MEDIA RELEASE
CSUN Has its Own Piece of Fashion History
(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Aug. 13, 2008) — Every year, designers recycle silhouettes and textiles that were popular in the past. As pleats and shoulder pads come and go, the history of fashion repeats itself.
No one is more familiar with these trends than family and consumer sciences professor emeritus Nancy Owens, who for many years served as curator of the Historical Costume Collection at Cal State Northridge. The collection is housed in CSUN’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, where it is available as a resource for faculty and students. The collection is comprised of garments, antique and ethnic textiles and accessories donated by faculty, students and members of the community.
"You can tell a lot about people by looking at the clothes they wore," Owens said.
Owens has nurtured the collection, which was started by late faculty member Dorothy Blackman, for about 20 years. She maintains it with the assistance of graduate students who have also donated their time to investigate the background of items, and then catalogue, preserve and store them in a temperature-controlled closet equipped with acid free boxes and hanging bags.
Owens stressed that the pieces in the collection are meant for inspiration. "They can be copied or examined to determine their construction," she explained. "They cannot be worn."
The oldest pieces date from the 1880s. Some were part of a "traveling wardrobe" belonging to a young woman who died in a train wreck. A trunk containing the woman’s clothing was recovered from the river into which the train fell and items were passed down from family member to family member before being donated to the university.
Owens is well acquainted with the clothes because they belonged to her great grandmother. The hand-sewn skirts and intricately constructed bodices serve as reminders that women, on average, were once a great deal smaller and wore corsets to insure that they remained so.
Couture wasn’t reserved, however, for the thin. The collection also includes donated, custom-made dresses designed for more stately women. The clothes, Owen said, show that women who are not a size zero "can make a fashion statement."
Owens said she developed her sense for fashion out of necessity.
"When I was a kid," she recalled, "I was tall and skinny and couldn’t buy clothes that fit. I started sewing for myself in the fifth grade, was very involved with 4-H activities and won our county sewing contest every year. During my senior year of high school and in college, I won national 4-H scholarships that helped me to attend college and continue pursuing my interest in textiles and apparel design. In fact, I kept making my own clothes until I started teaching at CSUN and no longer had the time."
Her special love is textiles.
"Very few people realize what an advanced textile lab we have at Cal State Northridge. We have very unique equipment that can do extremely specialized testing," she said. "Before making 50,000 pairs of jeans, a designer needs to know how many washings they will survive, and whether or not the material has good air flow and wearability."
Owen said CSUN’s Historical Costume Collection, like all history, provides a powerful foundation for those hoping to make an impact on the future. "It’s good to know where we came from so we can know where we are going," she said.
California State University, Northridge is celebrating "50 years of life-changing opportunities" this year. The university has 35,200 full- and part-time students and offers 64 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.