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February 11, 2024

Fashion and Music Exhibit Slated to Open March 30

The next exhibit of the Fashion Archives and Museum (FA&M) will open to the public on March 30, 2024, from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Instrumental Fashions: Attire and Song explores the long-standing relationship between the latest fashions and current hit songs about clothing.

“Music and fashion have more in common than one might think,” explains FA&M director, Dr. Karin J. Bohleke, “Like fashion, musical genres have their moment of prominence, only to have another style emerge to replace them as newcomers on the scene attempt to differentiate themselves from the current trends. In addition, musicians incorporate keen observations on contemporary society. Naturally, fashions—from the elegant to the absurd—find themselves immortalized in catchy lyrics.”

Visitors will enjoy seeing historical boots and whether they were really “Made for Walking,” as well as the “Lady in Red,” the “Devil with a Blue Dress on,” a selection of “Sharp Dressed” men, and many other examples of fashions explored in pop songs. But sadly, unless someone has one to donate, the permanent collection has no yellow polka dot bikinis from the 1950s.

The exhibit runs through November 14.

April 12, 2023

New Exhibit Now Open Through November 21, 2023

The Fashion Archives and Museum’s latest exhibit, (Re)Shaping the Body is now open to the public through November 21, 2023. The exhibit explores body modifying underwear and optical illusion tailoring to alter the shape of the human body to match the fashion ideal of different decades.

Corsets, bustles, cages and more will be on display, as well as fully mounted garments to showcase how the body was built up, altered or reduced over different centuries. Organized by body part, the objects chosen for the exhibit considers the human body literally from head to toe. The oldest item on display is a set of stays dating to ca. 1755-1765.

The director, Dr. Karin J. Bohleke, comments that “Christian Dior famously stated that without foundation, there is no fashion. The history of men’s and women’s fashions is indeed the story of the foundation garments essential to creating the appearance of a specific body type or attribute that rarely matches most potential wearers. This explores the hidden layers and tailoring efforts that literally engineer the body into a different shape. Corsetry, for example, is alive and well, only today we call it “shapewear,” or, more specifically, “Spanx.”

The exhibit will be open on Friday, June 2, from 12:30 to 2:30 for additional special hours beyond the established schedule.

February 13, 2023

(Re)Shaping the Body: New Exhibition to Open Spring 2023

Preparations are underway for the Fashion Archives and Museum’s forthcoming exhibit (Re)Shaping the Body. The exhibit explores engineered underpinnings and optical illusion tailoring to build up, alter, or reduce various  parts of the body to align it with the current fashionable ideal of the moment. Corsets, bustles, cages and more will be on display, as well as fully mounted garments. Stays from the eighteenth century and even sleeve plumpers from the 1830s are included in the object list. Fans of different centuries will find much to enjoy.

Stay tuned to this website and social media for the exact opening date information.

 

June 28, 2022

New Exhibit Now Open: “Celebrating Creative Hands–Yesterday and Today”

The Fashion Archives & Museum is pleased to announce that its latest exhibit, Celebrating Creative Hands–Yesterday and Today is now open during regular operating hours. It is a first ever collaboration with the Lancaster Spinners and Weavers Guild. The exhibit combines guild members’ creations made using traditional techniques and historical examples of the same techniques from the museum’s permanent collection.

FA&M director, Dr. Karin Bohleke notes “Textile techniques of the past continue to thrive, and the Lancaster Spinners and Weavers are true artisans, bringing traditional practices into the twenty-first century. Viewers will enjoy viewing handspun linens and clothing dating back to the 1780s, as well as garments from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is the FA&M’s first partnership with the fiber arts community, and it certainly will not be the last.”

Handweaving is not the only fiber art highlighted in the exhibit: examples of quilting, embroidery, knitting, crochet, spinning, and tapestry illustrate over two hundred years of talented artisanal work. Examples of the necessary tools are also included.

A joint regional symposium hosted by the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the Costume Society of America (CSA) will take place in conjunction with this exhibit on November 10 through 12. Anyone interested in attending should visit CSA’s website for program and registration information as plans develop (costumesocietyamerica.com).

Celebrating Creative Hands is open through November 22, 2022, but will be closed on July 4 and September 5 for the Independence and Labor Day holidays respectively.

 

 

August 26, 2021

Latest Exhibit to Open October 22

This year, Shippensburg University celebrates its 150th anniversary, and the Fashion Archives & Museum will open a companion exhibit. “Remember, Celebrate, Thrive: 150 Years of Fashion at Shippensburg University” will open to the general public on Friday, October 22, in conjunction with Homecoming. To kick off the exhibit, the FA&M will be open for special additional hours, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on October 22 and 23.

