In a previous post I traced a brief history of flag-inspired fashion designs, mentioning Emilio Pucci, but also designs emblazoned with flags of specific nations used during the war as patriotic, radical, revolutionary or propaganda symbols.
The influence of flags in fashion came back to my mind when I visited Betsy Ross’ House in Philadelphia.
Legend says that Betsy Ross – born Elizabeth Griscom – was indeed the maker of the first American flag.
Betsy is often portrayed in paintings and illustrations while sewing the American flag or presenting it to George Washington, George Ross, and Robert Morris and, while there are quite a few books trying to prove this piece of historical information is actually rather incorrect, her house is still one of the most popular tourist destinations in Philadelphia’s Old Town.
Born in Gloucester City, New Jersey, in 1752, Betsy learnt to sew from a great aunt and, as a young woman, became an apprentice to local upholsterer John Webster, learning to make and repair curtains, bedcovers, tablecloths, rugs, umbrellas and Venetian blinds.
After falling in love with another apprentice, John Ross, she eloped with him, got married and together they opened their own upholstery business in a rented house on Philadelphia’s Mulberry Street (now Arch Street).
Things got hard when the American Revolutionary War broke out since it became difficult to find fabric.
John joined the militia of Pennsylvania, but was killed shortly afterwards and Betsy continued to run her upholstery business, mending uniforms and making blankets for the soldiers.
In 1777 she married Joseph Ashburn, who died in a British prison; a few years later, in 1783, Betsy married again, and kept on working in her upholstery business until she died.
A few years before the 1876 Centennial celebrations, Ross’ grandson claimed his grandmother had made the first flag for General George Washington.
The making of the flag occurred in late May/early June of 1776, a year prior to Congress passing the Flag Act.
Betsy often embroidered shirts for George Washington and, according to the legend, in 1776 Washington visited her with two representatives of Congress asking to make a flag.
Washington even redrew the flag design in pencil in Betsy's back parlour opting for stars of five points rather than six.
Though there are records that prove Betsy did the colours for Pennsylvania’s state ships, no records prove there were any meetings about the design of the flag and history books such as The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of an American Icon, claim Betsy was turned into a role model for girls, a heroine who had to represent all the women who took part in the Revolutionary War.
Betsy Ross’ house, an excellent example of Colonial architecture, is usually decked in red, white and blue flags, and, while you may or may not believe the legend, it's still worth visiting the place to discover the living and working conditions of an artisan in the 18th century and in particular the living conditions of a seamstress, embroiderer and upholsterer from those times.
Visiting Betsy Ross's house, but also seeing Jasper Johns' seminal Pop Art painting "Flag" (1960-66) at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), (this work of art, made using the encaustic method or hot wax panting - fashion students looking for inspirations check this technique out - continues to this day to influence many different artists), made me think about the American flag in fashion.
Among the first stars and stripes dresses there are star-spangled cotton print tunics made in 1889.
The American flag paper mini-dresses by Mars of Asheville and James Sterling, worn by supporters of Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, were instead to be considered as tributes to the Pop Art movement while more contemporary designs such as Catherine Malandrino’s (View this photo) chiffon flag-print shirtdress assumed new meanings in recent years, turning from symbols of freedom into wearable symbols of patriotism after 9/11.
The star-spangled flag reappeared also in some of the garments, such as a cardigan, from Tommy Hilfiger's current 25th anniversary collection.
But the American flag inspired even sandals such as La Valle's late 30s-early 40s shoes in red, white and blue leather with metal studs (View this photo - note: most of these designs were featured in last year's "Fashion and Politics" exhibition at the FIT), but also the chamois leather sandals with the Allied flags by Di Mauro (View this photo) that celebrated the liberation of Paris (exhibited last year at the Paris’ Mémorial du Maréchal Leclerc de Hauteclocque et de la Libération de Paris-Musée Jean Moulin during the "Accessories and Artefacts: Women’s Lives in Paris 1940-1944" event).
These shoes and sandals anticipated in a way Christian Louboutin's stilettos that were featured a while back in one of the Bergdorf Goodman's window shops to celebrate the "American Woman" exhibition at the Met's Costume Institute.
If, rather than fashion, you are just interested in flags, if you happen to be in Philadelphia you should maybe check out Humphrys Flag Company.
Established in 1864 and located just across the street from Betsy Ross' house, this flag maker has crafted quality flags and banners for different countries and corporations for years.
Since when I arrived at Betsy's house it wasn't open yet, I had a chance to have a wander around Humphrys' store, have a chat with the owner who showed me pictures of the biggest flag in the world (obviously made by them...) and take a couple of pictures of Tom Judd's window display "Seeing Red" (winner of first prize for "Best in Design" in the Old City Windows design competition), with a skeleton of a seamstress (Betsy Ross?) sitting and sewing an American flag in front of a red banner with Lenin's face.
Talking about flags and fashion, a couple of days ago the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (National Chamber for Italian Fashion), launched an exhibition at Rome's Vittoriano (until January 2011) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unity.
Pretentiously entitled "Omaggio al Tricolore - Espressioni di stile sul tema della bandiera italiana" (Homage to the Tricolour - Stylish interpretations of the Italian flag), the exhibition features 24 flags created by famous Italian designers and fashion houses including Emilio Pucci, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli, Salvatore Ferragamo, Brioni, Ermanno Scervino and Francesco Scognamiglio (some of these flags were actually already exhibited a few years ago during another event).
Between silk twill, cashmere, animal printed and fringed flags, or banners inspired by Jasper Johns' "Flag", the most original ones remain Moschino's that features rows of padded peace symbols, clouds and hearts, and Missoni's that reinterpreted the flag using the house's trademark zigzagging motifs.
Apart from being sadly opened by the Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa, an uncanny Mephistopheles look-alike who manages to use every time he opens his mouth only terms belonging to the semantic field of war, the event was also very badly timed.
In the current political climate, I'm not too sure how many Italians will actually want to go and see this exhibition. That's the problem with flag-inspired fashion: at times, it can be extremely untrendy.
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