TROUSSEAU DRESS, c. 1906

Wool serge, alpaca, and lace; 21" waist and 31" bust

4882

Kentucky Library and Museum, Western Kentucky University

This dress features the exquisite lacework and quality of construction that were hallmarks of clothing made under the direction of Mrs. A.H. (Carrie) Taylor of Bowling Green. It was part of the trousseau of Ibbie Beard when she married William Edmunds Allen in Warren County, Kentucky, on January 9, 1906. The couple lived in Smiths Grove.

About the Artist | Classroom Ideas | Links

About the Artist

In 19th- and early 20th-century America, dressmaking was one of the few arts that were considered proper for women to practice. It was not uncommon for a woman who excelled in a domestic art form to use her skill as a springboard for a career outside of the home.

Carrie Taylor

Carrie Taylor worked out of her home as a dressmaker in the late 1870s. In 1902, she incorporated the Mrs. A.H. Taylor Company in Bowling Green. Eleven years later, the company employed 280 women, and the client list extended from Georgia to Texas and included some 24,000 names. Taylor briefly published a fashion magazine, Styles & Thegistofit, and marketed her services through engraved seasonal fashion announcement cards mailed twice a year from New York and several European cities. Custom-tailored to the measurements of each client, Taylor’s clothes were works of art.

Many of the fabrics used in Taylor’s dresses came from Louisville and Nashville. She also made frequent trips to New York and Europe to attend fashion shows, sketch designs, and purchase silk, velvet, and lace in Paris.

At one point, Taylor’s dressmaking firm was Kentucky’s largest employer of women. Her success was based on quality, business acumen, and a sense of fashion and style. The company closed in 1927, ending a half-century of service to fashion-minded women across the nation.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: How does a fashion designer use the elements of art and principles of design? Do you use the elements of art and principles of design in selecting clothes to buy and wear? How?

Activities: Study clothing from different periods of history. Choose a favorite year of fashions and create a poster for classroom display about that year’s styles and the cultural influences on them.

Compare fashion magazines of today with those of the 1800s or early 1900s.

Design an outfit that you would like to wear or design costumes for a movie based on one of your favorite books.