Dorothy Liebes made a most unusual textile panel for the 1937 Paris Exposition. The panel, which earned Liebes a Diplôme d’Honneur Honorary Diploma), has been frequently referred to as the “Schiaparelli Panel” (Figs. 1A, 1B). Anecdotal information suggests that Schiaparelli herself saw the panel when it was in Paris and openly expressed her admiration for it. [1] Designed with an appliqué of four large pairs of metallic scissors and woven with black-and-white measuring tapes, it was clearly Liebes’s way of paying homage to the French couture tradition with its emphasis on the tools necessary for the meticulous handwork of a couturier. Though it is not known whether Liebes met Schiaparelli in Paris in 1937, a newspaper clipping she had saved shows that she was well aware of Schiaparelli’s outsized importance.
In 1937, when Dorothy Liebes was appointed director of the Decorative Arts section of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, her time at the Paris Exposition likely informed some of her ideas for the decorative arts display. In June 1938, Liebes went to Paris again; included in her itinerary were visits with Etienne Kohlmann and Elsa Schiaparelli. [2] Kohlmann had been part of the team that designed the French fashion section of the Paris Exposition, the Pavilion d’Élegance, conceiving it as a Surrealist dreamscape complete with an awkward layout and oddly proportioned mannequins. [3] During this visit, Liebes also saw Schiaparelli and previewed her latest collection.
Once Liebes had returned to the United States, she and the Committee of Decorative Arts settled on two distinct themes for their fashion portion of the Decorative Arts section: Souvenir de Paris (Remembrance of Paris) and Show Window of the Future. Etienne Kohlmann was placed in charge of Souvenir de Paris, and Show Window of the Future was organized by Eleanor Le Maire, an accomplished American designer of retail spaces. For Souvenir de Paris, Liebes and Kohlmann selected a group of French designers who worked across a variety of disciplines, not limiting themselves strictly to fashion design. Max Vibert (designer), Rose Adler (bookbinder), and several others were invited to contribute, along with Jeanne Lanvin and Elsa Schiaparelli. Kohlmann saw to the avant garde appearance of the overall space, starting with the acquisition of twenty thousand oyster shells from a Marin County restaurant, which he plastered over walls and ceiling to create a heavily textured surface. [4] Deep wall-mounted plaster vitrines with scalloped edges added a surrealistic flair and held various objects like ceramic figures, jewelry, painted handkerchiefs, folding fans, and hand-tooled leather books (Fig. 2).
Jeanne Lanvin’s contribution was a plaster mermaid that wore a chenille top with a separate sequin collar and held a cluster of glass grapes (Fig. 3). At the start of the Exposition, Lanvin’s mermaid was photographed unclothed, as seen in Vogue’s April 1939 issue (Fig. 4). According to Liebes’s records on the Exposition, Lanvin’s clothing and glass grapes arrived from France in a separate shipment, which probably caused a delay in dressing the mermaid. The mermaid’s problems did not end there, however. After inspecting the return shipment to Lanvin, customs agents insisted that the mermaid be removed from the container that contained her costume. A letter to Liebes explained that “the Mermaid (Lanvin) being able to wear her glass grapes, sequin collar and chenille waist, that was entirely out of the question . . . so the mermaid is nude again, and doubtless enjoying it.” [5]
Always the nonconformist, Schiaparelli, in protest, had left her assigned mannequin unclothed at the Pavilion d’Élegance. For the Golden Gate International Exposition, she opted to send her beloved articulated, life-sized wooden mannequin, Pascal, a frequent prop at her Paris atelier at 21 Place Vendôme. Schiaparelli dressed Pascal in a satin cycling outfit of red, white, and blue that consisted of a jacket embroidered with the words “Paris–San Francisco,” harlequin stockings, Italian cycling shoes, and a cap. Propped up against a bicycle, Pascal held a copy of a French newspaper that was changed each day. Cardboard gift boxes decorated with fake flowers accessorized the scene. To enhance the olfactory experience of the space, Schiaparelli’s perfume, Shocking, was spritzed daily. In costuming Pascal, Schiaparelli took inspiration from her 1939 pring collection, Commedia dell’arte, which had its Paris preview in October 1938. [8] This collection featured harlequin patchwork embroideries and satin jackets like those worn by Pascal (Fig. 5).
