Seattle Style MOHAI, first take

There's a lot of photos of captions in this post, so yes

Click on photos to embiggen!

The Museum of History and Industry at Lake Union is where it's at this summer, with the Seattle Style Fashion/Function exhibit, now through October 2019.

Love that button!

A museum can only really tell the story with the items that are donated to it. 

MOHAI has been around for many years, only recently relocated to the former Navy Reserve Armory. It's hosted many traveling shows, and more than a few original ones.

photo MOHAI

This is Clara Berg's show, and she should be very proud of her work here.

https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/careers/clara-bergs-cool-museum-job-at-mohai/

Clara Berg in action

Ms Berg gives a quarterly lecture/presentation of clothes in the collection, usually organised by theme or reflecting an exhibit in the museum (Dior and The Great War come to mind). I make a point of attending all of them and I try very hard not to be that person who stands in front of the clothing and blocks your view.

The theme of the show is largely the history of fashion in Seattle, as told through the pieces they have in the collection.  

As with most local museums, the collection is at the mercy of the things that are available.

Some of these items have been donated, some loaned.

We start with the weather. 

Which means rain.

It's more myth than reality now, but it's the story we like to tell about ourselves.

 And as ever, click on the photos to make them bigger to read the captions.

 Let's start at the real beginning of this town. When there was actual weather.

 There are some similar items at the Burke Museum of Anthropology at the University of Washington, but I rather like that we have a full reproduction made by a first nations artist. Rainwear of all kinds.

Different textiles for different eras. Cedar to gore-tex

https://www.rei.com/blog/social/introducing-the-zipall

This really is quite funny. I mean, REI is not known for kidding around, but this is funny enough that I recommend you not have anything in your mouth when you watch it.

But what's right next to the Zip All?

Hey, fellow donor and former coworker Mary Ann Dobratz! Just another average Seattleite with valuable stuff to donate.

This visit is really just a cursory glance of the things that caught my eye.

I promise to go back and dig in deeper.

Color coordination: Seattle Woolen Company and John Doyle Bishop

 John Doyle Bishop was the MAN in Seattle clothing. He wasn't a designer, but a retailer who made the taste of his era. His shop was very important in setting the fashion trends in town. I never saw the inside of his shop (too young) but I knew who he was and what he meant just from hearing how other retailers talked about him, how the newspapers wrote him up. 

https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/9764/

 There's no way I don't get the red shirt and the white dress into this post.

Novelty print love

But back to the history.

The prototype puffer of Eddie Bauer?

 I would like to interrupt this post by mentioning that down is equally useless in the rain.

Eddie Bauer. No, there's no Mr REI.

REI gaiters. Not the Frostline ones.

A little family history of midcentury Seattle sports wear. Every city has a story of the clothing manufacturers, the dressmakers, the stylemakers. There's some of that in this exhibit, but we'll come back to this later.

A nice preview of the show:

Seattle style New MOHAI exhibit showcases city's eclectic style and where it came from 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/seattle-history/article/Seattle-style-New-MOHAI-exhibit-showcases-city-s-13815062.php

(there's a nice video clip of Ms Berg on this page)

There is a lot to this show that I am not getting to here, as I just didn't take enough photos and notes.

But let's skip to the finale:

Those are my shoes

I did not agree to the part about the baby doll dresses, but I was outvoted. That's fine. Not my show.

Oh, yeah, they are right by some other stuff you might know.

Cobain gear and a flannel shirt

But what made ME squeeeee?

Lindy West's wedding dress.

She is my hero.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/opinion/columnists/weinstein-harassment-witchunt.html

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29340182-shrill

There are pieces missing of this puzzle. The show can only present the story told by the pieces that have been donated. 

Mary Ann and I did. You can, too. Don't live in Seattle? I'll bet there's a local history museum near you that needs something you've been trying to figure out what to do with. You won't get rich, but history might.

And in the meantime, there's a host of events at the museum related to this exhibit.
Next up: 
https://mohai.org/event/refashion-clothing-repair-fair/

I will see you there

My shoes from 1989 Live In A Museum Now

Back in September, this happened.

Because this thing is happening.

https://mohai.org/exhibits/seattle-style-fashion-function/

Organized and curated by Clara Berg of MOHAI (this photo from her lecture Sept 2016)

A image from Ms Berg's lecture, regarding Seattle clothing considerations.

The exhibit already had the gratuitous fashion spread in a local mag

Seattle Magazine April 2019 photo by Hayley Young

https://www.seattlemag.com/shopping/day-mohai-seattles-fashion-through-ages-shows-innovation

But let's talk about my shoes....

 The request went out last summer for this exhibit for locally acquired clothing from the 'grunge' era.

https://nyti.ms/2tGFMDz

This article is one of the great pranks of Seattle history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge_speak

As it turned out, the grunge era clothing donated was all men's. Nothing from the women.

