Clothing & Accessories
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.
2,758
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1725 - 1750 Scovill Family's Quilted Petticoat
- Description
- This yellow-gold silk quilted petticoat came from the Scovill family of Connecticut. The petticoat has a woven wool lining and a carded wool interlining. The elaborate quilting pattern included both flora and fauna. Animals and birds that include lions, horses, peacocks, snakes, boars, squirrels, roosters, a stag, a unicorn, dragons, a frog, butterflies, insects, and birds are detailed in back stitch which forms a dotted line of tiny stitches on the silk.
- Possibly the inspiration for the motifs was Thomas Boreman’s “A Description of More than 300 Animals…” originally published in 1730. The floral images seem to be used as a filler in and around the fantastic motifs creating an overall whimsical design.
- Petticoats such as this were designed to display fine quilting. With the wool lining and interlining adding warmth, they were probably much appreciated in New England winters.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1725 - 1750
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE.T18133
- catalog number
- T18133
- accession number
- 323525
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Mary Lincoln's Mourning Scarf Pin
- Description
- This gold pin with an image of Abraham Lincoln was among Mary Lincoln’s possessions when she died.
- Mary Lincoln never overcame the tragedies she endured. She came out of mourning on only one occasion, at the request of her son Tad for one of his birthdays. The two were almost inseparable until his death, possibly from tuberculosis, in 1871 at age 18. In 1882, at age 63, Mary died in Springfield, Illinois, at the home of her sister.
- Gift of Lincoln Isham, great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln, 1958
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated person
- Lincoln, Mary Todd
- depicted (sitter)
- Lincoln, Abraham
- ID Number
- PL.219098.06
- catalog number
- 219098.06
- accession number
- 219098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hattie Carnegie Pink Hat
- Description
- Hattie Carnegie designed this pink hat that was worn by Mildred R. Palmer during the 1950s. Born as Henrietta Koningeiser in Vienna in 1880, Hattie Carnegie began her career in fashion and design in New York by opening Carnegie–Ladies Hatter in 1909 with business partner Rose Roth. She chose the last name “Carnegie” to emulate America’s richest man, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Hattie began taking annual trips to Paris in 1919, and Hattie Carnegie, Inc., prospered by reinterpreting Parisian dress for the American consumer. Each annual fashion line from Hattie Carnegie could contain anywhere from five hundred to one thousand hats, designed to complement her original designs.
- date made
- 1951-1958
- maker
- Carnegie, Hattie
- Julius Garfinckel
- ID Number
- 1981.0011.001
- accession number
- 1981.0011
- catalog number
- 1981.0011.001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Tad Lincoln's Watch
- Description
- Tad Lincoln's Swiss gold watch from Tiffany and Sons of New York, mid-1860s.
- Gift of Lincoln Isham, great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln, 1958
- Location
- Currently not on view
- user; wearer
- Lincoln, Thomas
- maker
- Tiffany and Company
- ID Number
- PL.219098.02
- catalog number
- 219098.02
- accession number
- 219098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Ñandutí Needle Lace Collar
- Description
- This collar is made in the Ñandutí technique with cotton thread. The motifs are circular and semi-circular and two strips are joined to make the collar. Probably made in Paraguay, South America. Ñandutí lace is made on a foundation fabric, which is removed later. Lace making was introduced to Paraguay by the Spaniards in the mid 1600's.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880-1900
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE.T15212
- catalog number
- T15212
- accession number
- 290897
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Variation Maidenform Bra
- Description
- This 1936 peach-colored Variation bra had separate cups for each breast, providing support with an elastic band below. In the early 1920s, New York dressmakers Enid Bissett and Ida Rosenthal began selling bras like these that created a more ‘natural’ look than the contemporary flat-chested styles. The look caught on and sales rose quickly. Their company, Maiden Form, sold over 1 million Variation bras and remained profitable throughout the Depression.
- date made
- 1936
- maker
- Maidenform
- ID Number
- 1997.0117.18
- design patent number
- 98.090
- accession number
- 1997.0117
- catalog number
- 1997.0117.18
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Stetson Hat
- Description
- This black derby-style hat was manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company around 1900. It is made of felt and adorned with a black grosgrain ribbon that is slightly frayed at the edges. A hat like this may have been worn as a marker of elevated social status at the turn of the 20th century.
- date made
- ca 1880-1940
- ID Number
- 1985.0711.02
- accession number
- 1985.0711
- catalog number
- 1985.0711.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Triangular Brussels Point de Gaze Needle Lace Shawl
- Description
- This large triangular lace shawl was made in Brussels point de gaze needle lace. The overall design has fine naturalistic floral motifs with a few sections of the common bold, tightly buttonholed wheels. It shows a very fine overall pattern and execution. It was made in Belgium of fine cotton thread in about the 1850's
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850-1860
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1984.0111.018
- accession number
- 1984.0111
- catalog number
- 1984.0111.018
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Quinceanera dress
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 2006
- distributor
- P.C. Mary's Inc.
