Browse Items (488 total)

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,…

These women's hats display the use of feathers as decorations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On display at Rosecliff, The Preservation Society of Rhode Island, for the exhibit John James Audubon: Obsession Untamed.

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…

The Japanese yukata and red scarf were donated to the University of Rhode Island’s Historic Textile and Costume Collection (URI HTCC) in April 1962 by Phyllis Brown. The yukata and scarf had originally belonged to Mrs. Nellie H. Metcalf from…

This pair of white kid slippers are dated to the 1860s. They have decorative leather rosettes at one time hand sewn to the vamp, but which have since been removed. The rosette began to appear on evening slippers in the 1850s, growing larger until 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…

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…

This pair of white leather, laced boots is dated circa 1890. They are double lined and made of kid leather. Inside the shoe is the label T.F. Pierce & Son, Providence. These shoemakers were in business during the mid-late 19th century and into…

This ensemble was donated in May 1979 by Mrs. Thyra Jane Foster (née Meyers, 1898-1984), part of a large gift that includes women’s evening dresses and children’s clothing, most from the first half of the 20th century. Little documentation exists…