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The H line of 1954 with its exaggerated body contortions generated considerable negative publicity. The design shifted the bosom up and incorporated the hipline of the middy as the crossbar of H. Dior’s intention had been to create the illusion of a longer, leaner look. The controversy primarily centered on the treatment of the bust. The constricting bodices pushed up the breasts sometimes resembling the sixteenth-century Tudor style costumes of Anne Boleyn.
"Greer opened Greer, Inc. in Los Angeles late in 1928 with a legendary star-packed opening. He was the first major costume designer to take the leap of establishing his own couture house. He started with custom design, then added ready to wear alongside it by 1947. After that his clothing was sold around the country and he was in the top tier of American ready-to-wear designers . Greer specialized in cocktail and dinner dresses that he specifically designed to look good seated at a table with stunning necklines.....In many ways, he remained true to his training as a costume designer. He didn’t follow the padded shoulder line of the 1940s, and liked to work with black combined with a range of pinks for contrast."
As you enter Cocktail Culture, an intoxicating exhibit of apparel, accoutrement and ephemera at the Rhode Island School of Design's Museum of Art, it's hard not to think of Billy Strayhorn's lyrics in his jazz standard "Lush Life":....The exhibit feels like an elegant and witty party that can be followed over six decades, from 1920 to 1980. You can almost hear the chatter. Think of it this way, say Kate Irvin and Laurie Brewer, both curators with the museum's Costumes and Textile Department. Cocktails — the word might be from the docked tail of a certain kind of show horse — are about mixing. Which, during Prohibition, was necessary to cover up the awful taste of bathtub gin......Cocktail Culture: Ritual and Invention in American Fashion, 1920–1980 will be on display at the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I., until July 31.
