Philadelphia in Style

Philadelphia In Style: A Century of Fashion from the Robert & Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection, Drexel University is a celebration of the rich sartorial legacy of a city that has played a significant role in the development of American fashion. Nineteenth century Philadelphia was a well-established center of textile manufacturing and home to several successful women's magazines, such as the Ladies Home Journal that served to establish Philadelphia as an authority of fashion and taste.  Philadelphia was also instrumental to the development of modern consumer culture due to the marketing innovations of famed retailers John Wanamaker and Strawbridge & Clothier that continued well into the twentieth century.  Philadelphia In Style chronicles a century of style with garments and accessories that were either worn, made, or sold in Philadelphia.

On the even of the First World War, fashion was struggling to break from the traditions of the past.  Department stores emphasized novelty and luxury with innovations such as fashion shows, concerts, restaurants, and parades.  Throughout the 1920's, the industry was based largely on the style dictates of the established French Couture.  These prestigious couturiers had two audiences - the elite clientele that purchased their wardrobes directly from the couture house, and the buyers from international department stores, specialty shops, and ready to wear manufacturers.  John Wanamaker was an early advocate of Parisian fashions and was one of the first department stores to hold promotional fashion shows.

J.M. Gown Shop was a Philadelphia-based dressmaking establishment that operated from 1916 to 1935, a period when many women abandoned traditional dressmaking for ready to wear garments. The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection is fortunate to have many of their original design sketches and other archival materials.

During the Second World War, American designers such as Claire McCardell, Gilbert Adrian, and Traina-Norell were promoted enthusiastically by leading department stores and specialty shops. After the war, French designers returned to American markets, but would have to compete with American ready-to-wear.  In 1947, French courturier Christian Dior introduced what would be nicknamed the "New Look," a collection centered on full skirts and tiny waists that rejected the broad shoulders and short skirts of the 1940's, and would influence the fashions of the coming decade. By the late 1940's, most department stores were following the early lead of Strawbridge & Clothier and expanding into the suburbs with branches that offered convenient locations and ample parking.  This expansion was essential to the continued prosperity of the department stores, but also signaled a change in shopping habits that would eventually destroy the grand department stores of Market Street.

The 1950's and 1960's were a period of change for Philadelphia area retailers. Many of the large department stores continued their suburban expansion with branch stores, and "anchor stores" in the newly developed shopping malls. Strawbridge & Clothier would dominate mall expansion during this period, with an uncanny ability to assess market demand and consumer trends.  Fashion in this period was increasingly youthful with simple lines and bright colors replacing the staid refinement of the immediate postwar period. These changes reflected the preferences of a new generation that favored high-end ready-to-wear over traditional couture that required numerous fittings. New boutiques, such as Knit Wit, also emerged to capture these younger shoppers.

By the 1970's, many older retailers struggled to remain economically viable, and many once prominent names, such as Lit Brothers and The Blum Store, closed their doors forever. Larger stores like John Wanamaker and Strawbridge & Clothier relied on the profits from their successful suburban branches, and even Nan Duskin had acquired locations in Strafford and Haverford in the early 1970's. In 1977, the Gallery, the first urban shopping mall in Philadelphia opened, in an attempt to revitalize Center City shopping.

The 1980's saw a series of mergers and acquisitions that eventually led to the end of the many historically important stores. Gimbels was the first to close in 1987, followed shortly after by Bonwit Teller, Nan Duskin, and John Wanamaker.  Strawbridge & Clothier, with their astute assessment of their customers, held on the longest and remained open until 2006, when it was absorbed by Macy's. The John Wanamker store, complete with its famous bronze eagle, and organ from the St. Louis World's Fair, still stands on Market Street, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.  The eagle, once the symbol of the great retailer, remains a popular tourist attraction and a monument to the generations of Philadelphia shoppers who told each other to "Meet me at the Eagle."