1960: Wife Dressing

"In the early 1960s, I dressed women who were ‘possessions,’ " recalled Alfred Fiandaca in a recent interview. "My women wore my clothes as the flags of their husbands’ wealth, as if to say: "‘This is my wife. Look at her. This is how wealthy I am.’"

American fashion designer Anne Fogarty’s 1959 book, Wife-Dressing, confirms Fiandaca’s recollection. Fogarty, known for her extremely fitted bodices and tight waists, cautioned women to remember that "it’s your husband for whom you are dressing." Not only would dressing well please one’s husband, but also a wife’s appearance could help his career, "especially when promotions to high-echelon jobs are in the offing."

Political wife dressing became a Fiandaca specialty. His first prestigious political wife was Jennie Volpe, spouse of the newly elected governor, who commissioned a gown for the 1960 inaugural ball and a suit for the swearing-in ceremony. Fiandaca goes on to design for more presidential First Ladies and would-be First Ladies than any other designer; clients include Lady Bird Johnson, Nancy Reagan, Joan Kennedy, Kitty Dukakis, and Muriel Humphrey.

Creating the curvy and womanly Marilyn Monroe body type of the early 1960s required industrial strength foundational garments. Intricate and strong circular stitching shaped bra cups into missile-like points. Heavy pull-on girdles with elastic panels cinched the waist, flattened the stomach, and smoothed the hips. Stocking garters held up one’s nylons.

Clothes were "like armor–so structured and strictly tailored that you could stand a skirt up on the floor by itself," recalled Fiandaca. "My garments were lined and interlined and backed with canvas. Featherstitching maintained the shape and rigidity."

In the early 1960s, Fiandaca recalled, women abided by inflexible rules, set forth in advice manuals, that governed appropriate dress for particular times and places. During the day, women wore knee-length dresses or suits for morning meeting and luncheon, and cocktail dresses for early evening. An 8 p.m. dinner or show required floor-length dresses with covered necklines, and one only wore décolleté evening or ball gowns after 10 p.m. Tea dances and waltz evenings at the Ritz, required full-skirted dresses whose "tea-length," or mid-calf, hemlines allowed greater freedom of movement. "And no woman dreamed of going out," he said, "without a hat, white gloves, and matching shoes and handbag."

In 1963, American Vogue takes notice of Mary Quant’s miniskirts sold from Quant’s "boutique" on the King’s Road in London; by the second half of decade, the miniskirt becomes a pop culture phenomenon. Her simple dresses are young in feeling and allow for freedom of movement; new undergarments called "bodystockings" and "pantyhose" are invented.

In 1967, Fiandaca introduces his "boutique line" to supplement his couture collection. "Up until now," writes the Boston Record-American in September of that year, Fiandaca "catered only to the couture group, but [he is] now looking toward the younger set as well." The two collections are distinguished by price as well as design philosophy: "simplicity and elegance of line for the couture fashion and daring for the boutique."

In 1964, the Beatles arrive for their American tour wearing the artistic dandy or "mod" style from London’s Carnaby Street. The deep collars, wide ties, and bright colors worn by the "Fab Four" prompt a "Peacock Revolution" in men’s fashion. In 1968, they visit their guru in India, and inspire another wave of male fashion, based this time on Indian garments and jewelry.

In 1968, the Boston Record-American photographs 28 year-old Fiandaca in a gray flannel "rajah suit . . .worn over a pearl turtleneck" with a silver beaded necklace. He also presents a glen plaid jumpsuit with matching cape, an op-art geometric jumpsuit, and Edwardian waistcoats for those men for whom clothes are, he said, "a badge of rebellion."

The 1969-70 Fall/Winter Paris collections introduce a new, longer length called the "midi." Life magazine reports on the development with a cover article entitled "The Great Hemline Hassle." "The latest word is long," Life complains, but "many women and all men hate to see the Mini go."

By 1971, Boutique Fiandaca displays mostly midi-length fashions. At the same time, the designer is reported by the Boston Record-American to be the first to offer hot pants in the city. These sporty new fashions, such as Fiandaca’s satin, one piece, shorts jumpsuit, are already seen "at the ballet, restaurants, and private weekend society bashes."

During the 1970s, designer names and labels add an important status element to everyday garments, from blue jeans to sunglasses. Fiandaca designs uniforms for corporate clients throughout the decade, including a hot pants and tunic set for Northeast Airlines and blue empire dresses with a bolero for State Street Bank. He will go on to do work for the CIA, designing top secret clothing for agents "on assignment."

The 1975 movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, sweeps the Oscars with awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress.

