1910’s Fashion

Alice’s older daughter Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney particularly loved the decadent fashions of the 1910’s.  Gertrude was an accomplished sculptor, collector, and patron of the arts.  

Collaborating with the diverse creatives she brought together at her studio was essential to her sense of identity and place in the art world.  Her circle embraced costumed entertainments as freeing and escapist.  They provided an outlet for people in a time when so much social interaction was so carefully prescribed and controlled.

There was a particular whimsical, exotic, and ethereal quality that came to fashion on the eve of WWI.  Some of the escapist fantasy of the era’s costume balls and parties is more generally reflected in the combinations of fabrics and trimmings of the period evening wear.  

Silk cut velvet evening coat, Mollie O’Hara, c. 1915. NHS L.2017.002.118, Loan from Private Collection.

Purple velvet cloak, J.K. McLennan, c.1915. NHS L.2017.002.120, Loan from Private Collection.