At this time of year, for those in the fashion industry, "going to the Met" has nothing to do with spending a lazy day in the galleries, admiring Byzantine art. Rather, it means that you are one of the Chosen, invited to attend the annual Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, co-hosted by Vogue's Anna Wintour.
Tonight's Met gala will celebrate the new exhibit "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity." In the lead-up to the event and exhibition, Vogue devoted many pages of its May issue to depicting various female American prototypes, including the "patriot," the "flapper," the "heiress," the "bohemian," and the "the screen siren."
Some observers have grumbled about the subjectiveness and narrowness of these categories. "The thinking person has to acknowledge that the whole idea of the American woman is silly," wrote author and law professor Katie Roiphe in a recent Financial Times article. "There is no American woman, only millions of assorted American women ... [The show] feels like history and feminism, even if it's closer to dreams and advertising."
Still, I'd rather take this opportunity to consider the merits of the exhibition's premise -- which examines how "American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation" - and to celebrate what makes American women unique.
If America has always been about frontiers, American women have reflected this national characteristic and served as a breath of fresh air to the rest of the world. Even though we, like women on other countries, have historically been constrained by politics (women in the U.S. have had the vote for fewer than a hundred years) and biology (before the Pill, many women were pregnant every year before they hit menopause), we've still always represented a liberation of the spirit.
From Revolutionary War icon Betsy Ross to World War II's Rosie the Riveter, from sexually liberated 1920s femme fatale Louise Brooks to bra-burning feminists in the 1960s, from anti-slavery orator Sojourner Truth to controversial civil rights activist Angela Davis, American history is filled with female archetypes who pushed against the barriers of repression and social convention.
Maybe Vogue isn't so off the mark, when the magazine says that "if [she] blazed trails and broke rules, chances are [she] was born in the USA."
Below is a slideshow of fifteen women who embody this quintessentially American sense of strength, resilient spirit, and crossed-frontiers. This list is by no means all-inclusive; it's just a sampling of some of my personal favorites. It could have been 150 names; it could have been 1,500 -- or more.
In the comments section, I look forward to seeing which iconic American women have particularly inspired you.
On November 1, 2010, Chronicle Books will release a book by Lesley M. M. Blume based on her popular, nostalgia-celebrating Let's Bring Back column for The Huffington Post. 'Let's Bring Back' the book will be a sophisticated, stylish cultural encyclopedia, celebrating forgotten objects, pastimes, and personae from bygone eras. From sealing wax and quill pens to the Orient Express, fainting couches, and limericks, there is a great deal of ground to cover. Please make sure to visit previous installments of Let's Bring Back.
Follow Lesley M. M. Blume on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lesleymmblume
Today New York City's Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute will open its new exhibit, "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity." Gazing at the glamorous finery of eras past, as usual I found myself wishing back certain flourishes and trappings, from hand-held fans to white gloves to turbans.
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