ithaca, New York and Cornell University holds many pieces from her archive.

Dance Costume Headdress, American, 1917 Dress, American, 1928 Pumps, Jensen’s Boot Shop, Madison, Wisconsin, 1930 Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection Headdress gift of Irene Castle Dress gift of Elizabeth Schmeck Brown

The subtle detailing in this garment reflects the influence of the best of French couture on American makers. The bodice is constructed of black geometric chiffon details revealing the flame-colored silk lining underneath with a plastic belt buckle in the latest asymmetric Art Deco design at the waist. The hem of the dress also reflects a sophisticated free-form design displaying the skill of the maker. After 1926, the hemline on dresses lengthens and this garment shows the transition from the shorter, tubular flapper dresses of the mid-1920s to a longer, more sinuous silhouette common in the 1930s.

Day Dress American, 1929 Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection Donated by Marion O’Connor

While the luxurious beaded evening gowns of the 1920s often capture the popular imagination, day dresses such as these became a significant canvas on which couturiers of the time could create new and innovative designs. Chanel worked with Dongnin & co., a lace manufacturer, to pioneer the development of dresses made from woven multi-colored lace. This longer dress, indicating the transition from the short hemlines of the mid-1920s into the longer, more sinuous silhouettes of the 1930s, is one of the earliest examples in which the house of Chanel technically figured out how to create such a garment, something that others copied. Very few versions of these Chanel lace dress from the 1920s and 30s have survived.

Lace Afternoon Dress Chanel, Paris, 1928-29 Mark Walsh Leslie Chin Collection. Vintage Luxury, New York

While not everyone could spend their honeymoon travelling the globe and purchasing dresses in foreign lands, dresses such as this one made in the American market, displayed the influence of Chinese textiles. Likely the type of dress worn by a more bohemian or artistic patron; this dress would likely have been made of imported Chinese fabric embroidered in a traditional Chinese chainstitch embroidery technique. A dress of this type could have been worn from afternoon into evening with its bold color and elaborate embroidery. Such dresses could be accompanied by orientalist accessories including the blue velvet reticule or bright blue Chinese-style cloche, both owned by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Chinoiserie Dress Unknown maker, American 1925-29 Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection

This simple unstructured sheath features a panel of dye resist fabric with a Near Eastern motif over a neutral background fabric. Dye resist textiles and tie-dyed fabrics were often used by avant-garde wearers for simple garments that were sewn at home. A photograph by Jesse Tarbox Beals, famed as the photographer of bohemian Greenwich Village and America’s first female photojournalist, shows women tie-dyeing garments in their kitchen in the 1920s. Raymond Duncan, dancer Isadora Duncan’s brother, also created such classically inspired sheaths during this period.

Daytime Shift Unknown American Maker, Possibly Raymond Duncan,1920s Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection

Although Anna Gould had spent her entire adult life in Paris, she often habituated designers that were popular with Americans including Worth and Agnès, the latter having a boutique directly across from the Paris Opera frequented by American tourists. Gould favored such peach-colored, heavily detailed garments that helped her figure conform to the norms of the period. This must have been a special gown for Gould as she brought it with her to Lyndhurst circa 1939 long after it would have been acceptable to wear. In the 1970s, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Lyndhurst’s owner, sold the dress in a sale of the French works that Anna brought to Lyndhurst in the 1940s and 50s. The dress was purchased by Cora Ginsburg, the groundbreaking dealer in clothing and textiles who lived in Tarrytown. She, in turn, sold the dress to the Larsons, owners of a Hollywood costume shop and clothing collectors. The dress was put up at auction in 2018 and Lyndhurst re-acquired it. The rhinestone beading on this dress is so heavy that the shoulder straps have had to be reinforced to support the weight of the elaborate eagle-form decoration.

Evening Dress Agnès, Paris, 1925 Lyndhurst

Anna Gould, Duchess of Talleyrand, and Lyndhurst’s last owner spent most of her life as a French aristocrat living in Paris. Gould did not have the twig-like figure that best suited the “flapper” look of the 1920s and was a mature woman in her 50s when she might have worn this dress. The styling harkens back to the classical, pillar-like silhouettes of the prior decade and helps elongate Gould’s petite stature through use of the dangling passementerie and train. This dress is one of five flapper dresses belonging to Anna Gould that have been acquired recently and spurred the mounting of this exhibition.

House of Worth, Paris Circa 1925-30 Lyndhurst

This imposing dress of silk satin and rhinestones was worn by Martha Van Rensselaer, one of the co-founders of the College of Home Economics at Cornell University, which began as the Department of Home Economics in 1907, the first in the country. Van Rensselaer lived and worked in a relationship with college co-founder and co-director, Flora Rose, and together, Van Rensselaer and Rose were the first tenured full professors with voting rights at Cornell. Van Rensselaer was committed to relieving women of the “drudgery” of keeping home and providing students with career opportunities in fashion and other creative industries. Alumnae donated their closets to the Home Economics Department which founded the basis for the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. Van Rensselaer was tall and full figured, and her dresses displayed in this exhibition are being installed to reflect her body more accurately. During this period women of all shapes and sizes enjoyed a new-found freedom to express their personal style through less restrictive silhouettes.

American, 1926 Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection Gift of Martha Van Rensselaer

In 1926, Chanel designed the “little black dress” championing a simple elegance with models for daytime and cocktail hour, the latter an invention of the prohibition era. This simple black dress punctuated by a rhinestone clasp at the low waistline and a Japonesque rising sun ray pattern, was quintessentially Chanel. This is also an early example of the wrap dress, something usually associated with later designers of the 1970s. This dress has not been previously exhibited. The little black dress, Chanel No 5 perfume and costume jewelry were all 1920s Chanel inventions. The firm did not start designing their signature spectator pumps and quilted handbags until the 1950s when Chanel was able to reopen her atelier after her collaboration with the Nazis during World War II was largely forgotten by the public.

Little Black Dress Chanel, Paris, 1929 Mark Walsh Leslie Chin Collection. Vintage Luxury, New York Black Silk Evening Slippers, Enzel, 6 Faubourg St. Honoré, Paris, by 1931 Black suede purse, by 1932 Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection Gift of Charles Mason Remey

Evening Bags

Small, superbly embroidered evening bag with gold colored frame studded with cut steel brilliants; chain handle; design on one side is maiden with flowers, the other is a green parrot; embroidery done in pastels and metallic thread characteristic of Chinese embroideries, lining of tan faille. In 1929, Whiting and Davis collaborated with well-established designer Paul Poiret to create a line of "pouch" shaped handbags. This design is featured in an advertisement for the collaboration. Poiret soon went bankrupt in 1929.

Chanel created extensive lines of costume jewelry to be worn both day and night allowing all women to appear heavily jeweled. This long necklace of rock crystal and silver was featured in an article in American Harper’s Bazaar of May 1928 and is a rare survivor from the period. The bracelet has never been previously exhibited.

Harper’s Bazaar Necklace, Earrings and Bracelet Chanel, 1928

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