Out & About: Ligonier museum program tracks fashion through the ages

“Petticoat” and “bodice” are familiar clothing terms, but what about “farthingale” and “stomacher”?

Saint Francis University costume designer Bonnie Resinski discussed them all — and more — during the second annual fashion show and purse auction on June 25 at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley.

Her program, titled “Silhouettes: A One-Woman Fashion Show,” covered what she calls historical costuming from the biblical fig leaf to the small fig-leaf apron popular in the later 1800s.

Resinski was her own model as she donned successive layers of fabric to illustrate the rise and fall of the ruffed collar, hoop skirt, corset and other elements of female fashion through the ages.

Among tidbits she shared:

• Taffeta cloth offered a defense against the black plague of the mid-1300s. Woven with a twist to the thread, taffeta repelled the fleas that carried the deadly disease.

• The standing ruff collar worn by Queen Elizabeth I and other gentlewomen of the later 1500s signified marital status: “A woman interested in finding a husband wore a standing ruff to signal that she was available,” Resinski said.

• The Puritans later took the starch out of the standing ruff and wore it draped over their shoulders. “The Puritans were against anything that was fun,” she noted.

• In the mid-1600s, Queen Christina of Sweden adorned her gowns with panniers that were 9 feet wide. Panniers were hoops that extended the width of the skirts while leaving the front and back relatively flat.

“Her skirts were hinged so she could get through doors,” Resinski said.

• During the 1840s, women began to wear multiple layers of petticoats to give their dresses volume. A red petticoat was the most fashionable and, because red dye was expensive, also signaled that the wearer had money.

And back to the farthingale and stomacher. The former was a hooped petticoat worn in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, while the latter was a a decorated triangular panel filling the front opening of a woman’s gown or bodice.

From the days when it was impossible for a woman to get dressed by herself, we’ve progressed to an era in which clothing is comfortable and suited to our lifestyles, Resinski concluded.

Guests at the event were invited to wear their own fashionable summer chapeaus.

Before the program, they had the opportunity to bid on purses from area boutiques and specialty shops and enjoyed tea and a light luncheon.

Seen: Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art education coordinator and Ligonier Valley site director Kristin Miller, Clare Kaczmarek, Cheryl Wood, Susan Endersbe, Paula Maloney, Karen Ridilla, Rosanne Henigan, Diane Repko, Beth Bauman, Margie Vickers, Patty Kummick, Tina Angelo, Sandy Cofer, Mary Campfield, Sandy Detwiler, Kim Markle and Karen Lager.