Public Events --

Brownbag Lectures: Changing Fashion - Changing Lives

Brownbag Lectures: Changing Fashion - Changing Lives

• Location: ISM Research & Collections Center, Springfield
• Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2015, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Presented by Angela Goebel-Bain, Associate Curator for Decorative Arts and History, Illinois State Museum

Fashion reflects its cultural context. Since colonial times, Americans have debated the value and evils of fashion as it has been widely used to identify respectable women, providing a key marker for an upwardly mobile family. Few studies have focused on how these conversations have played out in Illinois as the region developed from a Western frontier to an industrial powerhouse in the early 20th century.

Using a selection of 19th and early 20th century dresses from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign's Bevier Historic Costume collection (now curated at the Illinois State Museum), this presentation will discuss the parallels between the changing forms of women's dress and their expected role in society. This analysis will explore Illinoisan's responses to changing fashion trends, thus revealing underlying currents of regionalism, as well as political, class and moralistic debates.

One of our Brownbag Lectures

Weekly lectures held at the Museum's Research and Collections Center. Lectures are usually held during lunchtime on Wednesday. The RCC is located at 1011 E. Ash Street in Springfield. Access to the building is from 10 ½ Street (between Ash and Laurel Streets), where there is ample visitor parking in the west parking lot. For more information, please call 217-785-0037. Brown Bag Lectures are free and open to the public.

Also, if you want to be informed of upcoming lectures by email, you can sign up for the brownbag announcement list.