Seasonal Fashions Reflects an Autumnal Palette in Historic Textiles Gallery

Event Details

Historic Textile Gallery with Seasonal Fashions: Autumn in Charleston, on exhibit September 1 - November 25, 2012. A range of garments, accessories and ephemera dating from the 1850s to the 1960s represents a seasonal shift to a more autumnal palette and theme.

Exhibit Highlights:
Autumn in Charleston features several children's pieces, including a young boy's brown velvet suit, worn by Ellison A. Smyth, Jr. of Charleston, c. 1870 and a girl's silk bonnet (pictured left), worn by Frances Caldwell Higgins of Newberry, when she attended the Moravian School in Salem, North Carolina, 1849-51.

Taking us back to the college scene of over one hundred years ago is a man's football uniform (pants, sweater and leather helmet), c. 1910, probably worn by Robert McCrady at the College of Charleston. Our brown wool tweed two-piece dress (pictured top), c. 1890, with its huge leg-of-mutton sleeves and braid trim, both very popular at that time, would have been the perfect collegiate outfit for the modern young woman of the late Victorian era. The autumnal hues are evident in a taupe silk faille suit, c. 1913, worn by Helen Eulalie Northrop. A printed silk dress (pictured below), made by Nelly Don and worn by Ruth Gadsden of Summerville in the 1930s, completes the exhibit highlights.