Grab some giggle water…

These dresses and outfits from “Ain’t Misbehavin'” are the bees knees!

By Kaitlyn Munro

I am sure many of you dear readers are either stuck at home or traveling very little these days. Feeling antsy and itching for a change of scenery, we flew the coop and headed down to Richmond, VA for the day to finally check out Ain’t Misbehavin’: 1920’s Richmond, at the Valentine Museum. We were fortunate to conserve 20 of these dresses and outfits for the exhibit.

Sit back, relax, maybe grab some giggle water and enjoy the photo journey with us. This exhibit is just the bee’s knees!

We ain’t missin’ “Ain’t Misbehavin: 1920’s Richmond”

(Left) High School Graduation dress worn by Jean Frances Craig (1921)
(Right) A trio of dresses reflect the “folk art” embroidery trend

Expanding opportunities for women in the work force. This section includes the story of the Independent Order of St Luke, a Black-owned Mutual Aid organization, that supported self-sufficiency, employment, and job training. The exhibit so extensively researched by curator Kristen E. Stewart, dives deep into the cultural, social, economic and racial history of Richmond.

The lovely Robe de Style ladies, these dresses are show stoppers! Caring for Textiles loving conserved all three for the exhibit.

The dancing ‘shadow’ is positioned above the draconian 1924 Health Bulletin ‘To Preserve Racial Integrity’. Even among all the beautiful dresses, one feature of this exhibit stands out. Curator Kristen E. Stewart uses undressed gestured silhouettes to point out that none of the dresses included in the exhibit were owned or worn by BIPOC. This is because the museum’s collection does not have any examples from the 1920’s.

This issue is not exclusive to The Valentine; many museums with fashion collections are recognizing glaring gaps in their collections form years of acquiring and studying (valuing) almost exclusively Eurocentric donations. Kimberly Jenkins, professor of fashion history at Ryerson University Toronto, recently founded the Fashion and Race Database, an online platform addressing the imbalance of racial representations in fashion and clothing collections. https://fashionandrace.org/

The New York Times recent article, “The Incredible Whiteness of the Museum Fashion Collection” discusses how other institutions like The MET are working on breaking the pattern. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/style/museums-fashion-racism.html

Kristen E Stewart engages us all:

We ask that you consider the larger impact of the narratives that are missing, and reflect on the value of the material culture in your own closet and the closets of your friends, family and neighbors.”