Collection by Design II: A Paper Doll History of Costume, 1900–1949

by Norma Lu Meehan, Jean L. Druesedow

The glamour of the first half of the twentieth century is well represented in this generous sampling of the Kent State University Museum Collection, founded by internationally renowned designers Kent Rodgers and Jerry Silverman. Reflecting the aesthetic, social, political, and economic influences on design between 1900 and 1949, these exquisite examples of period dress represent not only a new century, but a new world. Druesedow’s introduction takes an engaging historic peek at the dramatically evolving aesthetic that left its stamp on fashion and social custom and took us from the tightly corseted but casually elegant “American look” captured by Charles Dana Gibson to the fashion designs of Hollywood’s Gilbert Adrian in the 1940s, and, by the late 1940s, to the portal of the House of Dior. Through these expertly drawn reproductions and accompanying curatorial narrative, costumers, collectors, curators, historians, and teachers and students of design can have ready access to what is undoubtedly the “best of show.”

28 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002