FLASHBACK TO THE FIFTIES

The years during World War II were bleak ones for the movers and shakers of the European fashion scene, until that time the undisputed style setters of two continents. American designers were left to pick up the fashion ball and continue in the couture tradition. Of this period, one of the most influential American designers was Norman Norell. His collections were praised as both stunning and practical and, for more than thirty years, Norell was a favored courtesan of the American fashion scene. Norell’s design legacy has been preserved by the Dallas Historical Society Fashion Collectors and North Texas State University, two organizations that for the first time have teamed up to present a retrospective of Norman Norell designs from 1924 to 1972.

According to Bud Knight, president of the Fashion Collectors, many of the clothes in the retrospective have been loaned or donated by local women, among them Carolyn Hunt Schoellkopf, Greer Garson, Mrs. Leonard Haber, Wendy Marcus Raymont, Mimi Lay Hodges, Mrs. Stanley Marcus, and Betty Meadows.

The exhibit will open March 30 on the NTSU campus in The University Gallery. As part of the opening, Peggy Gilfoy, curator of Textiles and Costumes at the Indianapolis Art Museum, will lecture on Monday, April 6 at 2:30 p.m., in room 223 of the art building. Her talk is free and open to the public. The exhibit will be open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and will run through April 15. Later in the spring, the exhibit will be presented in Dallas by the Fashion Collectors. A gala party to be held in conjunction with the opening will be announced later.