CSA E-News
Volume 2 No. 17
DECEMBER 2003 Edition
Costume Society of America
http://www.costumesocietyamerica.com

CONTENTS:

1.  Congratulations To Scholars!
2.  Audience Choice Award To Be Given In Houston
3.  Dance & Music
4.  Requests From Members
5.  Regional Happenings
6.  Exhibition Updates
7.  French Design
8.  News From Members
9.  Website Team
10. Calendar & Bookstore Reminders
11. Grand Tour Of Italy
12. Directory Ads
13. Hollywood Auction Dec 6th

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1. CONGRATULATIONS TO SCHOLARS!
This announcement from MARTHA WINSLOW GRIMM, CSA Travel
Grant Chair: The two winners of the 2003 CSA Travel Research
Grant are KAREN HERBAUGH, Curator, American Textile History
Museum in Lowell, MA and JANE FARRELL-BECK, Professor of
Textiles and Clothing, Iowa State University in Ames, IA.
There are two winners this year because the CSA National
Board of Directors authorized as many as two grants to be
awarded each year.

KAREN will travel to the Special Collections Research
Center, Syracuse University Library, and to the New York
Public Library to further her research on fabrics created by
the organization known as the Associated American Artists.
(See E-News item #3B.)  JANE will continue her research on
how makers of soft goods coped with the stresses of wartime
by traveling to Minneapolis to use the resources found at
the Munsingwear collection at the Minnesota Historical
Society.

Congratulations to both scholars and thanks to MARTHA for
her work in organizing this program.

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2. AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD TO BE GIVEN IN HOUSTON
20th Century Design is the very "Hot" and very "Haute" topic
for the May 2004 National Symposium in Houston.  The
abstract jurors have made their selections from the 56
submissions.  Because of the large number and the high
quality of the abstracts, Symposium co-coordinators KAY KING
and CLAREMARIE VERHEYEN created six more time slots for
paper presentations to increase the number from 19 to 25.
Asscepted authors will be notified by Abstracts Administrator
MARK HUTTER.  For the first time, Symposium participants will
vote on their favorite juried paper presentation.  The
winner of this "Audience Choice Award" will be announced at
the end of the Symposium on Saturday, May 29.

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3. DANCE & MUSIC
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will present an
exhibition -- "Erte/Opera & Ballets Russes/Dance: Theater
Costume in LACMA's Collection" -- of its early 20th century
theater costume. Featuring works from the historically and
aesthetically important Ballets Russes (Russian Ballet), the
exhibit includes 22 ballet costumes. Introduced in Paris in
1909, the dance company was a critical force in the period's
revolution in dance, music and the plastic arts.

At the same time in Paris, renowned fashion and graphic
designer Erte created lavish and spectacular opera costumes
and sketches for singer Ganna Walska. Twenty examples will
be on display along with a selection of Erte's costume
designs for musical revues.

Exhibition dates: December 14, 2003 - April 4, 2004. See
http://www.lacma.org

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4. REQUESTS FROM MEMBERS
A. MATERNITY WEAR: This research request from member MICHELE
MAJER, Assistant Professor at the Bard Graduate Center in
NYC. MICHELE is co-curating an exhibition at BGC called "The
Culture of Maternity." They will focus on maternity wear in
the U.S. from circa 1880 - 2000.  The exhibition is
scheduled for Summer 2007. They have been in touch with a
number of collections, but would be interested in hearing
from others about possible loan material, including ephemera
such as advertisements and designs for maternity wear,
photographs, etc. Contact MICHELE at
mailto:majer@bgc.bard.edu

B. BUY AMERICAN: KAREN HERBAUGH, Curator of the American
Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA is documenting fabrics
that were designed by members of the Associated American
Artists between 1952 and 1957. Also of interest are clothes
made with AAA fabrics and companion ceramic products by
Stonelain. All were showcased in Macy's department store
vignettes. Please contact KAREN at mailto:kherbaugh@athm.org
or 978-441-0400, ext. 239 with any information.

