The House of Worth: Fashion Sketches, 1916–1918

354 Pages·2015·25.23 MB·English

by  Litchfield Historical Society

THE HOUSE WORTH
OF
FASHION SKETCHES, 1916·1918
Litchfield Historical Society
With essays by
Karen M. DePauw and Jessica D. Jenkins
Introduction by
Michael Krass
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Mineola, New York
Frontispiece: “Chrysanthème” 8950, House of Worth,
Watercolor and Ink on paper, 1918, 1950-01-86-48
Copyright © 2015 by The Litchfield Historical Society
All rights reserved.
The House of Worth: Fashion Sketches, 1916 • 1918 is a new work, first
published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 2015.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The House of Worth : fashion sketches, 1916 • 1918 / Litchfield
Historical Society with essays by Karen M. DePauw and Jessica D.
Jenkins; introduction by Michael Krass.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-486-79924-7 — ISBN-10: 0-486-79924-7
1. House of Worth (Firm)—History. 2. Fashion design—France—
History—20th century. 3. Fashion drawing—France—History—
20th century. I. DePauw, Karen M. II. Jenkins, Jessica D. III. House
of Worth (Firm). IV. Litchfield Historical Society (Litchfield,
Conn.)
TT505.W6H68 2015
746.9’20944—dc23
2015012156
Book design by Jason Snyder
Manufactured in the United States by RR Donnelley
79924701 2015
www.doverpublications.com
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
CATHERINE FIELDS
INTRODUCTION
MICHAEL KRAS S
FASHIONING A MODEL RETREAT
JESSICA D. JENKINS
“AS IN WEARING CERTAIN FROCKS ONE
IS SURE TO ‘HAVE A HAPPY EVENING’”
KAREN M. DEPAUW
INTRODUCTION TO SKETCHES
THE SKETCHES
ENDNOTES
TRANSLATIONS AND TRANSCRIPTIONS
PHOTOGRAPH AND ILLUSTRATION
CREDITS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
CATHERINE FIELDS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LITCHFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE HOUSE OF WORTH FASHION SKETCHES featured in this book are
one of the hidden treasures often found in small historical societies and
museums. The collection was donated to the Litchfield Historical Society in
1921, and although they have been loved by the staff and occasional researcher,
they have never been exhibited or published, and so are not widely known. The
Historical Society is proud to partner with Dover Publications to bring this
stunning collection to you. This publication is presented in conjunction with an
exhibition at the Litchfield History Museum, featuring a selection of the
drawings and related costume pieces.
The house of Worth project would not have been possible without the hard
work and dedication of many individuals. Jessica D. Jenkins, the Litchfield
Historical Society curator of collections, made the idea a reality. She conceived
the exhibition and book and then ably managed the myriad of details that go into
a project of this scope—from supervising photography, to negotiating loans, to
production of exhibition text and graphics. Jessica researched and wrote one of
the key essays in the book, coordinated the work of the other authors, and was
the main contact with the Dover staff. Her good humor, organizational skills,
and dedication to the project were ever-present.
Karen M. DePauw, the exhibition guest curator, was a key member of the
team. Karen helped develop the framework for the project, wrote the second
main essay and the annotations that accompany a selection of the illustrations in
the book, and the exhibition text. She brought her deep knowledge of costume
history to the endeavor, and the project would not have been possible without
her.
My good friend, costume designer Michael Krass, realized the potential of the
collection the first time he saw it. It was years before he was able to use his
research for a show, but the result was a Tony Award nomination for The
Constant Wife. Michael brings his thoughts on the collection to his introduction.
Photographer David Stansbury’s magic touch is seen in the high-quality
images that beautifully reproduce the extraordinary sketches.
The Litchfield Historical Society staff, Linda Hocking, curator of library and
archives; Elizabeth O’Grady, curator of education; and Megan Olver, education
assistant and visitor services manager; read and edited the text, assisted with
research, developed programs to accompany the exhibition, and organized
publicity and promotion. Everything we do is a team effort and their work
helped the project move forward smoothly and on time.
I cannot say enough about the staff at Dover Publications. Dover president
Frank Fontana has been a friend of the Litchfield Historical Society for many
years and it has been a great pleasure to work with him on this book. It took one
quick conversation for Frank to see the potential in the Worth collection and to
envision the book. He brought the concept to his able team, headed by editor-in-
chief M.C. Waldrep, who approached the book with unbounded enthusiasm.
M.C. guided us through the process with advice and help at every phase.
As always I would like to thank the Litchfield Historical Society Board of
