Clothing & Accessories - Overview
Work, play, fashion, economic class, religious faith, even politics—all these aspects of American life and more are woven into clothing. The Museum cares for one of the nation's foremost collections of men's, women's, and children's garments and accessories—from wedding gowns and military uniforms to Halloween costumes and bathing suits.
The collections include work uniforms, academic gowns, clothing of presidents and first ladies, T-shirts bearing protest slogans, and a clean-room "bunny suit" from a manufacturer of computer microchips. Beyond garments, the collections encompass jewelry, handbags, hair dryers, dress forms, hatboxes, suitcases, salesmen's samples, and thousands of fashion prints, photographs, and original illustrations. The more than 30,000 artifacts here represent the changing appearance of Americans from the 1700s to the present day.
"Clothing & Accessories - Overview" showing 3 items.
Ladies Night Reading Consistory
- Description (Brief)
- Folding pocket mirror made of ivory-grained celluloid. Printing in black reads "Ladies Night Reading Consistory" and has the image of a double-headed eagle with a triangle on its chest and the number 32. Below it is a banner reading "spes mea in deo est," which means "My hope is in God."
- This is likely a favor from a consistory of the Thirty-Second Degree, or Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the Ancient and Accepted Rite Scottish Rite of Reading, Pa. A branch of freemasonry, the group uses the word "consistory" in place of the word "meeting."
- date made
- 1922
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1162
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1162
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Spirit of St. Louis pin
- Description (Brief)
- Pin made of celluloid in the shape of an airplane. The body of the plane is cream-colored, with black wings and propeller. The pin bar is metal. Gold foil is on the wheels. The pin is a souvenir commemorating Charles Lindbergh's nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1927.
- date made
- 1927
- referenced
- Lindbergh, Charles A.
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1548
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1548
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bride's Cap
- Description
- This bride's cap was worn by Mary Eloise Tasher when she married William T. Moore on June 1, 1929 in South Bend, Indiana. It is constructed of white lace decorated with pearls and wax orange blossoms. The wax orange blossoms on the cap are a symbol of fertility since no tree is more prolific, bearing fruit and blooming at the same time. The blossom which is white is also a symbol of innocence and chastity. The use of orange blossoms became popular in the early nineteenth century and continued well into the 1950s. When real orange blossoms were not available or were in short supply, wax replicas, as on this bride's cap, were used instead.
- The cap was worn with a white satin dress, with a tiered skirt edged with net, and white satin shoes as well as a brassiere and panties that are all part of the Smithsonian collections. The pink georgette mother of the bride dress, worn by Mrs. Charles A. Tasher, and the yellow crepe de chine and green silk taffeta bridesmaid dress, worn by Lucy Lucile Tasher, sister of the bride, are also in the collections.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1929
- used by
- Tasher, Mary Eloise
- ID Number
- CS*058341
- catalog number
- 058341
- accession number
- 205719
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center