“Designers You Should Know” Exhibit Highlights Unfamiliar Designers from Textile & Costume Collection
A new exhibit series, Designers You Should Know, just launched its first installment – all about Vera Maxwell. The exhibit is outside Room 101 in Hayward Hall on the Thomas Jefferson University – East Falls Campus.
At left: Vera Maxwell fitting a model for the Museum of the City of New York’s “A Salute to Vera Maxwell,” 1942. Image: MCNY exhibition files.
The series, curated by Jade Papa of Gutman Library’s Design Center and Textile & Costume Collection, sheds light on designers who may not be popular among Jefferson students, staff, and faculty but who have made significant contributions to the fashion and design world.
Vera Maxwell, a dancer turned model turned designer, is remembered for her fashionable and functional sportswear. She was one of the first American designers to use ultrasuede and the synthetic fabric Arnel. Maxwell also produced garments sized up to 18 during a time when it was unusual to have sizes above 8.
Maxwell’s accolades were many; she won the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award in 1953, the Neiman Marcus award in 1955, and was honored in 1970 with a retrospective exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.
Visit the exhibit to explore four garments created by Vera Maxwell and learn more about her on Follow the Thread, the Design Center’s blog.
From our collection, ensemble by Vera Maxwell, 1960s.