Trustees. President Michael Reardon and the entire board continually provide
the support and encouragement that makes our work a pleasure.
INTRODUCTION
MICHAEL KRASS
AS A COSTUME DESIGNER FOR THE THEATRE, I GO shopping through
history for my present-day needs. I tell stories to live contemporary audiences;
and my work and reverence is to them, not to a garment, a piece of research, or a
moment in history. I employ history to speak to the eye of my audience, who
may or may not be trained in the silhouette of 1917, but who surely know what
is in today’s windows of Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. They want only to
understand who they are meeting, what she values, why she got dressed that
morning, and in what ways she is like them.
When, in the 1990s, I first viewed the house of Worth sketches this book
contains, I thought immediately of how I might employ them. I had never seen a
set of images like these, and knew they were unique, complex, and valuable to
me and my future audiences.
Why?
First, they were made at a moment in time when all social structures were
shifting around the world. As we now know, women would soon be showing the
legs, arms, and backs they had never publicly exposed in all of history. And in
this moment—1916 and 1918—the clothing that may look awkwardly
proportioned to our modern eye reflects the rarely seen marker of a
transformation that changed history.
Secondly, as a collective group, the images represent the output of a single
design house. The portfolio was aimed at upper-class European and American
clients for their comparatively conservative consumption. Seeing the images as a
grouping is highly unique. While today we may easily see from runway shows
what Calvin Klein’s vision is for his customers in a certain season, it is rarer to
understand this kind of vision from a hundred years ago, and these sketches
provide that opportunity.
When I work, I begin by trying to understand the desires and circumstances of
a character that first exists only as words on a page. Suddenly, with the house of
Worth sketches available as a resource, I had a tool that fully documented and
created a visualized representation (complete with fabric samples in some
instances) of the story of a woman of a certain class and taste.
Sometime after I first became aware of these sketches, I was asked to design
Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife for Broadway. The play takes place in
London in the mid-1920s. Its characters live within an upper-middle-class
existence: some very fashionable, some showy, some neither of these things.
And there is a conservative mother of a certain age: Mrs. Culver. As I read the
play, my mind leapt to the Worth research, sensing that a woman of her age and
status would not have bobbed her hair, shown her legs, or, just as today,
ventured into the mad fashion of the moment. Like today’s Bill Blass or Oscar
de la Renta customer, she would find comfort in beautiful clothing of a style
with which she was familiar.
Mrs. Culver was to be played by the late and great Lynn Redgrave, and I
approached her with copies of the house of Worth sketches shown in this book.
And so, with sketches in hand, we went “shopping” through the portfolio
together—Lynn, her character, and I. Through this hilarious and joyous
opportunity, together we were able to replicate almost exactly what her character
did in choosing her look—and perhaps what the original recipients of the Worth
portfolio might have done. And then, adding in Lynn’s own sense of self and
having my eye on what contemporary store windows told us were chic
proportions and color, we made our choices.
With the work of a phalanx of drapers, crafts people, and milliners, we
collaborated to create a clothed person who was introduced to our audience—a
self-aware character who knew what her sartorial choices had been. Then
beyond the Worth-inspired clothes we added telling hair, jewelry, and other
accessories. These additions took Lynn’s character out of the sketches and
turned her into a human being that our audience could relate to. Do any of us
look exactly like a fashion sketch or photograph? No, we reveal our divine
individuality in our own small choices beyond any designer’s intent. Lynn wore
“Worth” and our additions with confident and deeply individual pride.
Did that audience care about the research we had done, about our “shopping
trip?” Likely, they did not. But I believe that they understood and valued the
specificity of our choices, the truth and thoroughness of the detail, and the
contrast with other characters that set the status within the world of the play. An
audience senses truth like a detective does.
The production was a great success; the costume design was rewarded with a
Tony Award nomination. And the truth of these fantastically unique, hundred-
year-old artifacts was felt by living audiences who wanted to envision
themselves on a stage and in a setting other than their own contemporary world.
Audiences quite simply want their own stories told with some distance and
objectivity, and a unique artifact from history can help to do exactly that.