Blue nightgown worn by Rachel Brosnahan in <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i>
date: label: date made
content: around 2016
name: label: wearer
content: Brosnahan, Rachel
label: producer
content: Sherman-Palladino, Amy
label: maker
content: Eric Winterling, Inc.
label: designer
content: Zakowska, Donna
notes: label: Description
content: Blue peignoir nightgown worn by Rachel Brosnahan in the Amazon series <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i>. The nightgown was designed by Donna Zakowska and has three layers, the first two transparent powder blue tulle and the bottom layer white satin. The deep v-neckline is lined in white lace and the nightgown is fitted at the bodice waist with a satin band which hangs below the nightgown when not tied. Inside are two tags, one reading "The Marvelous Ms. Masiel" in pink thread, and the other, "Eric Winterling, Inc. New York. Ms" in black thread.
label: Description
content: This nightgown was worn in the pilot episode of <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i> in a scene in which Midge Maisel performs her first comedy set. In the episode, after learning that her husband intends to leave her for his secretary, Midge gets drunk and leaves her apartment in a nightgown and coat to give an impromptu performance at The Gaslight Cafe, a comedy and folk club in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. <i>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</i> was one of the most acclaimed streaming series of the 2010s, winning numerous Emmy Awards and critical praise for its nuanced portrayal of mid-20th century women’s life, urban Jewish identity, and the 1960s comedy scene. Showrunner and creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was lauded for the series’ exploration of women's lives in mid-20th century America, including marriage and separation, societal expectations, beauty, systemic gender inequality, motherhood, and the struggle to navigate male-dominated workplaces. Sherman-Palladino is one of the most active and celebrated female writers and producers in the entertainment industry today, having also created <i>The Gilmore Girls</i> and becoming the first woman in history to win in the comedy writing and directing categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
label: Description
content: Mrs. Maisel costume designer Donna Zakowska received critical acclaim for creating beautiful and historically-accurate clothing that helped to advance and support the series’ narrative. Zakowska, who won an Emmy for her work outfitting Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney in the 2008 HBO miniseries John Adams, also won an Emmy for Outstanding Period Costumes for Maisel’s second season. As Zakowska said in an interview, ‘the clothes help her through a journey and that was really the beginning moment for Midge. It’s sort of before everything slightly falls apart and it just made sense there.’” Maisel, who is shown in previous scenes meticulously minding her appearance for her husband’s sake (even reapplying makeup early in the morning to look perfect when he rises), is now seizing agency and femininity in a new way, delivering a raunchy set while dressed in negligee in a nod to Phyllis Diller’s parody of expectations placed on American women.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Television
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2019.0313.02.02
label: catalog number
content: 2019.0313.02.02
label: accession number
content: 2019.0313
objectType: label: Object Name
content: nightgown
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 40 1/2 in x 39 in x 2 in; 102.87 cm x 99.06 cm x 5.08 cm