Kent fashion museum show celebrates founders

Gowns created by Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman will be featured in the exhibition “Dazzling Day and Night,” opening Friday at The Kent State University Museum.

“Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman: Dazzling Day and Night” opens Friday at The Kent State University Museum.

Rodgers and Silverman are the founders of the museum, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2025.

According to Museum Director Sarah J. Rogers, “Their initial gift of 4,000 garments, textiles and accessories includes many day dresses and cocktail attire from their fashion business, Jerry Silverman, Inc. The Seventh Avenue showroom of Jerry Silverman Inc. was among the most successful labels of women’s better dresses during the 1960s and 1970s. Their garments were popular with American clients, first ladies and celebrities because of their timeless, stylish designs. ‘Dazzling Day and Night’ showcases dresses and ensembles, one-of-a-kind evening wear made for celebrity friends, photographs, advertisements and fashion sketches.”

Shannon Rodgers, a native Ohioan, began his career as a costume designer, first on Broadway and then for movies such as “Cleopatra” and “The Adventures of Marco Polo.” Silverman studied law but eventually switched careers after working with clients in the fashion industry.

Silverman’s and Rodgers’ partnership began in 1946 when Silverman hired Rodgers to work for fashion company Martini Designed as a designer.

After speaking with a member of KSU’s Chestnut Society in the late 1970s, Rodgers and Silverman proposed a fashion show at KSU, which would serve as a premiere for the fall “Jerry Silverman” collection and present many historic costumes from Rodgers’ collection.

The 1979 show at KSU’s Student Center ballroom was an overwhelming success and led to Silverman and Rodgers’ further involvement with the university, including the renovation of Rockwell Hall and the creation of the KSU Museum and the School of Fashion.

The exhibition will highlight more than 30 ensembles from the late 1950s, when Rodgers began designing in New York, through the 1970s. The selections of stylish daywear and elegant evening wear also provide a time capsule of American styles during these decades. Rodgers and Silverman were able to translate the latest designs from the Parisian runways into looks their American clients would want.

“Dazzling Day and Night” also will include sketches, photographs, and advertising — especially their famous New Yorker Magazine ads “Just show me the Jerry Silverman!”

The exhibition will be on display through July 28 at the museum, 515 Hilltop Drive, Kent. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for senior citizens, $5 for children / students ages 5 to 18 and free for Kent students, faculty and staff and children ages 4 and younger. Admission is free for everyone on Sunday. For more information, go to www.kent.edu/

museum or call 330-672-3450.

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