“The Fashion Archives & Museum” houses many historic textiles and garments associated with the university’s history,” explains FA&M director Dr. Karin J. Bohleke. “Returning alumni, faculty, and staff might see a uniform or banner dating to their time on campus. Visitors from the general public will greatly enjoy seeing the historic fashions sported by athletes, students, professors, and staff and may recall similar styles from their own universities.” The oldest surviving graduation dress, from the class 1896, will be on display, as well as the historic gym uniforms women were required to wear that featured large black bloomers and wool shirts.

Regular operating hours will resume as of Monday, October 25. Thursday, December 9, is the last day the exhibit is open to the general public. In accordance with university policy as of August 18, masks are required in all indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

 

May 3, 2021

Exhibit Now Open for In-Person Visitors

The FA&M opened its newest exhibit on April 29 and is excited to welcome visitors to experience the first new exhibition since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clothed in Beauty: Recent Acquisitions of Shippensburg University Fashion Archives & Museum, features some of the most recent fascinating donations to the archives. It highlights pieces worn by men, women and children across various cultures including Native American and African American. Global fashions from Spain, Italy, China, Japan, Morocco, Afghanistan and England are also represented. The pieces in the collection range in creation from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first century.

“So many aspects of directing the Fashion Archives & Museum bring joy to my day, and seeing the fabulous garments that current owners, often descendants, are willing to donate is definitely one of them. This exhibit is a celebration of generous donations to the FA&M, selected here for their beauty, intricate construction, or simply their joyful embrace of exuberant color,” said Dr. Karin Bohleke, director of the Fashion Archives and Museum.

Masks and social distancing are required in the museum. The exhibit is open to groups of fewer than 15 people. For more information, please contact the museum. The exhibit runs through July 29, 2021.

May 5, 2020

Current Exhibit Available for Viewing Online

The FA&M’s current exhibit, Fashionable Dances and Dancing Fashions, which opened in January, is available for viewing online as a video tour. In this time of social distancing, technology has made it possible for the FA&M’s display to come to visitor homes. The clothing in the exhibit dates from the 1810s through the 1970s, and additional paper ephemera from the early 1800s through the 1980s provides dynamic graphics and history of a favorite social pastime.

The original exhibit closing date of July 2 has been extended, but no new closing date has yet been set pending decisions from the appropriate state and university authorities.

In the meantime, please enjoy this virtual tour by clicking on or copying this link and pasting it into your preferred browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxW3eK3pJFE.

April 28, 2020

Ship Theatre Arts Students Explore Eighteenth-Century Hairstyles

Students in Shippensburg University’s Theatre Arts program had the opportunity to study costume history in the Fashion Archives & Museum this spring semester. Prior to spring break, as an integral component to studying fashions of the past, the students explored different eighteenth-century hairstyles. “Too often,” the instructor Dr. Karin J. Bohleke explained, “women’s hair is reduced to the towering and exaggerated styles associated with the 1770s and 1780s that featured boats and other elaborate headpieces. But there were so many other options and the century featured a much broader evolution of looks and techniques.” Using the recent publication The American Duchess Guide to Eighteenth Century Beauty, students busily worked at recreating different styles—with elegant results. One student, Eliza Eames, brought in her sister as a willing model and recreated the soft, curled hairstyle of the 1790s that appears in a number of portraits by Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun (see image below). The students unanimously agreed that the style was still eminently flattering and wearable today. They thoroughly enjoyed this hands-on experience, and of course, a towering feather adds an element of fun.

April 2, 2020

SU Grad Students Select Important Acquisitions for the FA&M Collection

Inspired and excited by a presentation at the 2019 annual symposium of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) that FA&M director Dr. Karin Bohleke attended with the FA&M Advisory Council President Robin Dolbin, Dr. Bohleke assigned her graduate costume Applied History class a real-life museum task: select artifacts to purchase for the permanent collection. Thanks to a combination of special donations and revenues from the sales of deaccessioned items, her students had a budget of $9,000 with which to work. With such a sum, it was entirely possible to purchase significant items to enhance the collection holdings.

During the fall 2019 class, the students assessed the existing holdings and consulted with Dr. Bohleke to define areas of weak representation and at the same time become aware of time periods or types of items that needed no further development. Armed with this knowledge and a list of reputable dealers, the class divided into smaller groups and ultimately each group presented its list of proposed purchases, justifying the choices with supporting arguments. The students then had to come to a consensus as a whole in the course of an evening’s debate.

