I’m taking a moment today to look over the research everyone has done so far this semester, to see what objects and what stories are emerging as part of our upcoming exhibition.
Please comment below on which of these you think should or shouldn’t be included (and why) and what else you think is missing. Does each object speak to our general theme of the influence of education on fashion? If so, how? If not, is a different theme emerging? Which objects could be grouped together, to complement or contrast with each other?
(Expect some other posts coming soon from students to address in greater detail the emerging narratives of some of these objects)
Here are the objects we’re already working with:
-
1879 Graduation Dress of Sallie Tucker Blake (Mrs. Josiah Drummond)
(research by Molly Turpin and Arden Kirkland) -
1890’s Day Dress
(research by Faren Tang) 
1900’s bridesmaid’s dress worn by Mrs. C. Lane Goss
(research by Faren Tang and Holly Hummel)-
1935 Class Day Dress of Sarah S. Graham
(research by Ceci Cholst) - 1950’s Vassar Blazer
(research by Rebecca Tuite, London fashion history writer, currently focusing on Vassar style in the 1950’s)
and here are some others that I propose might fill out the story:
Brown Plaid Day Dress
Navy blue wool gymsuit; courtesy of Special Collections, Vassar College Library
1924 Class Day Dress of Martha Stockwell Mumford
1926 Gymsuit of Dorothy Reid Kittell VC’26
1925 Daisy Chain Dress of Kathryn Keeler Sherrill VC ’27- collage of images of current Vassar student fashion
(perhaps with help from the team at Contrast, Vassar’s style magazine)
Now, as I add to this list, I find some patterns emerging in my choices – but maybe it’s just me. What patterns do you see? I’ll write more later about the patterns I’m thinking of – after you’ve had a chance to draw some of your own conclusions.
UPDATE: here are some others under consideration, added since this original post:
Brown Wool and Velvet Bustle Ensemble
Teal Taffeta Crinoline Ensemble
Ivory Silk Evening Dress with Floral Motif
We also really should add in some menswear to represent the post co-ed period . . .
So far, I’m seeing a theme with dresses involved in some sort of ceremony–Class Day, Graduation, weddings. For most of Vassar’s history, women were educated to be intelligent, cultured, and independent–to be a better kind of wife.
The one puzzle, perhaps, is the day dress. In some ways, it could be linked to Rebecca Tuite’s blazer–a Vassar girl wore it, possibly as part of a “uniform” that Vassar girls have. Over and over in letters from Vassar students to home, we read about how they need certain articles of clothing to impress the other girls. Maybe this dress was bought and worn to fit in with the unofficial dress code. Also, clothes were so much more formal in the early part of the 20th century. Putting on a day dress, and then changing into a housedress or a dinner dress, would have been a ceremony in and of itself.