Explore Cocktail Culture Through the Lens of Fashion and Art

The Norton Museum of Art in Florida, United States is hosting an “intoxicating” exhibition entitled Cocktail Culture, a multi-disciplinary exhibit that explores the 20th-century party life through the lens of fashion, art, and design. On view now through March 11.

Christian Dior once called the cocktail “the symbol par excellence of the American way of life” (Mustich, 2012). Cocktail Culture curator Michelle Finamore explained, “The cocktail party is almost a purely American conception – it is the hours between afternoon and evening, where fashion and culture collide” (Krasker, 2011). She added, “In the 1920s, when drinking was forbidden, the cocktail hour was glamorized in films that starred screen sirens such as Joan Crawford.”

"Blowing a Kiss," Photographed by Lillian Bassman in 1958

Featuring more than 150 exhilarating items dating from the ’20s to the present – including cocktail attires, accoutrements, photographs, illustrations, film clips, and decorative art objects – Cocktail Culture seeks to delve into the social rituals of the cocktail hour and illustrate how the term “cocktail” became an expression that’s synonymous with urbane glamour and sophistication.

“I couldn’t resist a chance to put together a show featuring two things I adore, fashion and cocktails,” said Finamore (Janjigian, 2011). “And the timing couldn’t be better, in light of the recent explosion of interest in mixology and the current nostalgia for dressier, less casual eras.”

“I started in the 1920s, because when I think about how clothing reflects the social position of women, it really does start in the ’20s – that’s when they start actively participating in cocktail culture,” Finamore reasoned.

Read: Recipes and Adventures from the Cocktail Chicks

In the ’20s, women gained the right to vote and became independent. “It’s very much a youth-culture-oriented era,” Finamore stated. “They’re out there drinking; they’re dancing; they’re smoking; [and] they’re starting to get into cars. I think that’s a good starting point for the show, especially in terms of the history of the cocktail dress.”

Fashion Illustration by Fred Greenhill for Saks Fifth Avenue, 1964

Highlights of Cocktail Culture:

• Materials from the archives of Tiffany & Co., including a diamond-encrusted enameled cigarette holder, a sterling silver vermouth dropper that looks like an oil can, and a sterling silver cocktail set originally designed for the 1939 World’s Fair.
• A cocktail shaker signed by Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
• Fashion illustrations by Fred Greenhill and Kenneth Paul Block.
• Photographs by Irving Penn, Lillian Bassman, and Gosta Peterson.
• Items from the iconic Stork Club, including a whimsical champagne bucket from the ’30s.
• Cocktail garments by such influential designers as Cristobal Balenciaga, Lee Alexander McQueen, and Jeanne Lanvin, as well as accessories by the likes of Elsa Shiaperelli, Christian Dior, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Visit this one-of-a-kind exhibition before it ends in March. Book your flight to Florida, United States now.

When:	Back to Calendar » December 15, 2011 – March 11, 2012
Contact:	http://norton.org/
Categories:	United States
Tags:	Christian Dior Cristóbal Balenciaga Elsa Shiaperelli Fred Greenhill Gosta Peterson Irving Penn Jeanne Lanvin Kenneth Paul Block Lee McQueen Lillian Bassman Tiffany & Co. Van Cleef & Arpels
Where:	Norton Museum of Art 1451 S Olive Ave West Palm Beach, FL 33401 USA
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