A New Silent-Film-Era Fashion Exhibition Is Here

3 min read

Feathered hats with rhinestone buckles, heavily embroidered flapper dresses in shades of brilliant plum and powdery pink, and satin shoes with sunburst embellishments: these were just a few of the fashions that silent film sirens wore in the early days of the film industry in New York—long before Hollywood was Hollywood. This particular era is one of the least documented in fashion history, featuring America’s first (now often forgotten) celebrities like Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and Clara Bow. That’s part of the reason why the Bard Graduate Center Gallery has chosen to spotlight the subject for its most recent exhibition. Curated by Michelle Finamore, independent fashion and design historian, and Emma Cormack, associate curator for exhibitions and study collection curator at BGC, “Goddesses in the Machine: Fashion in American Silent Film” unveils nearly 200 different items ranging from rare garments to jewelry and photographs. Given fashion’s current fascination with all things antique and designers’ dedication to the drop waist, the timing is perfect.

“It’s very theatrical,” Finamore tells ELLE of the early style of the silent film industry. “Lots of diaphanous layers of fabric, a lot of beadwork, a lot of garments that are starting to follow the lines of the body, which then evolves into this 1920s very streamlined modern silhouette.” Adds Cormack, “the materiality of the fashions from this period are these very fine silks, often with heavy embellishment, either sequins, rhinestones, embroidery, or metal.” That’s part of the reason why it’s so rare to come across fashions that were actually on screen during this time—they’re so fragile that very, very few survived.

Mae Murray photographed by Ruth Harriet Louise, gelatin silver print.

I. Miller (Israel Miller), shoes, mid-1920s. Silk, satin, gilt leather, and kid leather. Jimmy Raye Collection.

Natacha Rambova, “Suit of Lights” matador jacket for Rudolph Valentino as Juan Gallardoin in Blood and Sand (1922), ca. 1900.

The duo points to an image showing a late 1910s Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon garment from her New York couture house contrasted with a Hollywood costume worn by Louise Glaum in the 1920 film Sex, both representative of some of the different styles seen in the silent film era. Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon was a favorite of the silent film stars for her theatrical, show-stopping gowns. Another contemporary designer of the time named Madame Francis is rarely documented in fashion history books but is represented in the exhibition as well for her costumes designed for the films of the era. Alongside all the over-the-top glamorous dressing options, the exhibition also includes everyday looks specific to the silent film era as well. Think: fashions that represent the shirtwaist girl, the workers, the person going to the movies; basic white shirts, long street-length skirts included.

Perhaps most interestingly, the exhibition makes even the most jaded of fashion followers realize all the little nitty-gritty details that went into the fashion of the silent film era. Given that everything was in black and white, with no sound, every single millimeter of a visual detail mattered. Another interesting point the exhibition makes is the compelling relationship between the personal style of the actors and the on-screen style of their characters. In the early days, the film industry was still forming: actors were rarely credited; they did their own makeup and often wore their own clothes or commissioned them from their favorite designers themselves. “So many actors were providing their own garments or going to their favorite designers to provide the fashion for the film,” says Finamore. “So what we think of with this show is that it’s providing this kind of blueprint for Hollywood glamour.”

Lillian Gish as Anna Moore wearing a gown designed by Henri Bendel in Way Down East (D.W. Griffith, Inc., 1920).

Picture hat worn by Lulu Glaser, ca. 1910.

Opulent I. Miller shoes, beaded bras, a leather flying cap, and goggles are also in the show. “We’re hoping people walk away from the exhibition with not only an understanding of how important this period was,” says Cormack. “But I think they’ll be surprised at some of the garments themselves and some of the depictions of women on the screen.”

“Goddesses in the Machine: Fashion in American Silent Film” is open through Jan. 3, 2027, at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery.