Influencers: 1920s Fashion and the New Woman

Original 1920s influencers Irene Castle, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Coco Chanel created freedom for women in their lifestyle and mode of dress. Explore the long history of influencers and how fashion innovations of the time often crossed racial, cultural, and global boundaries in this new exhibition. Objects on display are on special loan from the Cornell College of Human Ecology Fashion + Textile Collection, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Steepletop, Lyndhurst Collections, and Private Lenders.

Influencers will highlight the 1920s as the moment following World War I in which women gained certain freedom in clothing and lifestyle. The 1920s marked a major turning point from the strictures of the Victorian era and was a precursor to major changes in women’s lifestyles and dress that still hold true today. The exhibition highlights the impact of three major influencers – Coco Chanel (the global leader in couture), Irene Castle (the American actress and creator of ready-to-wear outfits), and Edna St. Vincent Millay (the IT girl of the bohemian/artistic/intellectual lifestyle) – and display how these innovators often crossed racial, cultural, and global boundaries to create societal shifts that allowed women to claim more freedom and control of how they lived, dressed and presented themselves in society. This exhibition also examines the technical side of the 1920s female fashion revolution. Women were finally freed from the imprisonment of restrictive undergarments and elaborate gowns. They began to wear athletic outfits, enjoy the popularization of makeup, stay fresh with new perfumes and underarm deodorant, use women’s razors, and celebrate the invention of simple undergarments. The culminating impact of these innovations is still undeniable a century later.