Blog – Page 5 – Mary Jane Denzer

January 18, 2021

Karl B.A. Kronstad’s official White House portrait of Helen Louise Herron Taft, known as “Nellie,” captures her commanding elegance in a painting that nods to Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent. *Courtesy White House Historical Association.*

Though her name may hardly be known today, she was in a sense the woman who put the “first” in first lady.

Indeed, Helen Louise Herron Taft – a former Cincinnati teacher whose husband, William Howard Taft, served as president from 1909 to 1913 – began many of the traditions we associate with first ladies in their roles as the sociocultural heart of the White House.

It was “Nellie” Taft who became the first first lady to participate in the Inauguration Day parade, which she did despite inclement weather. Taft sat in on cabinet meetings, though she did not offer her opinions (at least not publicly). She received visitors three days a week in the Red Room; presided over musical events after state dinners; attended cultural events around the capital with the president; saw to it that he had a social relationship with his vice president and his wife, James S. and Carrie Sherman; inaugurated summer concerts by the United States Marine Band at West Potomac Park; and, perhaps most memorably, arranged with the Japanese government for more than 3,000 cherry blossom trees to be planted around the Tidal Basin and Capitol grounds – a gift we still savor every spring.

What is most remarkable about all of this is that Taft did it while suffering the effects of a stroke that affected her speech and right arm and leg. (Her four sisters pitched in during the recovery period.)

Is it any wonder then that she would be the first first lady to write a memoir and that it would be called “Recollections of Full Years”? Or that she would jump-start the Smithsonian’s collection of first ladies’ dresses in 1912 with her own creamy, Empire-style inaugural gown? The attractive Taft had the kind of looks, figure and style that easily transitioned from the hourglass shape of the Victorian era to the sleeker, more columnar fashions of the Edwardian period. This classic “Gibson Girl” – who favored the sky-high hair and hats of that time – could have easily been a muse for John Singer Sargent. And her 1910 White House portrait is indeed Sargent-esque, with Karl B.A. Kronstad capturing her in a swirl of tulle that also nodded to Thomas Gainsborough (the addition of her grand home, in this case the White House, in the upper left-hand corner).

The Spanish-speaking Taft would have other firsts – first first lady to own and drive a car, to be the wife of a president and the chief justice of the Supreme Court, a position her husband held from 1921 until his death in 1930; to support women’s suffrage; to champion safe federal workplaces; and, when she died on May 22, 1943 a month short of her 82^nd birthday, to be buried beside her husband at Arlington National Cemetery.

More important, Taft understood that style is more than skin deep.

Tags: Smithsonian Institution, first ladies, first ladies’ style, Washington, D.C., cherry blossoms, Helen Louise Herron Taft, William Howard Taft, Smithsonian Collection of first ladies’ dresses

November 12, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her official “class” photo for the Supreme Court of the United States, 2016. Courtesy the Supreme Court.

“To pay attention to what a powerful woman wears is often dismissed as a way to denigrate her. But not to pay attention in this case is to disrespect the attention to detail that marked Justice Ginsburg’s work in all its dimensions.” – Vanessa Friedman, The New York Times, Sept. 23, 2020

Many are called icons. Few deserve the designation. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was truly an icon.

It wasn’t just what she said and did, championing equality for women’s rights as a way to champion equality for all. Or the withering dissents that earned her the name “the Notorious RBG,” after the rapper “the Notorious BIG.” It was the way she looked. Without that, she would’ve been no less eulogized. But her image would not have been emblazoned on everything from magnets to T-shirts. Little girls would not be dressing as her for Halloween.

As Vanessa Friedman – fashion director and chief fashion critic for The New York Times – noted in a Sept. 23 appreciation, the Armani-loving Ginsburg saw no contradiction in being a stylish jurist. In part, this was probably because of an innate theatrical sense. As Chief Justice John Roberts observed in his remarks Sept. 23 as she lay in repose at the Supreme Court, she had wanted to be a singer and ended up a rock star.

