From Closet to Collection

Marjorie Merriweather Post, circa 1935. Or as Time magazine later called her, Marjorie Merriweather Post Close Hutton Davies May because of her four marriages. / Photo by John Alfred Piver, courtesy of Hillwood.

Marjorie Merriweather Post began to document her fashion collection with this two-piece Sweet Sixteen evening dress in 1903. It was made by the Baker sisters of Washington, D.C., of white spotted tulle, ivory silk taffeta, cream silk velvet, coral beads and clear rhinestones. / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

An evening dress by the couture house of Callot Soeurs of Paris, circa 1907. It features sheer turquoise silk moiré over an orange-gold silk skirt. All is heavily embellished with beading and ribbon cord. / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

This evening dress by Thurn of New York City, circa 1927, looks intensely modern with its geometric patches on the silk crêpe, but the style reflected the avant-garde influences of the 1920s art world. / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

Detail of an evening dress from Bergdorf Goodman, New York, 1929. It’s made of black silk velvet, black tulle, rhinestones, black silk charmeuse and nude silk organza. Despite the flat, flapper-style bodice, the dress had a black tulle skirt and a train. / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

This evening dress, by an unknown American maker around 1933, is an excellent example of ’30s fashion–no embellishment, cut on the bias and draped seductively over the body. Very Jean Harlow. / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

Very much of its time (think Mamie Eisenhower), this 1952 evening gown of silver silk faille was made by African American designer Ann Lowe of New York. (A year later, Jacqueline Bouvier had Lowe make the gown for her wedding to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.) / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

This modern dinner dress, made by Oldric Royce, Inc., New York, around 1960, is a variation on Post’s 1958 (fourth) wedding dress. / Photo courtesy of Hillwood.

Thanks to our generous friends at Hillwood, MyLittleBird will be giving away tickets to the “Ingenue to Icon” exhibit.  Write a comment below to be eligible for the giveaway. Follow MLB on Facebook for more info!

IN A BOX SOMEWHERE, maybe at my sister’s house, is a snapshot of me in my first prom dress. The dress has spaghetti straps, a lace overlay on the bodice and an ice-blue bell-shape satin skirt. Yes, of course the satin pumps are died to match! Altogether not so bad for a girl then living in the wilds of New Jersey.

Did I tag the dress, marking down the occasion, detailing its “provenance” (Lord & Taylor? Stern’s?) and its fabrics? I did not. Nor did I preserve it in any way; I’m sure it has spent the past 40 years or so at the bottom of a landfill.

That’s only one way in which I am different from Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Postum Cereal Company, which became General Foods Corporation, and a striking figure in boardrooms and ballrooms. Born to the great breakfast cereal fortune in 1887, Post grew up knowing she had importance and therefore her possessions were important. Perhaps the doyenne of the Hillwood estate wasn’t 16 when she penciled “My first ballgown” on the tag attached to her tulle-and-lace Sweet 16 dress. But whenever she decided this garment was worthy of being catalogued, the dress was still hanging or boxed somewhere, ready to be conserved.

That sense of importance–and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way–is why we have an exhibit opening at Hillwood on June 6 that includes the corset cover and garter belt from Post’s wedding trousseau–or rather, from the first of her four weddings. “She knew that her clothing represented not just her own style, but a record of women’s fashion,” explained Hillwood’s associate curator of textiles, Howard Vincent Kurtz, who curated the show, “Ingenue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion From the Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post.”

The garments range from Edwardian gowns (remember, she was born in 1887) to Gibson Girl shirtwaists to flapper dresses on through to her couture gowns and ensembles of the 1940s through the ’60s. Post died at age 86 in 1973.

Ah, but the show opening on June 6 is only half the story, covering Post’s spring and summer attire. The colder seasons will make up the second edition of the show, from October through December.

–Nancy McKeon

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. Open Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 5pm. Suggested entrance donation, $15; $12 for seniors, $10 for students.