July 10 – September 7, 2002

A Century of Style: 100 Years of 4-H Fashion is the brainchild of Dr. Joyce Smith, OSU Extension Clothing and Textiles Specialist, and her swansong as well. Joyce is retiring this year, with over 25 years experience working with 4H Youth, Fashion Boards, and the Fashion Revue. She thought that since this was 4H’s centennial year, it might be fun to showcase some of the clothing projects from the last 100 years. The only problem was that we had no 4H clothing projects in the Collection. So, we put out a call to the counties to see what kind of response we would receive, to see if there were even enough pieces to make up an exhibition. Maybe we could fill one floor of the galleries. Well, to our happy surprise, we received over 400 responses. Unfortunately, that meant we had to go through the painstaking process of editing some of the offerings because we didn’t have enough gallery space or mannequins to show all of them. We tried to be fair and include at least one thing from each donor, resulting in over 100 items in this exhibition.

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October 26, 2001 – May 18, 2002

• View the exhibition catalog (pdf).
• View images from the exhibtion

In the 1900s, after centuries of dependence on Paris fashion dictates, Americans broke free to set their own fashion trends. Fashion American Style: 1900-1999, the new exhibition at the College of Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, documents American’s bold move during the course of the 20th century from formal and constrictive fashions to today’s casual simplicity.

Opening on October 27, 2001, the exhibition will be in the Geraldine Schottenstein Wing of Campbell Hall at 1787 Neil Ave. It is open to the public at no charge and runs through May 18, 2002. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Created by Gayle Strege, curator of the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection, the exhibition will document the rise of American designers of fashion from their first recognized influence during the 1930s, both in the industry and Hollywood, through World War II and the establishment of an American couture industry, to the end of the century when major changes in the garment industry affected apparel designers and design, production, and marketing.

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April 14 – December 16, 2000

View the exhibition catalog (pdf).
View images from this exhibition.

“Strive as you will to elevate woman, nevertheless the disabilities and degradation of her dress, together with that large group of false views of the uses of her being and of her relations to man, symbolized and perpetuated by her dress, will make your striving vain.”
-Gerritt Smith

Reforming Fashion, 1850-1914 is about the women’s dress reform movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Fashionable dress in the 19th century went through several silhouette changes from tubular to hourglass and back to tubular. The fashion of the dress silhouette was not dependent on the natural human body but rather on a range of undergarments including chemise, petticoats, hoops, bustles, and corsets to create an artificial shape. A growing number of people including feminists, health advocates, physicians, artists, and educators began to believe that women’s clothing, particularly fashionable dress, was harmful to women’s health.

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October 8, 1999 – March 18, 2000

Rare and beautiful textile treasures fill the gallery.

Textiles, with their many uses, are intimate aspects of our lives. During every moment of the day, we touch and view textiles that have been produced for our comfort and pleasure.

In their two-dimensional form, textiles serve many purposes, from wall hangings to floor coverings. Once textiles are draped around a body or shaped to adorn furniture, they are transformed, taking on a third dimension.

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April 8 – September 4, 1999

Every shopkeeper and merchant’s primary objective is to sell merchandise. When the giant nineteenth century dry goods establishments like Marshall Field & Co. shifted their business from wholesale to retail the visual display of goods became necessary to attract the retail customer. The store windows no longer simply allowed natural light to shine in the building or act as storage space for stock, they became important venues to attractively display the store’s merchandise. Gradually, the design aesthetic used in window displays moved indoors and became part of the overall interior store design, eventually displacing the importance windows altogether in suburban malls.

“Looking at the store windows is great entertainment because you can see all of these things and be really glad it’s not in your home filling up your closets and drawers.”
– Andy Warhol

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