Costume collection manager Jessica Pushor provides tips on how to create the perfect look for 1933. As the Chicago History Museum gears up for another amazing The Last Speakeasy on the Eve of Repeal event, please remember that toy guns of any kind are not permitted in the Museum nor are feathers. No feather fans, More
Former CHM costume collection intern Michelle McVicker writes about a fascinating discovery she recently came across in the Museum’s archives. She is currently a MA candidate in Fashion Studies at Parsons School of Design. Pauline Trigère (1912–2002) was a French-born American designer. It would seem as though her future in fashion design was predetermined, as More
Water Tower Place, a seven-story, 758,000 square-foot vertical mall, opened its doors on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in October 1975. At the time, it was almost completely vacant with the exception of its anchor stores, Marshall Field & Company and Lord & Taylor. However, due to its almost immediate success and prominent location on North Michigan More
Editor’s note: In honor of prom season, take a close look at one of the Museum’s ball gowns with costume collections intern Corie Azem. While the House of Dior is most readily identified with the seminal New Look collection, it is also well known for their luxurious gowns. In Chicago, Christian Dior’s garments were first More
Take a peek inside the Chicago History Museum’s fur vault with costume collections intern Amanda Cacich. During the past six months, I’ve worked extensively with the objects in the Museum’s fur vault, which is essentially a walk-in refrigerator. I was tasked with completing an inventory of the vault’s contents, which meant several weeks of going More
Costume curator Petra Slinkard reflects on the life of Chicago Bears linebacker Doug Buffone. I distinctly remember the day when I came across these shoulder pads in costume storage. Collections manager Jessica Pushor and I were pulling objects for an upcoming private tour, and they caught my eye. I wanted to pull something that would More
Costume curator Petra Slinkard reflects on the life of Chicago Bears linebacker Doug Buffone. I distinctly remember the day when I came across these shoulder pads in costume storage. Costume collection manager Jessica Pushor and I were pulling objects for an upcoming private tour, and they caught my eye. I wanted to pull something that More
Costume collections manager Jessica Pushor writes about a fine example of western wear from the Museum’s costume collection. Western wear and high-quality custom tailoring may not seem like they go hand in hand, but there was a time when western wear provided some of the finest examples of Old World tailoring techniques. While searching for More
Planning an exhibition such as Chicago Styled: Fashioning The Magnificent Mile® requires combing through the entire costume collection to find the most appropriate garments. We start this process by looking through our collection database and old catalog cards and then pulling the actual garments from storage to examine in person. For Chicago Styled, we pulled More
In honor of Chicago Styled: Fashioning The Magnificent Mile®, the Museum blog will publish a series of posts highlighting the stores, garments, designers, donors, and urban developments featured in the exhibition. “The woman who is clever is not a slavish follower of style. She never clings blindly to an arbitrarily prescribed fashion. Individuality is a More