- wearer
- Flores, Natalia
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2009.0169.001
- accession number
- 2009.0169
- catalog number
- 2009.0169.001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
stole
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- c. 2001
- c. 1995
- ID Number
- 2009.0172.002
- accession number
- 2009.0172
- catalog number
- 2009.0172.002
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
corset
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2009
- retailer
- Olverita's
- ID Number
- 2009.0173.002
- accession number
- 2009.0173
- catalog number
- 2009.0173.002
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
rebozo
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- c. 1995
- ID Number
- 2009.0175.01
- accession number
- 2009.0175
- catalog number
- 2009.0175.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
bandana headband
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2000
- ID Number
- 2009.0176.002
- accession number
- 2009.0176
- catalog number
- 2009.0176.002
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
bomba skirt
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2008
- ID Number
- 2009.0176.003
- accession number
- 2009.0176
- catalog number
- 2009.0176.003
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sombrero
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 2009
- maker
- Reveles, Luis
- ID Number
- 2009.0224.03
- catalog number
- 2009.0224.03
- accession number
- 2009.0224
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
skirt, 2-piece
- Description
- This micro-miniskirt was part of a “futuristic fashion” collection designed by Rudi Gernreich, featured in Life Magazine in 1970 and displayed at Expo ’70, a world’s fair in Osaka, Japan, although never produced and sold commercially. Gernreich, born in Austria in 1922, emigrated to the U.S. with his mother in 1938, fleeing Nazi persecution of Jews and settling in Los Angeles. Along with his then-partner, activist Harry Hay and others, he was a founding member of the Mattachine Society, an early LGBTQ/gay rights organization, around 1950. Gernreich first worked as a dancer and in costume design in Los Angeles, eventually becoming known for avant-garde fashion designs. Many of his clothes were “unisex,” intended for men and women alike, as he sought to detach clothing from gender—designing skirts for men, pants for women—and remove the stigma of nudity. His body conscious and often minimalist designs can be interpreted as celebrations of the body and statements against sexual repression.
- Date made
- 1970
- designer
- Gernreich, Rudi
- ID Number
- 1986.0013.43
- accession number
- 1986.0013
- catalog number
- 1986.0013.43
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Man's Shirt, 1945–55
- Description
- During the twentieth century, California exported two big ideas that profoundly transformed American culture. One was a casual, outdoor life-style that Californians had evolved to suit their balmy climate. The other was an image of Hollywood glamour: the seductive, elusive, but somehow obtainable “It,” or sex appeal, of the beautiful people who flickered across the silver screen. Catalina, a Los Angeles-based company that had made its debut in 1912 under the name Pacific Knitting Mills, used both images to sell this shirt, which was probably worn in either Ventura or Santa Barbara County, California. The shirt’s tag proclaims that it is by “a California Creator” and was “Styled for the Stars of Hollywood.”
- Actors such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Montgomery Clift were known for wearing relaxed shirts in big graphic prints both on and off the screen, choosing either the modern abstracts of the "California casual" taste or more thematic "Hawaiian" Aloha shirt designs. However, Catalina's "Styled for the Stars of Hollywood" tag was a generic label that had been used since the mid-1930s. The company coined the slogan when they hired starlets to model their swimsuits, but retained it for their entire line of sportswear.
- This short-sleeved shirt is made of navy blue rayon crepe with an abstract swirled light red and white fireworks print. It has a turnover collar with modified spread points. A button and loop under the collar allow the shirt to be worn open or closed at the neck. A full-length center front opening has five dark blue four-holed, narrow-rimmed plastic buttons on the right front edge and a plain front along the left buttonhole edge. One patch pocket with a button closure is placed on each chest front. One small pleat pointing outward is eased into the back shoulder yoke over each shoulder blade. A vent in the base of each side seam closes with a button sewn on the shirt back. The label states "Catalina / a California Creator" on the obverse and "Styled for the Stars of Hollywood / Los Angeles, Calif. / REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. / MADE IN U.S.A." on the reverse. The center back body length is 28.5 in. (72.39 cm).
- This Web entry was made possible in part by a generous grant from the National Association of Men’s Sportswear Buyers, in memory of Joseph S. Klein.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1945-1955
- maker
- Catalina
- Catalina
- ID Number
- 1998.0125.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
rouge compact
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1920-1940
- used by
- Townsend, Martha Robinson
- maker
- Princess Pat
- Princess Pat
- ID Number
- 1998.0129.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
rouge compact
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1920-1940
- used by
- Townsend, Martha Robinson
- maker
- Kissproof
- Kissproof
- ID Number
- 1998.0129.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
nail polish
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1930-1950
- used by
- Townsend, Martha Robinson
- maker
- Northern Warren
- Northern Warren
- ID Number
- 1998.0129.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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- National Museum of American History 98
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