That these two well-known designers took such an unconventional or even eccentric approach to their display of French fashion was probably puzzling to some of the visitors to the Exposition, but there were practical factors behind the quirkiness. Actual clothing on mannequins was quickly copied, so French designers protected themselves by inserting a bit of humor and taking some artistic license in how they represented their designs to an international audience. Dorothy Liebes observed that the meaning of the French presentation was lost on some visitors, who could only look blankly at the Souvenir de Paris. [10]
For Show Window of the Future (Fig. 6), Vogue editor-in-chief Edna Woolman Chase wrote about the state of American fashion design, noting right away what French designers already knew: that Americans “adapt” more than they create. But she also praised young designers in New York and Hollywood and called on them to look inward at American culture as a source of inspiration. This collaborative American effort at originality, which Women’s Wear Daily referred to as a “composite exhibit,” had participating designers and sponsors striving to create a cohesive scheme for fashion, lighting, and décor. [11] Fashion designers Muriel King, Elizabeth Hawes, Helen Cookman, Clare Potter, Lily Daché, and John Frederics were selected, along with retail designers, lighting designers, and mannequin stylists. The group was led by Eleanor Le Maire and coordinator Aimee Larkin, with window display specialists Helen Cole and Cora Scovil responsible for the styling and execution of the mannequins. Through their strategic placement of columns, drapery, spotlights, colored felt, wire, and twisted Lucite rods, the team created a Surrealist-inspired scene that awed visitors with its unconventional mannequins and swirling, colorful effects. Modern Plastics praised the use of twisted Lucite for the mannequins, declaring it the most eye-catching of all the plastics on view. [12] Constructed with a variety of missing limbs and heads, the mannequins were also praised by Women’s Wear Daily, which called them “whimsical” and hailed the colored lighting effects as “ingenious.” [13] Interior Decorator magazine had a less enthusiastic response but acknowledged that “people may not like it—but they never pass it by.” [14]
James Williams, a corporate sponsor, later mounted his own modern show windows for his New York store, hiring Eleanor Le Maire, Helen Cole, and Cora Scovil to create a suite of show windows for New York shoppers to see. Display World published photographs in April 1939, noting that one depicted a replica of the display at the Golden Gate Exposition (Fig. 7).
Together, Souvenir de Paris and Show Window of the Future offered a unique perspective on the state of fashion in 1939. Although many Americans were not quick to bring European decorative arts into their homes during the 1930s, European fashion had ruled supreme in the minds of American women for decades. French designers were obviously aware of the American practice of copying their designs but also realized that American clients were important to their financial success. Using humor and imagination, the French participated in the Golden Gate Exposition without alienating their loyal clients. Show Window of the Future offered a collaborative vision of the future of American fashion in which retailers and designers worked together to strengthen the American fashion industry. Woolman Chase offered her remarkably prescient viewpoint when she stated that designers should take visual cues from Hollywood, sports, urban and rural landscapes, and the decorative details found in the clothing of ordinary working Americans. [15]
NOTES
[1] American Craft Council, “Schiaparelli: Item description,” July 20, 2011, https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll13/id/2512/rec/5.
[2] Travel, Europe, 1956, undated; Series 5, Box 13, Folder 12, Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
[3] Ghislaine Wood, The Surreal Body: Fetish and Fashion (London: V&A Publications, 2007), 18–23.
[4] Decorative Arts: Official Catalogue, Golden Gate International Exposition (San Francisco: San Francisco Bay Exposition Company, 1939), 17.
[5] Golden Gate Exposition, Correspondence circa 1937–circa 1940; Series 5, Box 9, Folder 32, Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art.
[6] Ruby Ross Wood, “A Decorator Looks at California,” Vogue, April 1939: 91.
[7] “A Display of Lanvin’s Jacket,” Scrapbook, 1939; Series 8, Box 25, Folder 2. Photograph in this scrapbook was clipped from Women’s Wear Daily, May 12, 1939: 9.
[8] Dilys E. Blum, Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 194.
[9] “Fantasy in Fair Fashion,” Women’s Wear Daily, April 17, 1939: 4.
[10] Golden Gate Exposition, Case history, circa 1941; Series 5, Box 9, Folder 30, Dorothy Lieber Papers, Archives of American Art.
[11] “Composite Exhibit for Coast Show,” Women’s Wear Daily, January 10, 1039: 8.
[12] Ethel Lewis, A.I.D., “Treasure Island,” Modern Plastics 16, no. 9: 27.
[13] “Show Window of the Future,” Women’s Wear Daily, March 13, 1939: 4.
[14] Ethel Lewis, A.I.D., “It Is a Treasure Island,” Interior Decorator, May 1939: 23.
[15] Decorative Arts: Official Catalogue, Golden Gate International Exposition (San Francisco: San Francisco Bay Exposition Company, 1939), 42.
