James, Charles, 1906-1978 (designer); Marshall Field & Company (distributor)
1954
Charles James originally designed the Butterfly ball gown for Mrs. William Randolph Hearst Jr., for the price of $1,250. The sculptural design lives up to a comment once made by Spanish couturier Cristbal Balenciaga, "Charles James is not only the...
Donor Franc Reece married John Roger Williams on June 19, 1901. Corset was bought at Marshall Field & Co. and part of her trousseau. It was never worn.
Worn by Miss Honore O'Shea, daughter of James J. O'Shea and Honore Pyne O'Shea, when she married donor's father, John J. Sullivan, November 10, 1887 at Holy Family Church, Roosevelt and May Street, Chicago.
Worn by Mrs. Foster Adams, née Courtney Letts and then Mrs. John Borden, while she sat for her portrait which hung in the Borden's drawing room. Donor's note: "Made by Chanel, Paris, 1925, for portrait to be painted in London, by Hilary Strain,...
Worn by donor's mother Elise Marie Roach (born February 19, 1921) at her wedding to John Edward Cummens at the Chicago Lawn Methodist Church (63rd Street and St. Louis Avenue) on October 15, 1941. She purchased the dress at a shop near the...
This wedding dress, worn by Theodora Shaw on June 29, 1935, was originally made in Chicago for the bride's mother, Frances Wells, when she married Howard Van Doren Shaw on April 20, 1893. Although the skirt and bodice are original, the bodice...
Worn by donors' mother, Mary P. Withers, on the occasion of her marriage to Clive Runnells on September 10, 1921, in Lake Forest, Illinois at the Church of the Holy Spirit.
Worn by Mrs. John de Koven (neé Helen Haddock, 1836-1886) to wedding of her son Cecil Barnes and Margaret Ayer, May 21, 1910 at Saint James Episcopal Church, Cass and Huron Streets, Chicago.
Worn by Mrs. Henry Nelson Tuttle, née Fannie Farwell (1858-1918). Fannie Farwell's wedding to Henry Tuttle in the winter of 1888 was a grand social affair attended by Chicago's most notable families. Fannie wore this traveling coat as part of her...
Wedding coat of Jabez Hamlin (born July 28, 1709 - died April 5, 1779) when he married Margaret Phillips (born August 31, 1713 -died September 6, 1748) in Middletown, Connecticut, on December 6, 1736. Great-great-grandfather of Anna P. Williams....
