An red velvet dress with a built-in corset and an open-backed, white dress with black velvet trim that dates to the 1940s are part of the “Dashing Through Time” exhibit at Memphis Pink Palace Museum.
As Jim Hardy, the hero of Irving Berlin's 1943 film "Holiday Inn," Bing Crosby cut a dashing figure who was apt to don a tuxedo before trimming the Christmas tree.
Judging by my own choices of holiday garb, times are different, to say the least.
A red velvet dress with a built-in corset and an open-backed, white dress with black velvet trim that dates to the 1940s are part of the “Dashing Through Time” exhibit at Memphis Pink Palace Museum.
This month, the Memphis Pink Palace Museum showcases that anachronistic divide with "Dashing Through Time," an exhibition of party clothes that span the first half of the 20th century.
A black wool suit worn by Memphian John Lee Frank during his 1902 wedding is positively austere, compared with the black satin dress that dates to the same period. With clusters of silver spangles, a jewel neckline, and laced peek-a-boo shoulder straps, this dress provided its owner plenty of va-va-voom during the holiday season.
The next decade is represented by a black wool cutaway coat and pants, accented by a foppish tie and tails that nearly hit the back of the knee, while a white satin and net dress from the same era shows a narrower silhouette.
The open-backed, white crepe with black velvet trim gown that dates to the 1940s could've been worn by Ginger Rogers in "I'll Be Seeing You," the Christmas-during-wartime melodrama that paired her with Joseph Cotten.
A pair of dresses from the 1950s, including a red velvet number with a pleated bodice and built-in corset, worn by a former Pink Palace employee to a debutante ball, and a white silk gown overlaid with black netting and paired with a blue velvet sash, will probably look the most familiar to museum-goers.
The 11 outfits that comprise "Dashing Through Time" will be on display at the Pink Palace as part of its "Changing Roles for Women" exhibit through the end of the year.
Go to MemphisMuseums.org.
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