Browse Items (27 total)

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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)…

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…

This sleeveless, shift-style dress was made in Italy of brown wool gabardine by Emanuel Ungaro (1933-2019), probably within the first few years of Ungaro Paralléle, the label Ungaro launched in 1968 after establishing his company in 1965.The garment…

The dress is believed to have been made between the years 1975 and 1980. McFadden (b. 1938) launched her first collection in 1973 and patented her “Marii” pleating technique two years later. She began Mary McFadden Inc. in 1976, which focused on…

This dress features a full-length skirt, bishop sleeves, and a V-shaped neckline. A hook and eye in the front allows the wearer to create a more modest closure if desired. The printed fabrics are a momie weave, a crepe-like fabric made from tightly…