She adored the theater, the ballet and especially the opera – which she shared with her friend and intellectual opposite on the Supreme Court bench, Antonin Scalia; was the subject of an opera with him (Derrick Wang’s “Scalia/Ginsburg”); and appeared in the non-singing role of a lawyer in the Washington National Opera’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” (for which she rewrote her lines to stress the power of women. Clearly, Ginsburg was something of a Method actor.)
The word “courtroom” is often associated with the word “drama.” In the heightened theatrical arena of the courtroom, Ginsburg combined her aesthetic flair with the insight that a woman didn’t have to dress like a female man to succeed. She realized that there are few things more empowering – and unsettling, particularly to a man – that a traditionally feminine woman whose smart appearance is the calling card for her smart words and actions.

So there was the girlish ponytail, often bound in the flourish of a bow; the button earrings, punctuating the face – distinctive yet not distracting the way chandelier earrings would be; the glasses framing wide, curious gray eyes; the brocaded jackets for speaking engagements; the fishnet gloves; and oftentimes a dazzling pair of heels. The girl could definitely accessorize.

But as Friedman notes, what set the iconography in motion were the collars that not only dressed up her plain, black judicial robe but that she used to telegraph her opinions before she uttered a word on the bench. There was a crocheted beige and yellow affair for majority opinions, a spiky bejeweled one from Banana Republic for dissents, a white jabot, finished in black, for the reception of her honorary degree from Harvard Law School; and a delicate white from Capetown, South Africa, said to be her favorite.

These collars echoed the Usekh or Wesekh, the broad jeweled or metal collar that signified status in ancient Egypt. But as with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s pins, Jacqueline B. Kennedy’s and Melania Trump’s White House wardrobes, Diana, Princess of Wales’ dresses, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s couture – and going back in time, Elizabeth I’s portraits – the collars were an example of gesture politics. They were reminders that women – who like children were once thought better seen and not heard – had to speak through how they looked. But speak they did.

One final thought: Ginsburg’s flash extended to the casual, including a sweatshirt that said, “Super Diva.” “Diva,” associated with the imperious prima donna of opera, has had a pejorative connotation. But “diva” is also Italian for “goddess.”

Styling on the bench and off, Ginsburg reclaimed its wise, compassionate meaning.

Tags: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, collars, Supreme Court, Vanessa Friedman, fashion, opera, Antonin Scalia, Madeleine Albright, Jacqueline B. Kennedy, Melania Trump, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth I

September 21, 2020

In the age of the coronavirus, has fashion lost its mojo?

While some couturiers have stepped back to regroup and prioritize their staffs, others like Ralph & Russo and George Hobeika took a recent opportunity to present their collections digitally, collaborating with filmmakers on pieces that resonated with movie magic, reminding viewers of fashion’s power to beguile, as it has done in other periods of crisis.

Consider the Spanish flu, which infected 500 million people, or a third of the world’s population at that time (February 1918-April 1920), killing between 17 million and 20 million. The flu dovetailed with two important events, World War I ramping down and the final push for women to get the vote ramping up. All three events played their part in what was one of the most dramatic shifts in fashion. During the Roaring ’20s, hemlines rose, waists dropped and fabrics sparkled as clothes and accessories like cloche hats became breezier – reflecting women’s newfound freedoms and a desire to forget the war and the pandemic.

The end of World War II saw the rise of Christian Dior’s “New Look” – a return to a traditionally feminine silhouette of cinched waists and bell-shaped skirts after the boxy, no-nonsense suits of the self-sacrificing war years. It was an escapist response to catastrophe that’s echoed in the fairy tale marketing for Dior’s Autumn/Winter collection.

In the 1960s, a moment of social upheaval that offers a distant mirror of our own, protests in the streets were met with psychedelic shifts, mini skirts, go-go boots, jockey caps, bell bottoms and fringe vests and jackets as well as big hair and eyeliner – and not just for the women.

What do these three periods tell us? In each, fashion met the moment with something fresh and distinctive that is still influencing the choices we make today.

As the couture houses present their Autumn/Winter collections online, we have no doubt that designers will respond in kind. And while it may take a while for us to come out of our cocooned shock, we will, too.

March 23, 2020

Few designers sculpt the female figure the way David Koma does. Indeed, he can take the willowiest of forms and give it an hourglass shape, which is one of the reasons that we at Mary Jane Denzer love him. But don’t take just our word for it.

