Medium: Ivory silk with multicolor embroidery

Date: c.1950

Country: USA

Credit: Gift of Sylvia Slifka

The post-World War II era is often associated with increased consumerism, making this repurposed vest an interesting anomaly. It was cut and tailored from an eighteenth-century man’s waistcoat to suit a woman’s figure. The waistcoat’s fine silk and embroidery would have surpassed the quality of most modern clothing, perhaps explaining the appeal of its reuse.

Object Number: 89.54.2