In 1990, I was 31, about ten years older than the people I worked with, the kids who saw the bands, were in the videos, went to the parties. From my ancient vantage, I had a good second hand working knowledge of the players, and made a lot of friends who still kick my ass today.
Always make younger friends.

Most importantly, I could afford to buy these shoes then.

What is interesting to me about the concept of the 'classic grunge' clothing model is the attention to what the guys wore. Everyone was thrift shopping. some were dumpster diving. I can only speak for the ladies: the older and fancier the stuff, the better. For example, I worked in a craft workshop in Ballard, using power tools and chemicals and spray paints, wearing goggles and lab coats over crinolines or silk shantung 50’s suits (and these shoes) every day. You’d drop the lab coat and goggles, get on the bus to Capitol Hill or Belltown and do the bar/show circuit in the same clothes.  I shudder to think of the beer that was spilled on those clothes (or the cigarettes smoked in them). The Goodwill Games (1990) had brought a lot of new playmates to town and put a lot of people into paying jobs those people would never have gotten any other time.  That money probably financed even more bands. Thinking about it now, this series of events just proved that the boys would never have to grow up to get a job, and the girls had to be the grownups in the room.

It could be argued that this Peter Pan attitude has continued with the tech boom. "See, I don't have to return phone calls or pay attention to bills or be a responsible member of my community. I can make a living in my pajamas."

These shoes were the envy of my friends. They were not cheap, but they lasted. Which I cannot say for the thrift store silk suits. If you do not clean the beer out promptly...

If you look very closely, you'll note the toes have been redyed with Magic Marker.

And to be honest, I wore them to work with my 50's rayon shirt dress

https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-friend-comes-to-table-of-remodeling.html

The show opened this weekend, May 4th. I will report on it the week after.

waiting to finish the paperwork, hanging out on the conference table, MOHAI offices

See ya later, Doc.

MOHAI: Museum of History and Industry: Behind the Seams The 19th Century In Color

A shame this is such an ugly town. Yes, that is a float plane landing just to the left of our destination

The Museum of History and Industry, aka MOHAI

(this is a link to a very long and throughly Seattle history of a very West coast sort of place)

MOHAI, in addition to being the dumpster  recipient of Seattle's historical artifacts, has long had a tradition of hosting some of the weirder touring exhibits.

It was my great good fortune see "Clutch It! The Purse and the Person" (a truly stunning exhibit of handbags) as well as the end of the tour of  Theatre de la Mode there.

photo: Maryhill Museum

1946 French fashion, on 700mm tall models

(fortunately it's still in WA state, at the Maryhill Museum of Art. Along with the effects of Marie of Roumania and Loie Fuller)

Last year I had more good fortune in seeing a few 'fashion lectures' about the history of importing/developing fashion in Seattle, presented by Clara Berg, who I believe was a new hire to conserve the textiles and clothing in the collection.

This year, these lectures include viewing more of the clothes, with an emphasis on their era and construction details, reasonably upclose and personal.

From the website:

Inspired by the garment viewings of past fashion lectures at MOHAI, Behind the Seams programs are a peek into MOHAI's collection and your chance to see treasures that are usually kept in storage! View garments in detail, from the silhouette to the underpinnings, and hear the stories that make them special. For the inaugural Behind the Seams, we'll be illuminating the 19th century by showcasing colorful garments from the 1850s-1890s. From vibrant silks to captivating cotton prints, discover an era that was much more vivid than black and white photos would have you believe! 

 This time I parked myself in the front row at the corner of the table.
Click on the photos to enlarge them

1860's: One hooped skirt, two bodices. Silk with self trim. And loads and loads of that trim.

1870s: the 'natural silouette' (no hoops, little bustle). 

The jacket does not go with the dress, and the plaids are not matched. One of the fun things about these presentations is that Ms Berg is very happy to hear what people have to add or observe about the clothes, because it's an old collection with little history on it. 

Consensus was: the jacket was made to use up the fabric, and at this point, it was just enough to use all the fabric, not try to get it to line up. And it's better matched in the front than the back.

Cotton lining, with a pinked cotton hem facing.

1890s skirt and jacket, woven silk, with a front wrap panel.

The brown panel is velvet, and would be glimpsed when the wrap opened midstride

Deep black cotton hem facing

The wrap opens on the left

Stays

House coat printed cotton silk. 1890s.

Those nonmatching prints are the smoother silk lining; its a rough cotton/silk exterior

It's a stunning print

And the peacock eye weave dress. It's a bodice and a skirt that are attached in places

Nearly 12 inches wide hem edging  of pleated and tied self trim

A metallic ring and (barely seen) acorn dangling off the back.

Oh sadly we have to go home

But a quick stop at the Virginia V steamboat, where the engine crew are old family friends.....the green wedge in the distance is at the foot of the hill I live on.

Yes, it's just hell being here....