The New-York Historical Society’s new show chronicles women's relationship with clothing over the last 200 years.
There are countless books, exhibitions, and documentaries examining the extravagant, the glamorous, and the showstopping looks in fashion’s history. The Costume Institute, for example, fills its halls every year with one-of-a-kind pieces—sparkling Dior gowns and Iris Van Herpen works of art that only a select few ever get to actually wear—for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Last week, the New-York Historical Society opened “Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore,” the first showcase of the expansive Smith College Historic Clothing Collection. These aren’t the most fabulous dresses—in fact, many of them could be described as downright unappealing with their clashing colors and potato-sack structure—but they’re important remnants of women’s history in the United States.
The show is comprised of about 30 pieces, much reduced from the Smith Collection’s 4,000 garments and accessories in the archive. Starting with polka-dotted smocks and ending on a waist-defining floral wrap dress, “Real Clothes, Real Lives” takes the viewer on a journey in just a handful of glass cases, proving just how far we have come over the past 200 years.At a discussion on Tuesday, October 1, exhibition organizers and curators came together to celebrate the new show.
Also in attendance was Diane von Furstenberg, who created the famed wrap dress in the show. She spoke to the audience on Tuesday about her role in putting on the exhibition, as well as aiding in the publication of a Rizzoli book on the collection, now in its second printing. Furstenberg learned of the Smith collection through thein 2019. Furstenberg immediately felt a connection to Smith and Shea’s work, and put the women in touch with Rizzoli.
“Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore, the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection”
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