Artistic Dress

“Fashionable Dress in an Artistic Landmark: The Gamble House, circa 1908”

One hundred years ago, David Gamble, heir to the Procter & Gamble fortune, and his wife Mary built their family’s winter home in beautiful Pasadena, California, where it remained in the family for two generations. In 1966 Gamble’s grandchildren gifted the city with the house, along with the furniture and fittings, in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture.
Now a National Historic Landmark and museum, The Gamble House is celebrated for its architectural merit and known as the finest and most complete example of the work of brothers Charles and Henry Greene, two of America’s most influential architects.
This exhibition recaptures the warmth and familiar comforts of the times the Gamble family spent in their home, with the cozy backdrop of friends and family gathered to celebrate a winter holiday. Represented are David and Mary Gamble; their two sons Sidney and Clarence; Mary’s sister Julia Higgins; a family of visitors; and the household staff, all dressed in historic ensembles loaned by the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Though they enjoyed spending winters in an exceptionally artistic home, family photographs show that the Gambles were relatively fashionable for the era. Their simple, comfortable style befitting of the easy-going, Southern California community. The historical garments on exhibit are similar to those worn by the family a century ago and provide an instructive contrast with the Gambles’ luxurious and dramatic surroundings.

"Aesthetes, Bohemians & Craftsmen: Artistic Dress, 1880s-1920s"

The world of Artistic dress was short-lived and inhabited only by a daring few, but the impression left on the fashion world has endured. Started in mid-19th century England, this form of dress was sparked by influential artists subverting societal norms. They abandoned the traditional clothing of the time for the loose, un-corseted styles of ancient Greece and medieval Europe, which they felt best accentuated the natural beauty of the female body. These Aesthetes believed that to be in harmony with one's interior was paramount. In America, Bohemians, a group of hardened poets and intellectuals, were also having an effect on fashion. Often considered "children of impulse and nature," these artists drifted along the meandering streets of New York City's Greenwich Village, championing the wearing of smocks and the creativity of Far Eastern art. This inspired radical new possibilities in garment construction and embellishment. These groups rejected the cheap, mass-produced goods made by machines during the Industrial Revolution, spurring Craftsmen to create handmade garments and accessories based on historic models. However, competing with the industrial machines proved to be difficult for the artisans and increased costs of materials and labor forced the utopian ideal of Artistic dress to perish after World War I. The unlikely bellwethers of modern fashion, Aesthetes, Bohemians and Craftsmen helped propel fashion from the trussed clothing of the Victorian Era, and their influence is still evident in the styles of today.