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5. REGIONAL HAPPENINGS
A. ENTERPRISING WOMEN: Region II and Region VI will have a
joint mini-meeting on Friday morning, December 5, 2003 at the
National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.
This meeting will be a special tour and discussion of the
exhibition "Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American
Business." Edie Mayo, curator of the exhibition, will
discuss the importance of clothing in the Enterprising Women
exhibit and the complications of securing loans for a
touring exhibition.  CSA members COLLEEN CALLAHAN, NEWBIE
RICHARDSON and POLLY WILLMAN will discuss mounting and
installing the clothing and textile pieces for this
exhibition.

For more info or to RSVP, contact COLLEEN at 804-261-4998 or
mailto:jette_2@msn.com.  The exhibition runs through
February 29, 2004; for more info and schedule, see
http://www.nmwa.org/exhibition/
B. REGION I: The Spring Symposium for Region I, titled
"Above the Surface: Decorative Techniques from Around the
World," will be held on Saturday April 24, 2004 at Historic
Deerfield in Deerfield, MA. Lectures and demonstrations will
seek to explore the human desire for adornment on our
bodies, clothes and accessories.  For more information,
please contact SUSAN JEROME at mailto:AMRossSJ@aol.com or
NED LAZARO at mailto:lazaro@historic-deerfield.org

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6. EXHIBITION UPDATES
A. WEAVINGS: This news from LAURANN GILBERTSON, textile
curator at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in
Decorah, IA. An exhibition catalog for "Incarnations," a
Nancy Jackson retrospective exhibition, is now available.
Nancy -- of Vallejo, CA -- began tapestry weaving in 1980
after a workshop in "rutevev" (Norwegian square-weave
tapestry). Her work has since developed from traditional,
Scandinavian and geometric to contemporary and abstract.

To order a catalog, contact the Museum at 800-979-3346 or
mailto:giftshop@vesterheim.org
The exhibition is on view at the Museum through January 4,
2004. For more information, visit http://www.vesterheim.org

B. BRAVEHEARTS: The exhibition now showing at The Costume
Institute at the Met in NYC, "Bravehearts: Men In Skirts,"
was recently featured on National Public Radio. In the
interview with Curator Andrew Bolton, he explains that the
exhibit reveals how skirts came to be thought of as feminine
attire, since men have worn skirts through history and many
still do. To listen to the interview:
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1499016.html

For more info about the exhibit that runs through February 8, 2004:
http://www.metmuseum.org then click on "special exhibitions."

C. SAMPLERS: This update from AGNES WEBB: The Monroe County
Historical Association's Saturday Speaker Series will
present "About Samplers" on Saturday afternoon, January 17,
2004 (snow date January 24) at the Stroud Mansion in
Stroudsburg, PA. The speaker will be Mary Brooks, Westtown
School Archivist. There will also be an opportunity to see
the "Historic Sampler" exhibit. To register for the speaking
engagement, please call 570-421-7703 or AGNES at 570-424
8668 or mailto:agnesweb@ptd.net

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7. FRENCH DESIGN
Once again, CSA members have student winners in the Air
France Jeune Createurs de Mode International Student Fashion
Design Competition. KATHI MARTIN of Drexel University has
two winners in the Fashion category and KAY KING of Houston
Community College has one winner in the Accessories category
-- out of the total of 15 (10 in Fashion, 5 in Accessories).
The students will represent the USA in Paris on December 18,
2003.

Winners SO YOUNG PARK and SHURE GANBATYN of Drexel will be
among the 12 students KATHI MARTIN is taking to Paris in
December for the competition as well as touring the sights
of Paris. ALEXANDER CHAPMAN, the winner from HCC, will be at
the competition as well.

The competition culminates with a runway show at the Louvre,
where the top USA entry and the best international design
will be chosen from among the winning entries from countries
around the world.

