\u201cThe idea of dressing as a business person \u2013 typically a man \u2013 has evolved as society has changed,\u201d says collections manager Susan Jerome, who curated the exhibit with adjunct professor Rebecca Kelly. \u201cThe sports coat with a tie replaced the uniform of the three-piece suit in the 1970s. Now in 2023, people remain a bit confused between casual and business and what is appropriate to wear in business settings. We live in a more casual world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The exhibit traces the trajectory of the business suit \u2013 from three-piece suits of the early 1900s that included vest, jacket and trousers, to a more modular look of sports coats and slacks that came into vogue in the 1970s, to the more casual, nearly-anything-goes dress of today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exhibit mixes a display of 13 women\u2019s and men\u2019s business suits and numerous accessories \u2013 ties, vests, shirts and shoes \u2013 to show the evolution of business dress. Adding to the story are numerous posters that combine 溏心vlog免费B站 yearbook photos across the decades along with fashion advertisements of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been so much fun to go through the yearbooks,\u201d says Jerome. \u201cIn 1920s, you have all these men sitting there in their dark suits and ties and then you start to see women infiltrating these groups. Then in the \u201960s and \u201970s, all hell is breaking loose and the concepts of dressing professionally are going down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that has made it a challenge for young people trying to enter business and going to their first interview,\u201d says Kelly. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of anxiety because the \u2018Dress for Success\u2019 manuals of the past now are not the hard and fast rules. I laugh at how much it\u2019s changed in a very short time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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For the exhibition, the story actually begins decades earlier \u2013 opening with a man\u2019s cutaway tailcoat form the 1820s. The tailcoat \u2013 displayed with a cravat, the forerunner of the modern tie \u2013 \u201cis probably the root of the modern suit,\u201d says Kelly. \u201cIt came about in that time period when you start to see those three elements of a jacket, a vest and breaches in the 1820s. But then very quickly you start to have men wearing trousers for business more often.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the suits on display, the norm goes progressively from formal to increasingly casual. As women enter the business world, their early business suits show elements of men\u2019s attire. Men\u2019s suit lapels grow (especially in the 1930s and \u201940s) and then shrink. Fine fabrics, nice tailoring and beautiful details give way to synthetic fibers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like everything else, fashions are affected by times of political, economic and social changes of the day, says Jerome. And in the 1940s and \u201950s, men\u2019s and women\u2019s suits show influences of the World War II era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is evident in a 1940s woman\u2019s charcoal suit with a military cut, eased by elaborate buttons. The suit was one of two donated by a man whose aunt was a retail buyer at the old Gladding\u2019s and Cherry & Webb department stores, Jerome says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the societal changes in the 1960s and \u201970s, the 溏心vlog免费B站 yearbooks show an absence of the dress suit, which was a staple two decades before. \u201cNobody\u2019s wearing a suit and there\u2019s lots of facial hair,\u201d says Jerome. \u201cIf you see a group of people and there\u2019s one person in a suit, it\u2019s the professor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do think formality lingers a bit with the women\u2019s wear,\u201d adds Kelly. \u201cI think women who are high-powered in these business settings feel that the suit is part of their armor to enter this world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, \u201cDressed for Business\u201d may mean different things to different professionals. The tech boom of the 1990s and 2000s \u2013 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which moved many workplaces online \u2013 have had their influence, Kelly says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you think about somebody like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, some of the most powerful people in the world go to work with a hooded sweatshirt or Patagonia vest and jeans and sneakers.\u201d she says. \u201cThere is so much ambivalence toward this old idea of the power suit. Some people gravitate toward it and other people reject it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jerome says one surprise as she and Kelly curated the exhibit is the 溏心vlog免费B站 collection\u2019s absence of men\u2019s clothing. \u201cWomen remain the clothing consumers and the collection is very heavy on women\u2019s clothing,\u201d she says. \u201cWe need to do more to collect men\u2019s garments, accessories and especially shirts to be able to display a complete suit form various decades and centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An opening-night event will be held Thursday, March 23, at 6 p.m. Linda Welters, professor and director of the textiles and costume collection, will give a talk in the Quinn auditorium on \u201cDress for Success,\u201d the 1970s movement that popularized the connection of clothing and a person\u2019s success in business and personal life. There will also be tours of the exhibit and a chance to ask questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exhibition will remain on display through December in the Textile Gallery on the first floor of Quinn Hall, 55 Lower College Road. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n