Go over there, Heidi Klum. The evening fundraiser, to be held June 27 at the Evanston History Center, will incorporate the glamorous elements of a fashion design contest, with a show of winning entries as guests socialize over drinks on the terrace of Dawes House. A case is provided.
The final 13 participants in the ReFashioning History competition were selected on April 26 after EHC judges screened entries from 33 Chicagoland-based amateur and professional designers.
Costume Curator Rachel Jenens said the contest and reception aimed to raise awareness and support for the institution’s costume collection, which includes more than 30,000 garments from the mid-19th century to the present.
Winners will attend the event to discuss their designs, and the top four will each receive a $750 prize. As a runner-up prize she will be awarded some $50.
In early April, contestants were invited to browse an assortment of clothing and accessories specially selected to draw inspiration from the EHC collection. Jenns said some people choose a single garment, while others plan to have multiple objects in mind as they execute their vision.
“The overall theme is decoration,” she said. “But there are different kinds of decorations. People think of beads and lace and ribbons and flowers, but also decorations in terms of how things are cut and put together.”
Impressive looks include a floor-length French velvet day dress, a richly embellished carnation pink opera dress, a flirty Emilio Pucci frock, and a vintage lady’s hat topped with a beady-eyed stuffed pigeon items were on display.
A collection of inspiring clothing and award-winning works from designers will be the centerpiece of the new ReFashioning History exhibition, which will be unveiled for the first time at the event and will run in two rooms on the second floor of Dawes House until the end of September.
Special exhibits, such as ReFashioning History, give EHC the opportunity to share some of its extensive costume collection with the public. Due to limited exhibition space and the delicate nature of the garments, most of the collection is typically kept secret.
Most of it is stored in the attic, Jenns said, while fur, old plastic (like hair combs and purse handles) and other temperature-sensitive items are shoved into a small cold room in the basement. Viewing is by appointment only and is limited to researchers with a specific field of interest or past donors looking to take another peek at a treasured family treasure.
Although the pieces in the collection are diverse, they are all stylistically or historically significant and share Evanston provenance, which Jenns said was a prerequisite for the acquisition.
“Either someone wore it here, or it was made here, or it was sold here,” she said. “It must have some connection to Evanston.”
She had a hard time choosing a favorite, but expressed that she liked a few. Two Fortuny dresses worn by Vera Megowan, a successful Evanston restaurant woman in the 1950s, and an 1880s Liberty of London tea gown once owned by Eleanor Noyes Orr. is.
Not all works donated to the collection are from forgotten times. Others offer a more contemporary snapshot of life in Evanston. Ms. Jenns pointed to her newly purchased black velvet party dress with red plaid on the cuffs and collar.
“It’s very typical of that era. It’s very much a 1990s Christmas party dress. It speaks to a specific time and function,” she said.
Jenens believes that preserving the clothes people wore at special events and in everyday life provides a valuable window into the past.
“A lot of people don’t really know or have an idealized version of how people in the past dressed and acted,” she said. “It’s nice to have costumes that can bring a different story. It’s a way of looking at history that isn’t the written word.”
tickets to History of Refashion The event is $150.