Browse Items (27 total)

This suit is part of the Frankie Welch archive in the University of Rhode Island’s Historic Textile and Costume Collection (URI HTCC). The inventory papers which accompany the donation provide important information for many of the pieces, such as the…

Ceil Chapman (nee Cecilia Mitchell, 1912-1979) worked in New York City as a designer from the 1940s through the 1960s. After working on Fifth Avenue for over seven years, in about 1940 Chapman briefly entered into business with Gloria (Morgan)…

Paige Bailey, graduate student in the Master's program of the Dept. of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design, reached out to Tom and Linda Platt via their facebook page at the beginning of her research on this dress during the Spring 2021…

Roy Halston Frowick (1932-1990) began his design career as a free-lance milliner in Chicago in the early 1950s. During this time he adopted the use of his middle name as a designer. At the end of the decade he moved to New York City and worked…

Known for transforming comfort into luxury, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883-1971) was a revolutionary designer who set a high standard for women’s fashion in the twentieth century. Chanel’s early successes were based on her popularization of a casual,…

Hubert de Givenchy (1927-2018) can be remembered as one of the greatest couturiers in twentieth-century fashion history. His inspiration often came from his background. His muse was Audrey Hepburn, and his idol was Balenciaga. Some of his greatest…

This two-piece women’s suit was donated by Michael McKenna and Carlos Benevides, owners of Artifice of Warwick, Rhode Island. The suit is comprised of a double-breasted jacket and straight skirt, made from a navy and white wool tweed fabric. The…

Emilio Pucci’s (1914-1992) journey to becoming a fashion designer did not follow the same trajectory as other mid-twentieth century designers. Born into an Italian aristocratic family, with no expectations of having the necessity to work, Pucci’s…

This dress with matching shoes was donated to the university in 1984 by John Pierrepont Sturges (1912-2001) and his wife Alice Challifoux Ellsworth [Davis] Sturges (1914-2008). The dress has is a single tag sewn into the bodice, from a store called…

Dominating post-World War II fashion, the House of Christian Dior set a precedent that still carries its legacy today. Christian Dior (1905-1957) began his career in fashion working for designer Robert Piguet (1898-1953) prior to World War II. In…