“His bustiers and corsets are so tight and curved, they function as a second skin,” Steff Yotka noted in a vogue.com report last year on Koma’s Spring Ready-To-Wear Collection. “No wonder they’re a favorite in Hollywood,” with Beyoncé, Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner, Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lopez among those gracing the red carpet in his creations.

For his Spring Collection, Koma is on point with animal prints and natural materials, two of the season’s hottest trends. For fall, he pays homage to London, his adopted hometown, with cityscape prints, rainy-day denim and a nod to the late Princess Diana. (Think emerald jewelry and swirling skirts.)

Koma is one of several London-based designers from the Republic of Georgia who’s making a name for himself on the international scene. (Others include Lako Bukia; twins Tamara and Natasha Surguladze of the Tata Naka brand; and Demna Gvasalia, a founder of Vetements and creator director of Balenciaga.) He was born David Komakhidze in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, the oldest of three, and quickly displayed an interest in drawing and dress design. Koma studied fine art in Saint Petersburg, Russia – where his parents now live – and began taking part in design competitions as a teenager, showing his first collection at age 15.

London beckoned. Koma moved there in 2003 to attend Central Saint Martins, the prestigious college of arts and design. He received a bachelor of arts in fashion design and then a master’s with distinction, winning the Harrods Design Award at Graduate Fashion Week.

After graduating in April 2009, Koma launched his ready-to-wear label, which has garnered numerous awards over the years, including the Vauxhall Fashion Scout in 2009, NewGen sponsorship from the British Fashion Council in 2010 and Fashion Forward in 2013. From 2013 to ’17, Koma was creative director of Mugler, whose figure-flattering cocktail attire fit his aesthetic to a T.

On his own, Koma continues to reach. For Spring Ready-to-Wear, “he went so far as to make jewelry and belt buckles in the shape of zebras and rhinos,” Yotka observed, “leaving last season’s butterflies and ruffs forgotten in the past.”

His first foray into handbags is the hot, hot, hot flask purse. And dare we say that for fall, his velvet corsets have added stretch?

The better with which to shape you, my dear.

February 25, 2020

If ever there was a designer who speaks to the trends of the moment, it’s Naeem Khan.

Zebra- and leopard-print dresses and jumpsuits? check. Bold, flowing florals? Check. Goddess gowns that reveal even as they conceal with mesh and plunging necklines, low backs and thigh-high slits? Check, check and check.

It is Khan’s ability to marry the demure and the sexy that makes his Spring Collection perfect for today’s woman. Form-fitting, neutral slips peek through diaphanous floral and leafy appliqué shells that cling to the body and finish with a swirling flourish at the ankles. Fitted, jeweled bodices, the armor of beauty, give way to layered, chiffon skirts. Sequined hoodie pantsuits with modified shoulder pads redefine that 1980s staple, another spring trend.

The play between the decorous and the sensual defines India, where Khan was born and raised. Growing up in Mumbai, he was steeped in the country’s textiles – which blaze with color, pattern, texture and life itself – as both his father and his grandfather designed clothing for Indian royals.

But Khan believed his design destiny lay in the United States. He moved here as a teenager and at 20 became an apprentice to Halston (1932-90), who rose to fame designing the pillbox hat for first lady Jacqueline B. Kennedy and whose clean lines helped shape the 1970s. With Halston, Khan learned how to cut and drape fabric to create a classic, elegant silhouette.

Ultimately, he combined his childhood knowledge of textiles with what he learned during his time with Halston to create his eponymous brand, which he launched in 2003 to sell in Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s featured in 150 retail outlets worldwide, to say nothing of red carpets graced by Michelle Obama; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; Beyoncé; Jennifer Lopez; Rachel McAdams; Noor Al-Hussein, the dowager queen of Jordan; and Taylor Swift.

But Khan, who was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2008, is about more than ready-to-wear. His plated-brass, suede-lined Zodiac clutches, with their Swarovski crystal constellations and mirrored interiors, could double as jewelry cases. (The 21-inch chain strap is detachable.)

There’s also a Deco collection of minaudières that captures the sleek geometry of the Roaring 20s, red-hot as we begin the 2020s. By going back to the future, Khan demonstrates once again that he is a man of the moment.

First lady of style – Helen Louise Herron Taft

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Fashion in times of crises

Figure this – the David Koma silhouette

A designer for our times