My dearest childhood friend Stephanie lives in Youngstown, Ohio. We met back when our families were stationed in Germany during middle school. She has three great kids and a full time job so we don’t get to see each other too often. She’s just a five hour drive away so Jordan and I took the long Labor Day weekend for a mini break in the Western Reserve. As per usual, I managed to squeeze in as much sewing / fashion related stuff as humanly possible. Since this is a long post with many, many photos, I’ll just help you along here here and let you jump to the parts that might interest you most. I was lucky enough to spend time looking at quilts and knitting at the The Canfield Fair, fabulous performance costumes at the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and checking out the amazing costume collection at the Kent State Museum.

Sewing Machine Tractor. Of course.

When Stephanie suggested the Canfield Fair for our Friday plans I was all about it. And, not just in for the deep fried cheese curds.  The Canfield Fair is the largest County Fair in the country! I went online and saw they had quilting exhibits in addition to hand and machine knitting. There was fashion sewing too, but I didn’t grab any photos of those.

While there were just a few items that were machine and hand knit, I was BLOWN away by the gorgeous hand and machine made quilts on display.

After we left Youngstown, Jordan and I headed up to Cleveland for the remainder of the weekend. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was top of our list.

As per usual, I beelined for the costume display.

Oh, Queen Bey. Why did I recognize every single one of the seven costumes on display?

Also, I totally want to be a Supreme.

On Sunday, we drove an hour outside of Cleveland to Kent State University so I could see a few of the current exhibitions from their museum’s costume collection.

Closing this weekend in the incredible Flapper Style: 1920s Fashion. Holy beaded beauty. Flapper Style is a wonderful collection of period pieces. The 40 pieces (mostly dresses and hats) are grouped by themes of Romanticism, Art Deco, Exoticism and Abstraction. Here are a few of my favorites:

Following the incredible Flapper Style, I went to view the Fashion Timeline exhibit which does a remarkable job of tying fashion to current events. From the advent of fabric production to the invention and adoption of the sewing machine, fashion is tied together.

They started with the mid 1700s and wrapped up with the mid 1960s (You can see the interactive timeline here). As I’ve noted before, I have very mixed emotions when it comes to vintage clothes. For me, it’s important to not look at the amazing fashion of the past and idealize what were generally crappy times for people of color and women. I love fashion and costumes and can deeply appreciate the clothes for what they are. But, it’s odd to stand around and admire an antebellum dress that was afforded on the backs of  slave labor (says the girl who holds Gone With the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird up as her favorite books of all time). Or, love the  details in a dress from the 50s and 60s and not think about the massive violation of civil rights in America.  That said, the exhibit does a good job of noting the part of  our history that made fashion possible, like the invention of the cotton gin.  Or, acknowledging that women in the work place influenced and changed style very quickly.

Here are a few of the pieces from the collection that really spoke to me.

The final exhibition I saw was Fashion Designs of Southern Africa. While I was originally most excited about this new exhibit, I was underwhelmed in person. Perhaps it’s because I’m admittedly not familiar with designers from Southern Africa.But, I found the selections underwhelming with not enough context.

So, that wraps up all the ways I turned our mini break into my fashion tour of the Western Reserve🙂. If you can make it to Kent State I highly recommend you visit their compact but well curated costume museum. And, if you’re at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, give yourself plenty of time. I could have spent hours and hours in there. We also did a bunch of other touristy stuff including walking and biking tours that I very much enjoyed. I can tell you for sure though, Cleveland absolutely rocks!

Just popping in to give a plug for a wonderful textile exhibit I saw last week on African Wax Prints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art  with Carolyn, Andrea and Claudine.

Philly is an easy two-hour drive from Baltimore and has one of the few remaining costume collections on the east coast. While no Met / Brooklyn Museum of Art collection, it was a phenomenal exhibition and worth a visit.

The Vlisco: Fashion on a Global Stage exhibit is part of their season long Creative Africa focus.

Smartly curated, the Vlisco exhibit shows clothing made up in the wax prints. But, also highlights the history and meaning of various prints along the walls. In addition, they give a history of the company, how the wax trade worked and how the fabrics are made.

Briefly, the fabrics we know today as ‘wax prints’ were originally made in Holland for the Indonesian market. The Indonesian batik process was labor intensive. So, the Dutch tried to speed up the process with mechanics.

While the Indonesians rejected the prints, the global slave/commodities trade  brought it to the African continent and they fell for the bright and bold colors.

I, as a confirmed magpie, will wear ALL the wax prints. Years ago I went to Ghana and must have brought home 60 – 100 yards of wax prints. I didn’t buy any fabric when I went to Bali. Turns out I was totally underwhelmed by Indonesian batiks. But, I highly recommend a textile tour if you do go to Bali. It’s worth it to see the process.

Yet, when I look at Dutch wax prints, it’s easy to see the roots of the Indonesian batik process.

You know, I generally don’t like saying ‘African’ because Africa is a continent made up of 54 different countries. I imagine it’s correct to say Dutch Wax Prints as the most famous line is Vlisco and they are made in the Netherlands. But, there are companies in Africa who also make prints like GTP.  I try to say Ankara which is how a lot of the West Africans I know refer to it and it shows up on Instagram.

Let’s close with some of my favorites:

Shirtdress. This is going to happen this year. I promise.

Cape Dress. It’s so gorgeous I weep.

I just want to wear it and dramatically walk out of a room.

Overall, a totally satisfying exhibit.

More photos from the exhibit with a few from my textile tour in Bali.

Some further reading if you’re interested:

Africa’s Fabric is Dutch, the New York Times

When West Africans Dress, the Fabric is the Message , The New York Times

Finally, I’m slowly working on altering some of my mom’s clothes for my wardrobe. This dress was made for my mom by my Aunt Judy when she visited Ghana.

Thanks 4" seam allowances! Finally altered mom's top to fit me. No hope for the skirt. I couldn't pull it up past my knees 😂 ⌛ #iusedeverycentimeter #ankarafashion #ghana #ankarafabric #waxprint

A photo posted by Renee (@missceliespants) on Jun 15, 2016 at 1:52pm PDT

I’d like to thank the Ghanian women who made my mom’s two piece dress for their 4 inch seam allowances. I was able to let the top out and wear it to the exhibition. I’m about six sizes larger than my mom.

The bust is woefully unflattering (smooshes me into a pear vs an hourglass). But, it was my mom’s so I kind of don’t care🙂 You can read more about the dress here from when I first altered it to fit her.