Heiresses and flappers and suffragettes, oh my! The changing fashions of the American Woman strike the eye of many visitors.

“American Women: Fashioning a National Identity” is featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art between May 18 and August 15. The exhibit demonstrates the “developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today,” according to the museum website. The changing attitudes of women in society are reflected through the fashion prevalent during each time period, ranging from ball gowns to flapper dresses and many styles in between.

Styles progress in chronological order, so viewers make their way from The Heiress of the 1890s to The Flapper of the 1920s, ending with The American Women, a video exhibit featuring various images of today’s fashion icons.

The Heiress. In the 1890s, upper class ladies wore extravagant gowns and big hair to demonstrate their wealth. Ten mannequins are on display, each wearing a different dress and hairstyle, in a lavish ballroom setting.

The Gibson Girl. In the 1890s, women also strayed from stereotypes and European fashion with new styles of street wear and sportswear for the increasing number of female athletes. Sports – such as golf, tennis, and swimming – symbolized the American woman’s increasing freedom. Sounds of the outdoors set the scene for mannequins dressed in tan blouses and skirts, holding tennis rackets or boat paddles.

The Bohemian. Fashion at the dawn of the 20th century became artistic in order to express individualism. Lace, headbands, and embellishments are cast in a warm light to the sounds of a crackling fire.

“My favorite is the pre-World War I era, that time where everything got loose and oriental-looking [sic],” Nadia Cowen said. “Liberty made all of those beautiful capes with the peacock feathers and the motifs.”

The Patriot and the Suffragist. In the 1910s, the main aspiration for women was to gain voting rights, and the arrival of World War I brought a wave of patriotism as women became more politically involved.

Video footage of women marching for the suffrage movement accompanies mannequins dressed in army attire, holding various signs toward political justice for women.
The Flapper. The description outside the showcase states that flappers “redefined the concept of freedom as sexual rather than political,” and influenced the standards of beauty internationally.

“I really liked the flappers because I love the 1920s. That was cool to see that,” Camille Blais said. “I definitely learned where our influences for style today came from which was interesting because you think that it’s an original idea and then you find out that someone did it 40 years ago.”

Fashion teacher Lynda Campbell considered the flapper exhibit her favorite as well.
“[I enjoyed] the flappers because I like that era myself … The fabrics and the dresses and the flappers, the bugle beads and the pleats–just amazing. I’m imagining that they were hand-sewn on the dresses,” Campbell said.

The Screen Siren. The 1930s ushered in a less youthful and more sophisticated sense of style. Along with mannequins in modern gowns, black and white videos of actresses such as Marilyn Monroe were on large screens for visitors to enjoy.

Jennifer Collado, clerk at the gift shop outside the exhibit, regards the Screen Siren portion of the exhibit as her favorite because she “love[s] the old Hollywood glamour” of the display.

The American Woman. A ceiling-high display loops images and videos of television and music icons to the tune of the classic Lenny Kravitz song “American Women.”

“I think it’s a beautiful exhibition, but I think it covers just one particular aspect of fashion, and most of it here is designer,” Nadia Cowen said. “You won’t see any Sears catalogue clothing here, which is what most women wore. So in that sense, it’s not totally representative of American women.”

The exhibit, sponsored by GAP and Condé Nast, is located in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall on the second floor of the museum.