288 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



In a gown of her own designing. — A class of 

 advanced students in Teachers College, Columbia 

 University, under Miss Ruth Wilmot, instructor of 

 costume design, has created many modern gar- 

 ments along lines of form and decoration suggested 

 by a study of specimens in the American Museum. 

 The success of Miss Wilmot's work is attested by 

 the fact that most of these garments have found 

 ready sale among professional designers 



with the view of applying ideas, either 

 in decoration or in line, to modern cos- 

 tumes. Instead of the usual method of 

 importing modern foreign costumes 

 (themselves based, generall}^ on for- 

 eign museum collections), our design- 

 ers, familiar with the practical needs of 

 today, have gone direct to original 



documents for their inspiration. The 

 work, therefore, marks one of the most 

 important movements in the develop- 

 ment of a truly American type of in- 

 dustrial art. 



Last year I described in the Journtal 

 a similar development among the fab- 

 ric designers in this city. It may not be 

 out of place to note that this work has 

 continued steadily, that the results 

 have been not only artistically but also 

 commercially successful. Many of the 

 most interesting designs in printed silks 

 and cottons now on the market owe 

 their origin to some specimen in the 

 American Museum. Not a day passes 

 l)ut I see some textile design either 

 worn in a garment or on display in a 

 shop window that owes its origin to 

 museum inspiration. Thus the Mu- 

 seum has been responsible not only for 

 commercial prosperity but also, by the 

 character of the designs, for an im- 

 provement in national taste. 



In spite of the importance justly 

 attached to fabric decoration, costume 

 designing is of more vital moment. 

 The problems of the costume artist 

 (■()ni])rehend not only surface decora- 

 tion, but color combinations, use of 

 ornament, the general outline or sil- 

 houette, and a knowledge of the mass 

 psychology of woman. The perfect 

 artist in dress must have not only some 

 of the feeling of the painter, but also 

 of the sculptor, and added to this rare 

 combination, a vision suflficient to 

 judge the general feeling of women at 

 least six months in advance. 



One lesson we have learned from the 

 war is the necessity for cooperation. The 

 development of our natural resources, 

 the proper expression of our national 

 life, rest upon the perfect cooperation 

 and coordination of our physical and in- 

 tellectual powers. The basis of modern 

 life is a perfectly regulated industrial 

 system. If we are to endure as a great 

 power, if we are to hold and advance 

 our place among the great democracies, 

 we must employ not only the skill and 



