Salve Regina Hosting Gilded Age Fashion Exhibit

NEWPORT, RI — Salve Regina will open an exhibit Thursday at the Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery, showcasing Gilded Age dress in New England.

The exhibit, organized by the school’s art and art history, fashion, and long department, will feature fashions from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that transport viewers to a time of booming industrialism and transatlantic exchange.

“This was a period of affluence and aspiration in cities like New York and Newport,” exhibition co-curators Ernest Jolicoeur and Anthony Mangieri said. “The show examines the lives of middle-class New Englanders who aspired to the glamour and wealth of families like the Astors, Goelets, and Vanderbilts.”

Visitors will see a range of garments — afternoon and evening wear, party attire and mourning dress, a bathing costume and a wool coat. From sportswear to formal wear, from hand-stitched items to hats and fans, this exhibition features articles of clothing for different occasions and times of the year, offering insight into the lives of Gilded Age New Englanders.

The exhibition is made possible through a partnership with Rebecca Kelly, a textile conservator and dress historian from the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising, and Design. The garments displayed are on loan from the University of Rhode Island’s historic textile and costume collection.

Kelly curated the selection of garments in collaboration with the show’s co-curators, Salve Regina’s Jolicoeur and Mangieri. Students in Jolicoeur and Mangieri’s advanced art history class served as assistant curators and are working on a digital humanities project to advance understanding of these garments.

The public is invited to attend an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the gallery. The exhibit runs through Nov. 24.

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery is located in the Antone Academic Center on the campus of Salve Regina University, at the corner of Lawrence and Leroy Avenues. It is handicap accessible with parking along Lawrence and Leroy Avenues.

Exhibits are open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, and from noon to 4 p.m. on weekends.

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