The Importance Of Culture ~ A Portfolio of 20th Century Design

Cultural dimension is closely tied to sustainable development. Although there are many definitions and descriptions surrounding both culture and sustainable development, essentially culture is about creativity, heritage, knowledge and diversity.

Sustainable development is defined as economic development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources.

It is the cultural aspect of our Canadian heritage that has created the drive and energy to set up, photo document, and share the Quiet West collection, which is essentially a portfolio of twentieth century design.

Costume and jewelery design has always reflected the wider movements in arts and culture in the various different eras. Therefore, we see similarities in everything from architecture, to furniture design, in the visual arts, and in costume and personal styles.

During the modernist era of influence, we see sleek lines and geometrical shapes, in sharp contrast to the turn of the century romanticism with all the floral themes, vines, and curlycues. In spite of the fact that art is highly subjective and involves personal taste, certain design themes caught on and swept the cultural stage for periods of time. What was considered avant-garde in one era, might turn into a widespread movement in a few short years.

During the post war years Canada provided many incentives for creative fashion and textile designers, many of which were developed in Montreal and Toronto. We have a rich and creative history based on the talent from Montreal, and the incentives that were provided to develop and promote this talent. It is something all Canadians can be proud of.

Thankfully, with the migration and travel to Canada’s west coast, a percentage of these stylish remnants and works of art ended up on the west coast.

In addition to the fashion design and trends throughout the twentieth century, most of the luxurious textiles and sewing techniques have become obsolete. There is a rich history and knowledge base in the textiles alone. This involves everything from hand loomed, hand and screen printing, knits, gold and silver lame costumes, and wide variety of trim, pin tucking, laid work, embroidery, laces, etc.

In addition to our own fashion development heritage, and the widespread travel during the twentieth century, we have also had access to mid-century designs from locations throughout the world. Some of the mid-century gowns had a thousand hours or more put into the embellishments using glass beads and a variety of sequins.

The best definition of culture according to a Google search is: ” Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called “the way of life for an entire society.” As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, art.”

Culture is also considered to be the fourth pillar of sustainable development, according to UNESCO and several other organizations promoting sustainable development. It does take time, effort and money to document and preserve our cultural heritage. But it does not deplete or make demands on natural resources.

In the case of coloured gemstones used in artisan sterling silver jewelry, those designs depict the country of origin, the various artists, and gemstones that were at one time fairly abundant. A high percentage of the turquoise mines are now closed. The post war years led to a great deal of extraction of the earth’s resources. Understandably those resources have been used up, and the new locations for extracting them are increasingly difficult to access.

At least in my own lifetime, there has always been a focus on what is new. The old was considered to be junk or garbage, while the new was what was coveted and thought to be an improvement.

It seems we reached a point many years ago, where the old was often better than the new when it comes to certain cultural commodities. The reason for this is not only in the access to and abundance of these resources, but also in the values surrounding workmanship, craftsmanship, quality, and competition for excellence.

One only needs to look at some of the mid-century costume jewelery and compare it to what is made today. From the 1930’s to the 1960’s there was fierce competition to create fashion jewelery that emulated the real thing.

Designers like Gustave Sherman, Boucher, Panetta, Schreiner, and Trifari are just some examples of jewelery makers who valued high quality, and strived to make glamour more widely available by emulating Cartier and other famous designers. The goal was to make fabulous high fashion jewelery that was affordable for the average person. They did a great job of creating an appeal for glamour in the mass consumer markets.

When it comes to design, resources, and craftsmanship, there comes a point where the old will never be produced again, to the same standards it was in the past. We passed the point of creating new and improved fashion and jewelery.

In fact, if you closely examine the newer jewelery, you will find that even the expensive items are gold or silver plated. The gemstones and Swarovski crystals are often very small and highly treated, as opposed to some of the rocks we can marvel at in the earlier pieces.

Our culture is not only about obsolete textiles, hats, jewelery, and the history of fashion design during past decades, it is the soul of our nation.

We don’t lose our soul to fast fashion or slapstick designs. We are wise to carry the cultural soul and reflections of our past forward. After all – we want to keep our soul. It is not something to damage, disregard, or downplay.

In my opinion, all of our cultural gems are captivating and deserving of our care and attention.

On this note, I will soon promote and share a sample of the Montreal fashion designer Hugh Garber. In the 1960’s he studied fashion design in London, and then returned to Canada to develop the “holiday line” for Margo Dress Co. in Montreal.

The Hugh Garber outfit I have to list next, is from the 1968-1969 holiday line, and is made of a deluxe heavy vertically aligned gold lame. It has the appearance of a full length glamour gown, but it is actually a hot pants set. There are covered buttons down the front that open up to short, high waisted gold lame hot pants. It’s really quite a delightful ensemble!

The Hugh Garber gold lame hot pants will be featured under New Arrivals, and also in a blog post once the photography is done. I am fairly certain there is not another one like this one to be found.