Splendid Costumes

"She Walks in Splendor" is an exhibit of luxurious costumes created by famous couturiers over the last five centuries. The collection starts in the 1500's with Queen Elizabeth's waistcoat, then skips to an excellent eighteenth century array.

A French woman's walking costume with robe a l'anglaise reflects the rage for English styles that prevailed during the late 1700's. The costume's bonnett is bigger than any lampshade I've ever seen. A mania for classical antiquity around the turn of the nineteenth century produced, among other items in the exhibit, a French promenade dress with a very high empire waist and very, very low decolletage. This is a particularly interesting specimen because of the strikingly French robe effect attained by the use of shirring, folds, and trains. The mannequins sporting low necklines are invariably placed in positions in which the dip cannot be seen. Their elaborate coiffures make one wonder how women of the past managed without hair spray.

The few American costumes scattered among the European extravaganzas make clear how unsophisticated this country has been in the world of fashion. A visiting costume of printed challis is charming in its simplicity, but the next mannequin is weighted down with white brocaded taffeta and swamped under a skirt of orange tufts of tulle and lace rosettes.

All of the eight mannequins are unique; each was constructed to fill her costume, and the silhouettes represented range from the shapelessness of the nineteen-twenties to the eighteenth-century hourglass. The mannequins wear contemporary accessories and are grouped against period scenery, such as Louisburg Square in the 1880's or a French interior of 1750.

Costume exhibits are rare (the last here was in 1952), and this one was three years in the making; it's worth going to see. Unfortunately, present-day items are not included. A floor-length, beaded evening dress by Dior (or an American designer like Norman Norell) would have provided an interesting contrast to the older costumes on display.