Exhibition Label Text for Volunteers The Ingenue to Icon exhibition, which opens officially to the public on Saturday, June 6, will be on view in the Adirondack Building and several rooms in the Mansion. The exhibition is presented in two segments, featuring spring and summer wear from June through September and fall and winter looks from October through December. See below for a complete list of dates associated with the exhibition: June 2 Opening Gala June 2 Displays in the Mansion will be on view for visitors June 3-5 Member Preview Days (including a Member Curator Reception on June 4) June 6 Official exhibition opening to the public: both Adirondack Building & Mansion open June 15 Volunteer Continuing Education with curator Howard Kurtz (10:30 am & 1:30 pm) Sept 27-30 Fall/Winter Rotation for Exhibition Nov 24 Holiday Displays This document includes the text the visitor will read on labels, and lists the objects displayed. This information is provided to volunteers in advance of the exhibition opening to better equip you to answer visitor questions and help promote the exhibition. Publication A full-color 150-page companion publication with same title has been published in conjunction with the exhibition. Howard Kurtz, Hillwood’s associate curator of costumes and textiles, is the leading author of the book for which he collaborated with Trish Donnally, former fashion editor for the San Francisco Chronicle and award winning journalist. The book has an introduction by biographer Nancy Rubin Stuart, author of American Empress. Available for purchase in the Museum Shop. Table of Contents Adirondack Building .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Pavilion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16 French Drawing Room .............................................................................................................................................. 17 First Floor Library ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 Dining Room ............................................................................................................................................................. 18 Breakfast Room ........................................................................................................................................................ 20 Staff Dining Room ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 Second Floor Library ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Mrs. Post’s Bedroom Suite ....................................................................................................................................... 22 1 Ingenue to Icon | 70 Years of Fashion from the Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post Fashion reflects the art of life, and in the case of Marjorie Merriweather Post, provides glimpses into a life of exceptional purpose, elegance, and style. Drawing from Hillwood’s collection of more than 175 garments and 300 accessories, Ingenue to Icon illustrates the ways in which Marjorie used her attire to express her personality, define the development of her identity from youthful debutante to social Brahmin, and distinguish her multiple roles as high-profile philanthropist, diplomat, and businesswoman. The clothing ensembles and accompanying archival images and portraits track the events and developments in American society from the 1900s to the 1970s and offer insight into an emblematic woman whose life, sense of self, and wardrobe reflected the rapidly changing times. The exhibition is supported by: The Marjorie Merriweather Post Foundation, Ellen MacNeille Charles, Dina Merrill Hartley, Joan & Dan Mulcahy, Janice & Ralph Shrader, and an anonymous donor. All exhibitions and programs are funded in part by the U.S. Commission of the Fine Arts through the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program. Sponsored by (use Northern Trust logo sent to you via another e-mail, if possible) All of the objects in Ingenue to Icon were acquired by Marjorie Post and belong to Hillwood. Unless otherwise noted, all images come from Hillwood’s Archives. Iconic Beauty In 1934 Marjorie sat for this portrait with the renowned society portraitist Frank Salisbury wearing a stunning silk satin, bias-cut ivory dress, velvet and fur drape, long two-strand pearl necklace, ruby and diamond clip, and matching Cartier bracelets. The painting reflects every inch the iconic beauty she had become. After the sitting, Salisbury said of Marjorie, “It is seldom that an artist has a sitter who knows to perfection the gowns and jewels that suit her best.” Evening dress United States, ca. 1933 Silk crêpe and organza Marjorie in evening dress Frank Salisbury New York City, 1934 Oil on canvas Age of Innocence and Independence | 1900–1920 The fashions in this grouping of ensembles reflect Marjorie’s coming of age and early adulthood. As a group, they illustrate her transformation from Midwestern girl, through her introduction to the family business, exclusive finishing-school education, travels in the United States and Europe, and entrance into East Coast society. They also reflect Marjorie’s evolution through marriage and motherhood, the loss of both parents, inheritance of great wealth, and a thriving business to emboldened advocate for women’s changing roles in the new century. All of this she did in just two decades and all before her thirty-third birthday. 1887 Marjorie Merriweather Post is born to Ella Merriweather and Charles William “C.W.” Post. 2 1895 C.W. founds the Postum Cereal Company in Battle Creek, Michigan. Marjorie begins to attend corporate board meetings after school and accompanies her father on trips. 1900 Marjorie makes a transatlantic crossing with her parents, attending the Exposition Universelle in Paris. 1901 Marjorie, 14, enters boarding school in Washington, D.C. 1902 C.W. takes Marjorie to England for a fairytale trip that includes attending the coronation of King Edward VII. 1904 Ella and C.W. divorce, and C.W. remarries. 1905 Marjorie, 18, marries the attorney Edward Close and they establish homes in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Manhattan. 1908 Daughter Adelaide is born. 1909 Daughter Eleanor is born. 1912 Ella dies. 1914 C.W. dies. Marjorie inherits the Postum Cereal Company and becomes one of the wealthiest women in the United States. 1917 Marjorie equips a World War I hospital in France. Marjorie is part of a delegation of New York suffragettes who meet with President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C. to advocate for women’s voting rights. 1919 Marjorie and Edward Close divorce. Image 1 Marjorie’s sweet sixteen portrait, 1903 The Gibson Girl In the 1890s, the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson created the Gibson Girl, his vision of the new feminine ideal that appeared in the leading publications of the period. Marjorie epitomized the Gibson Girl look with her upswept hairstyle and high-fashion gowns, as well as her confidence, worldliness, education, and independence. Image 2 Marjorie, 1905 Image 3 Gibson Girl drawing, Collier’s Weekly, November 29, 1902 Ingenue (Spring/Summer Display) In 1901 fourteen-year-old Marjorie moved from her Midwestern home in Battle Creek, Michigan to the East Coast, where she attended Mount Vernon Seminary, a private finishing school for girls in Washington, D.C. She studied there until 1904, and during this time, Marjorie’s wardrobe grew significantly. As a fashionable young woman, she was expected to change as often as four times a day. Marjorie acquired particular dresses— including this one, which she wore for her senior portrait—along with coats, blouses, and skirts for mornings spent at home or in class, afternoons of shopping or paying visits, receptions, dinner parties, dances, and balls. While Marjorie was still in school, her father, C.W. Post, gently chided her, “You have more than double the clothes, shoes and stuff that any girl, no matter how rich, should have at seventeen.” Reception dress Bergdorf Goodman New York City, 1903–04 Silk lawn, organza, silk taffeta, silk ribbon Image 4 Marjorie’s Mount Vernon Seminary senior portrait, Washington, D.C., 1904 3 Sweet Sixteen (Fall/Winter Display) On March 15, 1903, the lovely young ingenue celebrated her sixteenth birthday in style, wearing an Edwardian- style, two-piece evening dress created by the Baker sisters, who ran a small dress shop from their home in northwest Washington, D.C. When Marjorie wrote “my first ballgown” on a tag and pinned it to the dress before packing it away, she began to document her fashion collection, a practice she maintained throughout her life. Evening dress Baker Washington, D.C., 1903 Spotted tulle, silk taffeta, silk velvet, coral beads, rhinestones Image 5 Detail of evening dress with handwritten note Image 6 Marjorie’s Sweet Sixteen portrait, 1903 Miss, Mrs., and Mother (Spring/Summer Display) In 1905 Marjorie married into East Coast society and began her family. In this new environment and role, she was expected to socialize frequently, attending and hosting parties, dinners, philanthropic gatherings, and cultural