Historical Society of Delaware - Pelerines to Parasols Exhibit

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Note: This exhibit is CLOSED. For reference only.

at the Atrium Gallery
through November 12,1999

FREE Admission
1p.m. to 9p.m Mondays
9a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday

HSD Home | Museums | Current Exhibitions

Clothes may make the man, but every woman knows that accessories make the outfit. See how women have accessorized throughout the centuries in a new exhibit at the Delaware History Center.

Pelerines to Parasols: Accessorizing the Well-Dressed Lady includes fans, parasols, hair combs, purses, shoes, hats, and tuckers from the 1700s through the mid-1900s.

Forty-one hats on display range from an 1810 Quaker bonnet to a 1960 pillbox hat adorned with bright bird feathers. More than 27 shoes include white satin wedding shoes from 1791 and gray suede heels from the 1970s embellished with steel nails.

Wonderful purses with beaded scenes from the late 1800s and early 1900s comprise some of the 44 purses on display, as do purses from the 1920s that are so tiny they couldn't hold a modern tube of lipstick.

A beautiful jet-on-wire design from 1890 is one of the most striking hair combs on display. More than 20 fans show how a fan can be a simple device to alleviate the heat, or the most expressive and flirtatious part of a woman's outfit.

Pelerines and tuckers were worn for modesty and usually consisted of a lace cloth to conceal a woman's cleavage during the daylight hours. Examples of these from 1820 to 1920 are included in the exhibition.