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  • Dress, 1925-1935

    This dress was owned by Virginia Palmer Bradfield Ward. A dramatic and slinky bias cut evening dress, both the styling and the coral color are typical of the mid 1930s. The interesting seaming and panel insets give much visual interest to what might seemingly be a plain dress.Virginia Palmer Bradfield was born 1897 in Grand Rapids, MI. She was born in to one of Michigan's oldest mining families.Her great grandfather, Charles Henry Palmer, was a pioneer investor and developer of mines and railroa…

  • Dress with Underskirt, about 1927

    Patou was one of the most important designers of the early-mid 20th Century. He created fashions for slim, active, petite women like Elizabeth Parke Firestone. This is a cute, bouncy dress for a woman with a young family and many obligations.Born in Decatur, Illinois in 1897 Elizabeth Parke married Harvey S. Firestone Jr., son of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founder Harvey S. Firestone, in 1921.Once described by a friend as, "the most luxurious woman in the history of luxury," Elizabeth Par…