Transfer over, Heidi Klum. A night fundraiser on the Evanston Historical past Heart on June 27 will incorporate the irresistible ingredient of a style design competitors and supply a showcase for profitable creations as company sip and mingle on the Dawes Home terrace.
The ultimate 13 contestants for the ReFashioning Historical past competitors have been chosen on April 26 after EHC judges sorted by submissions from 33 newbie {and professional} designers primarily based in Chicagoland.
Costume curator Rachel Jennens mentioned the competitors and reception are supposed to boost consciousness and help for the establishment’s costume assortment, which incorporates greater than 30,000 clothes relationship from the mid-Nineteenth century by current day.
Winners will likely be readily available on the occasion to debate their designs, and the highest 4 will take house a money prize of $750 every. A number of runnerup prizes of $50 additionally will likely be awarded.
Early in April contestants have been invited to view an assortment of specifically chosen clothes and equipment from the EHC assortment that would supply their inspiration. Some selected a single garment, mentioned Jennens, whereas others plan to maintain a number of objects in thoughts as they execute their imaginative and prescient.
“The general theme is embellishment,” she mentioned, “however there are totally different sorts of embellishment. Folks consider beads and lace and ribbons and flowers, however there’s additionally embellishment by way of how issues are reduce and put collectively.”
Placing items akin to a floor-length French velvet day costume, a lavishly adorned carnation pink opera robe, a flirty Emilio Pucci frock and a classic girl’s hat topped with a stuffed beady-eyed pigeon have been among the many objects on show.
The gathering of inspirational clothes, together with the designers’ profitable creations will kind the centerpiece of the brand new ReFashioning Historical past exhibit, premiering on the occasion and working by the top of September in two second-floor rooms of the Dawes Home.
Particular reveals like ReFashioning Historical past give EHC the chance to share a portion of its in depth costume assortment with the general public. Because of restricted show house and the fragile nature of clothes, many of the assortment is often saved underneath wraps.
The majority is saved within the attic, mentioned Jennens, with furs, outdated plastics (suppose hair combs and purse handles) and different temperature-sensitive objects tucked in a small chilly storage room within the basement. Viewing is by appointment solely and restricted to researchers with particular areas of curiosity or previous donors who might want one other peek at a treasured household heirloom.
Whereas assortment items fluctuate broadly, they’re all stylistically or traditionally vital and share an Evanston provenance, which Jennens mentioned is a should for acquisitions.
“Both someone wore it right here or it was made right here, or it was offered right here,” she mentioned. “It has to have some connection to Evanston.”
She was hard-pressed to choose favorites however expressed fondness for a number of: two Fortuny robes worn by Vera Megowan, a girl who ran profitable Evanston eating places within the Nineteen Fifties, and an Eighteen Eighties Liberty of London tea robe that when belonged to Eleanor Noyes Orr.
Not all items donated to the gathering are from a forgotten period. Some present a extra fashionable snapshot of life in Evanston. Jennens pointed to a newly acquired black velvet get together costume with purple plaid cuffs and collar.
“It’s very typical of its interval. It’s a really, very Nineteen Nineties Christmas get together costume. It speaks of a sure time and performance,” she famous.
Jennens believes preserving the clothes individuals wore to particular occasions and in on a regular basis life supplies a useful window to the previous.
“Lots of people don’t actually know, or they’ve some idealized model of, how individuals dressed and behaved prior to now,” she mentioned. “It’s useful to have the costumes which may introduce a special narrative. It’s a means of viewing historical past that’s not the written phrase.”
Tickets to the ReFashioning Historical past occasion are $150.
