Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1967 - 1970 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
.5 linear feet
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Elizabeth Hawes was an American fashion designer and outspoken fashion industry critic. Hawes was a champion of the ready to wear industry and people's right to have the clothes they desired, rather than what was specified as "fashionable." These ideas are encapsulated in her 1938 book Fashion Is Spinach. Hawes began her career as a dress copier in Paris in 1925. In 1926, after the garment firm she worked for closed, she began work as a fashion sketcher. Returning to New York in 1928, and began to produce ready-to-wear copies of French designs with Rosemary Harden for their company, Hawes-Harden. After Harden sold her portion of the company to her, Hawes began to work on designs of her own. In 1931, she became the first non-French designer to show at the Paris Spring Fashion Shows, garnering her a great deal of media attention. In 1935, she showed her designs in Moscow, the first display of Western Fashion there since the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1937, she presented an all-male fashion show of her own brightly colored designs, followed in 1939 by the publication of another book, Men Can Take It. Throughout her career, she became one of the first American designers to establish their reputation outside of the Parisian haute couture model. In addition to her work in the fashion industry, she was an author, union organizer, champion of gender equality, and political activist.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This collection is comprised of working manuscripts and drafts of essays.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Thematic and chronological if known
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access is open to researchers by appointment at the Fashion Institute of Technology Library, Department of Special Collections and College Archives. If you have any questions, or wish to schedule an appointment contact us at fitlibsparc@fitnyc.edu or call (212) 217-4385.
Conditions governing reproduction
The Department of Special Collections and FIT Archives does not own copyright for all material held in its physical custody. It is the researcher's obligation to abide by and satisfy copyright law (Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 108) when copying or using materials (including digital materials) found in or made available from the department. When possible, the department will inform a researcher about the copyright status of material, the researcher's obligations with regard to such material, and, wherever possible, the owner or owners of the copyrights. Any and all reproduction of originals is at the archivist's discretion.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Hawes, Elizabeth, 1903-1971 (Subject)
- Hotel Chelsea (Subject)
- Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.). Museum (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
AAT; ANSI; DACS; DCMI; ISAD(G); ISO; LoC; NISO; etc
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
- Latin
Sources
Archivist's note
These manuscripts were written while in residence at the Hotel Chelsea between 1967 and 1970/1971, the year of her death. At the time of creation, Hawes' health was suffering from chronic alcoholism; she died of cirrhosis of the liver September 6, 1971.
Archivist's note
Arrangement, description, and archival processing by April Calahan, FIT, NY, NY, USA.