Congratulations and good luck to all! A video and sketches
of the US finalists' entries can be viewed on the website:
http://www.af-competition.com

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8. NEWS FROM MEMBERS
A. SPECIALISTS: COLLEEN CALLAHAN and NEWBIE RICHARDSON are
now the "Costume & Textile Specialists." This report from
COLLEEN on forming a new business enterprise: "Our new
partnership provides institutional and private clients with
a full range of services for historic clothing and textiles,
including appraisals, collection assessment and
documentation, conservation, exhibition development and
installation, reproduction clothing, storage solutions, and
workshops and training for staff and volunteers."
COLLEEN was the Curator of Costumes and Textiles at the
Valentine Museum in VA for 18 years and NEWBIE has been an
independent appraiser and conservator for over 25 years. For
more details and a brochure, contact COLLEEN at 804-261-4998
or mailto:jette_2@msn.com; or NEWBIE at 703-684-0863.

B. HAT DESIGN COURSES: Designer EIA RADOSAVLJEVIC will be
teaching two new hat design courses offered at the School of
the Art Institute of Chicago this coming spring. Advanced
Headwear Concepts is described as a class "exploring
traditional hat-making in non-traditional ways."  And
Couture Millinery II continues the study of traditional
French couture millinery techniques begun in Couture
Millinery I. See website for more info:
http://www.artic.edu/saic/programs/depts/courses/04new_spring_p2.html

For registration information, phone 312-899-5117 and for
course content details, contact EIA at
mailto:info@eiahatart.com

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9. WEBSITE TEAM
KATHI MARTIN, CSA VP for Technology, announces an opening
for another volunteer assistant on the CSA Website Team. A
Screen Manager is needed for the soon-to-be newly designed
"Publications" page. No special web skills required; average
1-2 hours a week. Contact KATHI at
mailto:martink@drexel.edu

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10. CALENDAR & BOOKSTORE REMINDERS
A. CSA GIFT: Have you ordered your 2004 HISTORIC FASHIONS
CALENDAR? A great gift for friends and colleagues -- and a
treat for yourself! "The Wedding Dress" Calendar is
available at a 25% discount price to CSA members when
purchased through CSA -- a new member *benefit* this year.
There is still time to order from the National Office for
holiday delivery. Call 800-272-9447 to place your order and
thanks for supporting CSA!

B. JUST ONE CLICK: Check the CSA Online Bookstore for
details of easy holiday shopping, new listings of costume
books including member authors, featured book-of-the-month,
win-a-free-membership contest, top-ten bestseller list, and
access to Amazon.com for all of your purchases -- all this
and more at
http://www.costumesocietyamerica.com/Bookstore/index.html !!!
And it all benefits CSA.

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11. GRAND TOUR OF ITALY
CSA members at Houston Community College -- CHARLOTTE
HAMILTON, KAY KING and RUBY MULLER -- traveled on a fashion
study tour to Milan and Venice with 22 of their fashion
students this past November. Along with many legendary
museums, palaces and cathedrals, they also visited designer
showrooms; a leather factory; Leonardo da Vinci's now
infamous "The Last Supper" in Milan; a silk factory at Lake
Como; a famous Venetian mask-maker (mask collector KAY was
overwhelmed); a glass factory and glass museum in Murano;
and a lace maker and lace museum in Burano. WOW! Ask them
about their "pigeon experience" in St. Mark's Square!

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12. DIRECTORY ADS
It is still possible for members to place ads in the 2004
CSA Membership Directory. Contact the National Office for a
rate sheet. Camera-ready ads are due by January 5.
mailto:national.office@costumesocietyamerica.com
or call 800-CSA-9447.


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13. HOLLYWOOD AUCTION DEC 6th
To raise money for the planned Hollywood Motion Picture
Museum, actress and memorabilia preservationist Debbie
Reynolds will sell more than 300 costumes and props from her
fabled collection in the largest Hollywood costume auction
in more than 30 years. The public sale will be conducted
live in Beverly Hills and on eBay by Julien Entertainment of
Hollywood on December 6, 2003. It will contain items from
several hundred Oscar-winning and notable films including
costumes worn by Marilyn Monroe, Barbra Streisand, Judy
Garland, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Julie Andrews, and
James Cagney, and props from "Gone With The Wind." See
http://www.julienEntertainment.com for more details.

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Happy Holidays! Send me your news for January by December
20. Just one edition this month, so see you in 2004!