The Artistry of Adrian:
Hollywood's Celebrated Design Innovator

Paige Palmer and Mull Galleries
     
Second Rotation: April 25 to August 31, 2003
First Presented: June 5, 2002, to November 17, 2002
  

Noel Palomo-Lovinski
Guest-Curator

With the curtailment of fashion news from Paris due to the Nazi occupation of France, there was a sudden shift of emphasis to American design. In 1941 with the US involvement in WWII, Adrian, along with other designers were suddenly in the media spotlight. The designers were called on to use their innovative skills to provide women with optimistically patriotic clothing that fell within the confines of the new fabric limitations referred to as L-85. In a nationwide mobilization, the government had restricted the civilian use of fabrics such as silk utilized for parachutes, wool used for military uniforms, leather for soldier's shoes, along with metal and plastics employed for ammunition. The ingenuity of American fashion designers quickly became apparent due to the stylish clothing that was all in the confines of the new limitations.

Adrian understood that regardless of the war, American women wanted simple and easy clothing that would not require hours of preparation. He liked independent, active, and strong women and wanted to design clothing for them. Military uniforms and a male tailored silhouette were popular ways for many women to show their support of the men overseas. During the war years Adrian used piecing to maneuver around fabric restrictions and create interest in the jackets. The process was very labor intensive but allowed Adrian to make beautiful jackets without using excessive amounts of fabric. In 1944 Adrian won a Coty Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and in 1945 won a Winnie from The Circle of New York Fashion Critics. (Adrian had never won an Oscar because the costume design category was not created until after he had left Hollywood.)

In 1947 Christian Dior, a Parisian fashion designer, took the world fashion media by storm with his "New Look". In reaction to the dismal years of The Depression and then WWII, the trend was to make "women feel like women again"(Dior). The New Look featured soft rounded shoulders, a cinched and corseted waist, padded hips and full skirts. Adrian was disappointed in the rush to copy Paris fashion after American designers had succeeded so admirably during the war. Of the New Look Adrian commented: "American women's clothes should be streamlined in the daytime, full of imagination at night. I do not like padded hips. To try and make women pad their hips in this day and age is a little like selling armor to a man." Adrian believed that American women were modern and needed practical yet stylish clothing. "I feel very much the need of doing …contemporary clothes for a fast moving century, clothes that are part of the life that women lead today." (Vogue 4/1/47)