Harvard Club of Washington, DC

FREE Tour of "Fashioning the New Woman: 1890-1925" with its Curator Alden O'Brien

Members and their Guests only, please

This exhibition looks at fashions of the turn of the 20th century (1890-1925), from the last years of the bustle to the flapper era. The revolution that took place in women’s styles at this time reflected enormous changes in women’s lives. American women were taking on many new roles and activities, and fashion had to follow. The New Woman was a new stereotype coined around 1890, representing growing numbers of women engaging in athletic sports, seeking higher education and even careers, taking white-collar office jobs, and pursing other activities outside the “domestic sphere” where society told them they belonged. Active lives required more practical clothes than the many-layered, heavily draped outfits of the late Victorian lady. College life, the office worker or “business girl,” Red Cross workers of World War One, and the suffrage movement will all be examined in the exhibit. Sports clothing, including an automobile duster with goggles, swimsuits, golf and tennis outfits, and a divided skirt for bicycling, will also be displayed.

Alden O'Brien is the curator of costume, textiles, and toys at the DAR Museum in Washington, D.C. Her exhibits have included "The Stuff of Childhood: Artifacts and Attitudes 1750-1900," "Costume Myths and Mysteries," and "Something Old, Something New: Inventing the American Wedding." She is currently working on "Fashioning the New Woman," an exhibit on women and fashions of the Progressive Era.