New Century, New Woman: Fashioning New Definitions of Femininity

Claire McRee, associate curator at the Allentown Art Museum, will present a talk exploring the relationship between fashion and women’s changing social roles in the early 20^th century. Drawing on extant garments, illustrations, and advertisements, she will discuss how designers negotiated the expression of femininity during this era, as well as noteworthy couturières including Coco Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, and Sonia Delaunay. 

Claire McRee has developed exhibitions such as New Century, New Woman, Sleep Tight: Bedcovers and Hangings from Around the World, and Deco After Dark. She received her MA from the Bard Graduate Center in decorative arts, design history, and material culture, where she received the Horowitz Foundation for the Arts Award for her thesis, “The Debutante Slouch: Fashion and the Female Body in the United States, 1912-1925.”  Her areas of specialty include clothing and textiles and the social history of gender, especially as it relates to posture, movement, and the body. Her undergraduate work was on French fashion.

*Image is of a circa 1920 evening bag designed and woven by Sonia Delaunay to accompany an evening dress of similar design.

Light refreshments will be served.