Woman's Dress, 1945
date: label: Date made
content: 1945
name: label: used by
content: Rigley, Jeanne LaSalle
label: maker
content: Adrian
label: purchased at
content: Marshall Field and Company
label: designer
content: Adrian
notes: label: Description
content: Jeanne LaSalle wore this dress designed by Adrian when she married Robert L. Rigley in July 1945. She had purchased it at Marshall Field and Company in Chicago. The wedding and reception were held at The Drake, a fashionable hotel near Lake Michigan.
label: Description
content: The donor called this "an afternoon" dress. It was typical of wartime wedding attire. Although wedding dresses had been declared exempt from government law L-85 (the purpose of which was to conserve materials used in the manufacturing of clothing), many women did not have the time to prepare for a formal wedding and thought it was frivolous to spend money on a wedding dress during the war. Instead, many purchased a "good" dress or suit that they could wear later for other events. In fact, many surviving wedding outfits from the war were made and designed by Adrian, the Hollywood designer who opened his own salon and ready-to-wear company in 1942. Adrian’s garments were more expensive than regular dresses and suits, but they carried a certain cache. The donor remembered paying $125 for this dress at the time, which was a significant investment.
label: Description
content: This street-length, one-piece dress is constructed from a gray rayon fabric. The V-shape opening at the front neckline fastens at the center with a hook-and-eye. A curving band is set in at the waistline, with two pleats on either side of the center front radiating diagonally from the waistband into the bodice section. The long, tapering set-in sleeves have a zipper closure at the sleeve ends. Two strips of fabric are attached to the right shoulder and the right upper sleeve and drape loosely in front of the bodice, where they are sewn into the right front waistband. The skirt section is cut fairly straight. A right front skirt panel extends to left of the center front, with a section of the skirt pleated on a diagonal to the panel.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: made in
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
label: used in
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: used for
content: Weddings
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Jeanne LaSalle Rigley
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1977.1151.001
label: accession number
content: 1977.1151
label: catalog number
content: 1977.1151.001
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dress, 1-piece
label: Object Name
content: dress, 1-piece, wedding
label: Object Type
content: Main Dress
label: Object Type
content: Woman
label: Object Type
content: Dress
label: Object Type
content: Entire Body
label: Other Terms
content: dress, 1-piece; entire body; main dress; female