The Golden Age of Hollywood gave us many things: great entertainment, a type of American “aristocracy”, and a special set of cultural icons, but it gave us important, less obvious things as well, namely fashion influences that are still popular today.
Running now through August 8th at the James A. Michener Art Museum (138 South Pine Street) in Doylestown are two most unique exhibits: Icons of Costume: Hollywood’s Golden Era and Beyond and Michelle Berkowitz: Contemporary Costumes. Icons of Costume features movie apparel worn by numerous Hollywood stars: Audrey Hepburn, Loretta Young, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn, Gene Kelly, and James Dean among them. It includes Marlene Dietrich’s black velvet evening gown from Shanghai Express (1932) and (Governor) Arnold Schwarzenegger’s black leather jacket from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Several dozen film accessories, including rare publicity stills, props, lobby cards, and jewelry, are also on display. The Berkowitz Contemporary Costumes exhibit features the contemporary work of a native Philadelphian whose gowns are celebrated in the society pages of Greater Philadelphia newspapers. This Sunday, July 18th, at 1:00 p.m., Erika Jaeger-Smith, the Icons of Costume curator, and contemporary designer Michelle Berkowitz will team up to host a guided walking Gallery Tour that will focus on the influences of earlier film costumes and their designers on Berkowitz’s work (215-340-9800).
“People have been wild for both exhibits,” said Erika Jaeger-Smith, the Icons of Costume curator who has been with the Michener for 14 years. “People have loved the comparison because they can see how the early designers are still influential in today’s designs.”
The July 18th walking Gallery Tour is a repeat performance. “There was an overwhelming response [to the first walking Gallery Tour],” said Jaeger-Smith. “So many had to be turned away that we decided to repeat it. And people found it different to hear and talk to a fashion designer about contemporary fashion design and its influences.”
While the Berkowitz exhibit runs only until August 8th, the Icons of Costume exhibit will run through September 5th—and also includes an hour-long film comprised of movie clips with distinct connections to Bucks County, as well as the opportunity, on weekends, for would-be actors to star in their own Screen Test (for an additional fee of $20 per person in groups of 2, 3 or 4; advance, time-specific tickets are available). Admission to the Michener Art Museum is $10 for Adults; $9 for Seniors; $7.50 for Students (w/ ID); $5 for children (6-8), and children under 6 are free. Advance ticket purchase is recommended; the Michener is a Blue-Star museum; for more information, see http://www.michenerartmuseum.org/).
“People would flock to the theaters to see the latest fashions [during The Golden Age of Hollywood]”, said Jaeger-Smith. “The designers began to realize regular women wanted to look like the stars.” Adrian, one of the most famous Hollywood costume designers at that time, took this idea and “ran with it”. He did not copy the films’ clothes, but he built on Hollywood designs and opened sections in upscale department stores, such as Macy’s in New York, where he sold up to 50,000 fashion items a year. This kind of thing developed and new fashion houses were created.
“These designers are being written about [now],” said Jaeger-Smith, explaining that two new books about these talented “costume designers of old” were just printed in 2009. “During her career, Edith Head received 35 award nominations for her designed costumes. [That record] has never been eclipsed.”
Ten of the costumes on exhibit were used in films and were nominated for Oscars for Best Costume. Of these, half of them won the award.
“The fact that any of [these movie costumes] survived is a minor miracle,” explained Edward Maeder, a costume historian and the conservator for the Icons of Costume exhibit. “No importance was attached to them at the time they were created. They were simply looked at as tools—and expendable.”
“[Today,] there are particular light standards—and filters are used to filter out ultra-violet light, which is harmful to the costumes—and the temperature is controlled,” said Maeder.
Michelle Berkowitz studied interior design at Drexel University and then millinery at the Moore College of Art and Design. Her influences include Charles Frederick Worth, the father of haute couture, Philadelphia’s own Alzie Jackson, a milliner, the well-known designer Judith Leiber, and historic costumes, such as those used during The Golden Age of Hollywood.
“Even the actual lines of the [movie costume] gowns are copied and updated [by modern designers],” said Jaeger-Smith. This can be seen in some of Michelle Berkowitz’s gowns. For example, “princess seaming,” where the waistline of the gown at the back comes to a point in the front about 2 to 3 inches below the waist, rather than straight across, aiding the wearer to hide a “multitude of sins”. Some of these specific designs were used in the films in particular “. . . to make the actresses look like they had perfect figures,” said Jaeger-Smith. Other design features that still influence modern fashions include things such as pinpoint pleating and scalloped, or beribboned, underskirts, or petticoats.
There were many connections between those working in theater in New York and/or films in Hollywood and the Bucks County area during The Golden Age of Hollywood. Many involved in theater and films had estates in the area and worked on now-famous scripts, music, and stories while living here. The area was known as the “Genius Belt”, and many who did not live in the area—Grace Kelly and Robert Redford, for instance—still got their starts in theater in Bucks County.
“We decided to do a project showing films where a Bucks County person was integral in the making of the film,” said Jaeger-Smith. The result is the hour-long film that is part of the Icons of Costume exhibit. It includes 35 memorable clips from films with a distinct Bucks County connection. Some of these include Lassie Come Home (1943), whose author was a Bucks County native; A Star is Born (1954), written by Bucks County resident Dorothy Parker; The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), the story of which was written by Bucks County resident Patricia Highsmith and published in 1955; and the Marx Brothers films—by the Bucks County team of Kaufman & Hart.
“We thought it would be fun for people to star in their own scene,” said Jaeger-Smith of the final part of the Icons of Costume exhibit, the Screen Test, which allows small groups of 2, 3, or 4 people to choose from three films: The Wizard of Oz (1939), Gone With the Wind (1939), or Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and to choose costumes, use props, rehearse briefly, and be “shot” in front of a green-paint background (that will later have the appropriate film background added to it) for up to 2 minutes. The best scenes will be uploaded onto the Museum’s U-Tube channel.
“There was never any question that that would be a lot of fun,” said Jaeger-Smith.
The Screen Test is only available on Saturdays and Sundays, and $20-per group (of 2-4 people), time-specific tickets must be purchased in advance (http://www.michenerartmuseum.org/). Participants are requested to arrive 15 minutes before their scheduled Screen Test.
The James A. Michener Art Museum, which opened in 1988, is an independent, non-profit cultural institution dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting the art and cultural heritage of Bucks County and was named after the Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, who was born in the area. The museum houses a permanent collection of over 2,200 objects, including Arts and Crafts as well as modern furniture, sculpture, works on paper, decorative art objects, and a world-class collection of Pennsylvania Impressionism. Among the Impressionist works are Edward W. Redfield’s twentieth-century landscapes. Moreover, the Michener hosts nationally-touring special exhibitions and features important regional artists.
“One of the nice things about this [Icons of Costume] exhibition is that you can get up close and see the detail; the costumes are not behind glass,” said Maeder.
Perhaps in these present exhibits more than anywhere, the fashion-minded can see yesterday’s film fashions “live on” in contemporary styles. For all others, whether movie buffs, historians, collectors, would-be actors, Bucks County residents, or simply appreciators of art in its many forms, the Icons of Costume exhibit and its companion Michelle Berkowitz: Contemporary Costumes exhibit are sure to be big hits as well.
© 2010 by Catherine J. Barrier. All rights reserved.
