Women's Work: Quilts: The Art of High Style: Minnesota Couture 1880

Fashion label

Minnesota Historical Society

Last year I had a lovely dinner with two Minneapolis curators, Linda McShannock at the Minnesota Historical Society and Nicole LaBouff at MIA (Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.) They told me about their work on the history of Minneapolis couture---high-end dressmaking. For years Linda has been researching dressmakers in the Twin Cities. Their joint exhibit at MIA The Art of High Style: Minnesota Couture 1880–1914 is on display this summer through August 4.

https://new.artsmia.org/stories/new-exhibit-reveals-minnesotas-golden-age-of-fashion-design/

Detail of Robert Koehler's 1902 painting,

Rainy Day on Hennepin Avenue. MIA Collection.

Art and Fashion in one exhibit.

From Linda's Pinterest page

https://www.pinterest.com/lindellknits/mn-couture-women/

In an interview Linda said they knew a little about the women who bought the clothes, but even less about the women whose names are on the labels.

Molly Malloy's Workshop in St. Paul

" 'Boyd, Malloy, Christianson. So there was a move afoot to discover who these designers were.'

Mary O'Keefe Malloy

Minnesota Historical Society

"[McShannock] began looking through old city directories, which often listed people’s employers, and noted anyone who appeared to work in the garment industry around the turn of the century. For about 15 years, she deployed volunteers to track these people’s employment history, and now the picture is much clearer: Dressmaking was a major business—the second largest employer of women, below domestic service. In 1890, more than 5,000 women worked as seamstresses, dressmakers, or milliners.

Madame Roseanne Boyd of St. Paul

"The business offered immigrant women, especially, an economic ladder. Beginning as apprentices, they could advance and become more specialized, and potentially be mentored into their own shops."

"WANTED: GIRL TO DO FIRST-CLASS EMBROIDERY

work, steady employment. High wages. Madame Boyd"

“At the Historical Society, we have 25 of those names represented and about 100 of the dresses. In this exhibition we represent seven of those dressmakers.”