Evening Dress by Howard Greer

Abstract

 Fashion was changing. Changing away from a world of World War II and the Great Depression where restriction ruled emotions, away to 1950s economic boom and opulence to show not all the privileges were reserved exclusively for the wealthy. The fashion moved away from Edwardian rigidness to classical modernism like a ballet dancer in Swan Lake. It was revealed more of beauty than hiding under fear.

The Object’s Physical Description

The object is collared black, made of layered silk tulle on top of silk chiffon with sequin and embroidery of the uppermost part. It is made in a fashion of a modern evening dress below the knee and above the sheen length. It is designed as a dress to have a pinched waist with a voluminous skirt. The dress also is created in open neck peek-a-boo fashion with sheer fabrics to cover exposed portions of the cleavage and with the four-inches wide strap hanging over the shoulder to create partial sleeve covering. The dress has sequin and bead appliqué arranged in paisley on the front to give a light reflective surface.

The Designer’s Short Biography

The dress was made by Howard Greer, who was a fashion designer and a costume designer for Hollywood during the Golden Age of American cinema. He started his fashion career at Lucile before the start of World War I. After that the war, he returned to the US to work as a costume designer for Paramount Pictures. However, according to IMDB, in 1927 he left Paramount to start his couture shop to create costumes for the movie companies on a freelance basis. Within these costumes, a trend of style was created by Greer, which eventually comes to be known as “tabletop dresses”. [1]

The Dress And The Manufacturing Method

During his time, Greer was known for designing elegant and glamorous evening gowns and dresses. From many sophisticated dresses came a dress catering to youthful nature coined as “tabletop dresses” by Howard Greer. He referred to them as “tabletop dresses” because women were photographed in nightclubs sitting at tables, therefore, it was designed from the table up to very glamorous.[2] The object of this paper is the perfect example of “tabletop dresses” influenced by Swan Lake’s Character “Odile”. This dress appears to be hand made with hand finishing rather than the contemporary trend of ready to wear manufacturing. The handmade nature of the dress can be seen by looking closer to the beading and sequin application of slight imperfection.

The Usage Time-Period and End-User

With film growing in popularity, it was perfect to showcase fashion. The accepted fashion at the time was characterized by unpadded, rounded shoulders, “shapely bust lines, closely defined waistlines, and fully, billowy skirts”. [3] The dresses were created to show off the curves of women in a more glamorous way taking inspiration from the film stars. With the popularity of photography and with the rise in household income after World War II, people wanted to buy ready to wear and show it off. It was meant to show freedom and femininity but with a business-like influence casually. 

The Historical & Cultural Analysis

            In the 1950s, women’s fashion encapsulated conservatism with a mix of glamour. It had to have the alluring femininity with the freshness of a girl-next-door. Now that women could afford new styles after a long period of hiatus from the great depression and WWII, they wanted from feminine elegance to manly ruggedness. With the economic gain, a family was able to live comfortably on the income of one person. Which gave away to a new consumer-driven society and housewives became the feminine ideal. This ideal gave popularity to an hourglass figure with cinched-in waistlines and accentuated hips and bust to create a mature conservative look. The new-look showed lushness. “Clothing styles during the war years featured dull colors, squared shoulders, and minimal use of fabric and embellishments due to wartime restrictions. The New Look offered a new opulence and a new look at femininity.”[4]

Display Method

The garment was displayed with clusters of other fashion designers like Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, Christian Dior, and Pierre Balmain. The Black dresses by Howard Greer and Pierre Balmain contrasted next to crimson-red apparels by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, and Christian Dior. This grouping of apparel showcased the popularity of ballet in the midcentury and its influence on how evening-wear was designed by prominent designers and costumes of the time and worn by notable personalities. It also showed how design aesthetics were changing in a way to show more skin, show feminine independence, and social acceptance. This period directly correlated to growing wealth to accepted styles to accepted change of fashion influence. Moreover, the exhibition captured how fashion was moving towards modernity through examples of new fabrics, applications, and accessories.

The Affect Of The Dress

The inclusion of the dress shows how the 30s have progress away from the 20s to capture the moving independence of women and showing off skin. This particular style of dress managed to capture the feminine touch with its sheer fabric covering the breast to show the aloofness and shyness of an elegant woman, yet at the same time show the voluptuous virility apparent in a young woman through the very pinched waistline without the caricature of wearing a corset. Although the dress was made in 1951, it shows Howard Greer in his most popular design imagined and influencing how future designers thought femininity would be. More importantly, it was capturing a style that focused on being photographed and how one is perceived in line with the 60s and 70s fashion. 

The Effectiveness of Exhibition

The exhibition showed how ballet costume is more than how it appears to be in popular culture. Ballet costumes retained its beauty in all of its apparel and accessories without restricting movement. It thoroughly studied how some of the most famous and influential fashion designers were at times costumers and heavily influenced by its methodology. The different pieces showed how it was the period that gave birth to modern fashion influenced by classicism of balance and proportion. It effectively showed how it came away from Edwardian rigidity for an era to enhance human beauty and body by restraining and restricting its voyeurism.