The students finalized their choices, and Dr. Bohleke purchased the following items:

  • Gentleman’s cotton velveteen breeches, third quarter eighteenth century
  • Gentleman’s red wool waistcoat, possibly livery, ca. 1760s
  • Woman’s elaborately printed cotton dress, ca. 1820
  • Woman’s short gown, ca. 1790s, pictured below
  • Woman’s sky blue silk gown made from imported Chinese silk, 1840s
  • Woman’s side-lacing boots, tan with green leather foxing, 1840s
  • Woman’s black velvet beaded heeled court shoes, 1870s

As is evident from the list, students placed their emphasis on early items that are less likely to arrive at the FA&M in the form of a donation. Their choices are especially important given that students in the early American history undergraduate classes build their final research web exhibit projects starting from artifacts from the FA&M collection. In fact, a number of the items listed above made their debut in student projects before the items were even catalogued.

In addition, a generous FA&M supporter stepped in and donated the necessary funds to purchase a pair of shoes associated with a wedding that took place in Kent, England, in 1780. To maximize the available funds still further, Titi Halle and her staff at Cora Ginsburg LLC extended a generous special discount when they learned of the project and fully supported the students’ learning experience.

This project is an example of the real-life museums tasks that students pursue in the FA&M, and it is a genuinely unique aspect of the programming. Regarding her experience, Nastassia Gantz commented, “The class had to think about whether or not an item could tell a story about an important moment in fashion history, be a stand-out piece among the rest of the collection, and whether we believed that people would be excited to come and view the item it on display in a future exhibit. I was able to gain a better understanding of how institutions acquire objects along with what the general decision-making process looks like, and I left the course feeling elated that a short gown that I found was actually chosen by the class to have a permanent home at the Fashion Archives.”

Another student, Courtney Smith, noted that in their excitement for the project, “Our group took the project a step further. In order to show how the garments we selected would fit into the museum’s collection, we designed an exhibit around them. The entire experience was fantastic. It taught us real-world skills that we will definitely use.”

April 1, 2020

SU Graduate Students Install Exhibit at Loan Brandywine River Museum

Three Ship graduate students in the Applied History program had the opportunity to install eight mannequins in support of the Brandywine River Museum’s exhibit “Votes for Women: A Visual History.” The exhibit curator, Amanda Burdan, and the FA&M Director Dr. Karin Bohleke had already selected the outfits representing the suffragists during the design phase of the display preparations, and FA&M staff and volunteers had already performed all needed conservation. The final stages of the exhibit loan and installation were now in the hands of the graduate students under the supervision of Dr. Bohleke.

As an assignment for their independent study on museum exhibition installation, Cijianna “Ciji” Berry, Amanda Partner, and Martavis Washington dressed the mannequins. They learned how to adjust the fit through padding and to select appropriate underpinnings to achieve the proper period silhouette. This exhibit features mannequins from head to toe, meaning the students also added footwear, styled the mannequins’ hair, and finished the look with hats and gloves. Given that the mannequins sported purple hair, namely one of the official colors of the suffragist movement, the results were certainly dramatic. Then all of the outfits had to be undressed and packed for transport, the mannequins labeled, their hairstyles protected, and everything loaded into vehicles for transport to Chadds Ford, PA.

Dr. Bohleke and the students then spent January 24 at the Brandywine River Museum working with Ms. Burdan and the others. The mannequins’ outfits had been deliberately chosen to match those in period photos of suffragists, and the finished mannequins were positioned on the platforms near large graphics reproducing the original images. The Brandywine exhibit team welcomed the students as professional art handlers and were wonderful hosts. The final result featured two mannequins each in winter outerwear, cool summer whites, tailored walking suits, and driving gear. In a whimsical touch, the students added purple or gold gloves from the exhibit support materials, again to match the official colors of the suffragist movement.

In reflecting on this first real-life exhibition experience, Martavis Washington noted that the installation at Brandywine Museum was a “proud moment” and that “seeing the end result turn out as fantastic as it did was rewarding.” He was thrilled at the genuine, hands-on experience that the Fashion Archives provided him. Ciji Berry also greatly appreciated the real-life opportunity and found that dressing the mannequins and helping to create them by carving the bodies and styling the hair “provided skills that I may not have learned elsewhere. This experience also gave me the chance to meet others in the field with whom I hope to work in the future.” A visitor to the Brandywine exhibit wrote to Dr. Bohleke, commenting that the FA&M “did a fabulous job and deserves the credit.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “Votes for Women” is temporarily closed at the time of this publication. However, the exhibit’s time frame has been extended into the fall. Please check the Brandywine River Museum’s own website for reopening dates and schedule (www.brandywine.org).

Photo, below, from left to right: Cijianna Berry, Amanda Partner, Karin Bohleke, and Martavis Washington post in front the “tailored” mannequins. The suffragist sash is a surviving original on loan to the exhibit from another institution.

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