Vogue's 1945 Feature on Museum-Inspired Fashion Resurfaces Ahead of Met Exhibition

A 1945 Vogue editorial titled 'Museum-Inspired Evening Fashions,' photographed by John Rawlings, has been resurfaced from the magazine's archive. The feature documents a collaboration between fabric and dress designers and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where designers drew inspiration from objects in the museum's collections. A fashion show staged by Lee Simonson presented the results, and some garments were sold in New York shops. Notable designs include Brooke Cadwallader's tear-drop print from a twelfth-century Mesopotamian vase, used by Nettie Rosenstein, and André Flory's sun-yellow Jacquard taffeta based on a bronze Caucasian belt-clasp, made into a gown by Norman Norell. The article notes that American designers increasingly use museums as fashion sources, and the museum's cooperation is seen as promising for fashion as an art. Vogue's editor suggests the story resonates with the Met's upcoming 'Costume Art' exhibition.