Cocktail dress "Made in Italy exclusively for Creeds" 1956, Apricot silk organza 979.15.2ab Gift of Mrs. Peter Cragg. Photo credit: Irving Solero

Approximately 60 haute couture ensembles are currently on view in the Garfield Weston Hall, on the main floor of the Royal Ontario Museum. The exhibit, Elite Elegance: Couture fashion in the 1950s, the last golden age of haute couture, examines couture fashion from 1945 to 1960, through the women who wore the clothes and the designers who created the fashions, to highlight the social and cultural significance of haute couture in Canada, significantly Toronto.

"This exhibit differs from other couture exhibits. It does not feature the work of a single designer. It's not about the house of Christian Dior or Balmain or Givenchy. It's about all these people," said the exhibit's curator Dr. Alexandra Palmer. "First and foremost it foregrounds the women, the attitudes of the day, social and cultural ambience. Without the women who wore the clothes, who gave them life, who took them out into the social world, it really means nothing. Designers aren't great designers if women don't buy their clothes."

Dr. Palmer wrote the award-winning Couture and Commerce: The Transatlantic Fashion Trade in the 1950s, published in 2001. It won a Clio Award the same year as the Best Work in Ontario history.

What becomes abundantly clear listening to Palmer is that the beautiful clothes on display performed a role in society. Rules of etiquette were much more prescribed at the time and thus, "Clothes were very important ...They were carefully purchased, carefully thought out and repeatedly worn. They served a function for philanthropic work and for cultural work."

Contrary to common belief, perpetuated by the fashion press, couture consumers did not make purchases mindlessly and discard them barely wore. The couture consumer of the 1950s was making a long-term investment. From an early age the social paragons of the era, were trained in getting good value for their money, which included building a lasting wardrobe, altering and updating the garments as needed through the years.

Elite Elegance is not only filled with beautiful fashions of the era, it informs through drawings, video, old footage, accessories, and written information. The exhibit enhances our understanding of the social significance of haute couture in the lives of Toronto socialites in their roles as social, and cultural volunteers.

	Evening gown by Gigliola Curiel Italian, 1955, With silk satin and floral velvet draped panel 1957.100ab Gift of the Robert Simpson Co. Photo: Irving Solero

The exhibit is divided into seven essential sections:

• The Haute Couture Atelier, examines the highly skilled handcraft involved in making haute couture clothes
• The New Look marks the change after 1945 from functional, short lengths due to war time restrictions to the resurgence of feminine corseted waists, rounded shoulders and longer, fuller skirts
• Founding a Couture Wardrobe concentrates on the social calendar and how it necessitated the style and quality inherent in couture fashion, beginning with the all-important wedding day
• Meetings, Luncheons and Teas illustrates the more business like approach needed for day wear
• Holt Renfrew and Christian Dior details how Canadian retailer Alvin Walker, through Holt Renfrew, was crucial in securing exclusive Canadian license for Dior's products in Canada
• In After Five and Grand Occasions cocktail and eveningwear are displayed. It is here that you will find the most intricate, laborious work of the haute couture houses applied to the finest fabrics. It is well worth slowing down in this section
• The exhibit ends with Haute Couture Today, which maintains that, though worn by far fewer numbers of women, haute couture continues today.

	Yellow evening gown with square neckline: Woman's evening dress by Norman Hartnell English, 1952 Silk tabby 969.56.a Worn by Helen Band to a state dinner; gift of Mrs. Charles Band. Photo credit: Irving Solero

Throughout the exhibit the role models who wore these clothes, who often made the 'best-dressed' lists and who donated them to the museum are presented for the viewers interest. A correlated exhibit using multi-media is available in the Library Gallery, where visitors can learn more about the donors, collectors and curators of the exhibit.

Elite Elegance ends with a spectacular, "show stopping" piece from Dior's 1997 Spring-Summer collection. Kamata unites Masai motifs with a luxurious orange-red organza ball gown that exemplifies the change in haute couture from wearable quality in the 50s to ornamental showpieces today.

Elite Elegance: Couture fashion in the 1950s, opens at the ROM Saturday November 23, 2002 and will remain on display until May 4, 2003.

- Homepage image Dress by Marty of Switzerland, 1960; Pink silk chiffon (dress) 2000.85.1.1; worn by Betty Cassels to cocktails, dinners, and the theatre. Gift of Mrs. Patrick Cassels. Photograph by Irving Solero.

- Images courtesy the Royal Ontario Museum

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