Nana's Dress Goes to FIT

The spectacular beaded flapper dress here has recently been accepted into the study collection of The Museum at FIT. It bears no designer label, nor was it worn by a boldface name, but since it belonged to my Nana Tillie, we’re very excited by the news.

My grandmother was born in 1902. She was one of five sisters and grew up in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, where her family ran a kosher delicatessen. We have no photo of her wearing the striking black Art Deco-style dress, but we know she wore it in February 1925 to a cousin’s wedding in New York City. We do, however, have a photo of her taken only two months earlier at her own wedding, also in a flapper-style dress.

In trying to pinpoint the year of the dress, I lucked out and found a ridiculously detailed recap in a local Brooklyn newspaper about the wedding she attended.

“A neighborhood romance culminated last night in Miss Alberta Diana Spitz, daughter of …” 

The article details addresses, attendants, fabrics (white satin with flowing rosepoint lace, hand embroidered with pearls), and the floral composition of the bouquet and canopy (orange blossoms and orchids). Not bad advertising, come to think of it, for the bride’s father who was a florist. 

 “As Rabbi Wellerstein pronounced the couple man and wife two beautiful white carrier pigeons were released from the canopy and flew about the auditorium as a token of good luck.” And here I thought credit for that went to modern-day party planners. (The full newspaper clipping is at the end of the post.)

 

Nana Tillie in her wedding dress.

Back to the dress. Thanks to the exquisite care my mother (Tillie’s daughter) takes of everything in her charge, it has remained in superb condition for these many years. That is especially remarkable considering the weight of the beading on the lightweight silk.

Nana’s wedding dress, though the same vintage, did not fare as well and sits as a heap of rusted beads and evaporated chiffon. But remember, this is fact not fiction, so do not in any way take the fate of this garment as a symbol of her life or her marriage of more than 60 years. She was always sweet and loving, and well loved in return. When she died at age 102, Nana Tillie had produced, from her three daughters, a tally of about 50 grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

Luckily, she never got bored of going to weddings.

Here’s my mom looking smashing in the dress. She wore it to a costume party in the late 1980s.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Unblogged in 2013

Original National Geographic Illustrations

While I’m full-throttle into the New Year, I can’t quite leave 2013 completely behind knowing that I’ve been holding out on you. Maybe it's because I only completed 44 posts in 2013, that I have a substantial backlog of unposted material.

So to clean house a bit, I've rounded up some of the visual miscillany that never made it onto All My Eyes during the last year. This is the first of at least two, perhaps even three posts.

Superachiever Josh Gosfield balancing an earlier Sweeney-Gosfield collaboration.

At the end of January, I attended a book signing at the Steven Kasher Gallery for Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield’s The Art of Doing. The bonus surprise of the evening was the exhibit of vintage illustrations and photographs from the archives of National Geographic gracing the gallery walls (online exhibit)

Let’s just say that for the shoe-obsessed, Shoe Obsession, at the FIT Museum did not disappoint. (Flickr set)

I had no idea when I visited the Mission San Miguel Arcángel, that I would find exquisite fresco painting in the church, dating back to 1821. This is the only surviving original church interior of California’s 21 missions. (Smithsonian Magazine article about the mission, with pictures.)

There was lots of hype about James Turrell at the Guggenheim. Yes, the color shifts were tranformative, but the mosh-pit crowds precluded my hoped-for transcendent experience. 

I was sick and tired of making mistakes by accident, so in May, I finally decided to learn how to make them on purpose at Laurie Rosenwald's super-fun workshop, How to Make Mistakes on Purpose. And now you can too. There's a workshop coming up in NYC, January 16th.

Can you think of a better way to start the year than with some intentionally perpetrated screw-ups?

Andy Williams had an amazing collection of Navajo blankets that was auctioned at Sotheby’s. Who knew? (link)

Nothing like a June evening at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s estate, to put things into perspective. 

Disney+Animal House+pornography. Paul McCarthy, in his restricted WS at the Armory ("This exhibition contains mature content. Entrance is restricted to visitors over 17 years of age.") was definitely onto something.

Not a conceptual-art piece (unfortunately). “The Little Shooter” onesie was for sale at the general store in Blue Hill, Maine.

Woody and Soon yi on a Sunday afternoon on the Upper West Side. 

Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800, at the Met was fascinating, but overwhelming. A small, simple map accompanying each piece, would have been tremendously helpful to visitors. Closes January 5th.

This preview of works by Les Lalanne to be auctioned, was indoors at Sotheby’s. The "aerial view" carpet, below, hanging at the Salon Art & Design Fair, is a Lalanne piece as well.

Wall constructions by American artist, Charles Biederman (1906-2004), were also at the Salon Art & Design Fair.

A sample of some of the profound wall verbiage featured at the  Christopher Wool show at the Guggenheim. Show ends January 22nd.

Late-November leaf-peeping in my own backyard.

Documentary filmmaker Therese Schecter’s new film, “How to Lose Your Virginity,” made its U.S. premiere on the big screen at DOC NYC. The film’s tag line, “If sex sells, why is virginity so valuable?” truly only begins to hint at the contradictions, and underlying issues of power, money, and personal freedom inherent in the subject.

See how young women today are navigating this treacherous terrain in the upcoming NYC screening, February 25th, at Anthology Film Archives.

Our very own Banksy on West 79th Street! (Interactive map at nymag.com)