'Nebraska Style & Substance: 20th Century Dress' is Hillestad exhibit

An exhibit on 20th century dress featuring a group of significant donors and their stories will open March 13 in the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The exhibit is free and open to the public and runs through April 8 in the gallery, on the second floor of the Home Economics Building, 35th and Holdrege streets. It will consist of groupings of fine examples of men's and women's clothing from the last 80 years. These items were donated to the Historic Costume Collection in the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences by individuals or their families and friends whose good works go well beyond their generosity to the collection. The exhibit will pay homage to five individuals, including Alice Abel and Marjorie Woods, who have a penchant for dressing smartly while doing volunteer work and contributing to wellbeing of countless community events and causes. Also featured in the exhibition are the stories and dress of now-deceased Mary Louise Babst and Mable Lee, and Jack Graff, the only male in the group.

Outstanding examples of British tailoring will be shown in the Graff collection. Early examples of women's physical education uniforms and gear will be exhibited in a section devoted to telling the story of Lee, who was one of the nation's leaders in the development of organized women's athletics. Tweeds and wool plaids and stripes will be the common denominator of the exhibition, but designer gowns by such significant designers as Chanel, Norman Norrell, Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta will be included.

The exhibition will open March 13 with a free public lecture by Janice Stauffer, associate professor of theatre arts at UNL, a costume designer and an authority on men's dress. Her talk "Suiting Everyone: A Story of Men's Tailoring," will begin at 1 p.m. in Room 11, Home Economics Building.

The Hillestad Textiles Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment. For more information, visit the gallery Web site (http://textilegallery.unl.edu) or phone (402) 472-2911.

CONTACTS: Wendy Weiss, Director, Hillestad Gallery, (402) 472-2911; and
Barbara Trout, Curator, Hillestad Gallery, (402) 472-2911