Fiandaca designs a dress for Louise Fletcher to wear to the Academy Awards ceremony. Fletcher, who tells the press that she has given up Yves St. Laurent for Fiandaca, is just one of a long list of celebrity clients in the 1970s. Raquel Welch, for example, requests an outfit that is both businesslike and sexy. Fiandaca responds by creating a classic black wool suit with a soft pink–and completely backless–silk blouse. Other celebrity clients include Connie Francis, Lauren Bacall, Jayne and Audrey Meadows, Nancy Sinatra, Julie Andrews, Dionne Warwick, Shelley Winters, Joan Rivers, Stephanie Mills, Cher, Oprah Winfrey, Janet Langhart Cohen, Natalie Jacobson, and Susan Lucci.

As a result of equal opportunity laws passed in the early 1970s, women flood into business, management, the professions, and university teaching. In 1977, John T. Molloy publishes his Women’s Dress for Success Book, advising women to adopt the timeless "business uniform" of the "highly tailored, dark colored, traditionally designed, skirted suit."

"In the 1970s, I began to hate the fact that my clothes would have to be obsolete," recalled Fiandaca in a recent interview. "I remember one beautiful suit with a classic black jacket and a skirt of red and black plaid. After I put my life and love into it, was my client really supposed to discard it next year? I thought, something’s wrong here. I’m wearing the suit I wore last year–why can’t she? Women needed to be equal."

The first half of the 1980s glorifies conspicuous consumption and high status possessions. Television programs focusing on the real and imagined lives of wealthy people, such as "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," "Dallas," and "Dynasty" are enormously popular with the American public.

Fiandaca designs a dress for Joan Collins to wear on the "Dynasty" show. At the time, it is the most expensive outfit ever commissioned by television. The suit dress, which costs $3,200, appears on the air for only three and a half minutes.

Opulent and luxurious evening clothes emerge, along with power suits, as the other high fashion esthetic of the 1980s. In 1985, Vivienne Westwood shows the "mini-crini," a short bouffant skirt supported by collapsible hoops. The following year, Christian Lacroix creates a sensation with his "Pouf" dress, spread over a hoop or bustle, festooned with garlands, fringe, and ribbons, and available in startling color mixes like tangerine and ice pink. These dresses will inspire Tom Wolfe to write, in his 1987 satiric novel The Bonfire of the Vanities: "This season no puffs, flounces, pleats, ruffles, bibs, bows, scallops, laces, darts or shirrs on the bias were too extreme."

Fiandaca unveils a $6,600 white organza evening suit embroidered with "real 14-karat gold thread and tiny gold bullion beads." He is increasingly known as a master of "fantasy night looks:" gowns that envelop women in petals of crinkled tissue taffeta or multi-layered chiffon, for example, and others that shower their wearers in glittering beads and sequins.

1987: The Bubble Bursts

The stock market crash of 1987 ends a five year boom. Consumers become skittish, a recession looms, and a new attitude of austerity replaces the conspicuous spending and excess of the 1980s. The Pouf dress collapses and a new era of restraint and avoidance of overt fashion extravagance begins.

In 1989, Fiandaca shows long, mid-calf length dresses with minimized shoulders instead of the broad, padded shoulders that had been popular since the beginning of the decade. A "more natural line" is emerging, he tells a local newspaper. "’Dynasty’ went off the air, and so did shoulder pads–without the reruns."

Competition from off-price, discount, and factory outlet stores, along with ill-advised management decisions and junk bond financing, leads to the disappearance of many old and well-established regional department stores.

"My wholesale business used to be the biggest proportion of my work," Fiandaca recalled recently. "Years ago we had wonderful stores all across the United States, in Houston, Nashville, and Cleveland, for example. They would buy my entire collection and pay for me to come for three days and do fashion shows and events. But as the structure of the industry changed, it became important to open my own stores. It is my way of reaching and knowing my clients. Retailing–at my New York, Palm Beach, and Boston stores–is now the biggest part of my business."

High performance sportswear materials such as acrylic fleece, parachute cloth, and polyurethane invade the traditional wardrobe. Stretch Lycra and Spandex graduate from the ski slope, pool, and gym and are added to traditional woven fabrics to bring greater comfort to tailored clothing.

"Stretchable fabrics allow more freedom of movement," Fiandaca explains to the Houston Post in 1992, and "accommodate more active lives." He uses Lycra throughout his fall collection, blending it with wool gabardine in several suits. He also makes a point of choosing fabrics that "give," such as georgette, mousseline, chiffon, crepe, and stretchable wool and lace.

Juliet Schor’s best-selling book 1992 book, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, uses government data to show that Americans are spending more time at work and finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between work and family obligations.

"Adults live such multi-faceted lives today that they don’t have the time or interest to shop for some ‘trendy outfit,’ " Fiandaca observes in the mid-1990s. "Building my collections from one season to another" and designing more and more "evening separates" helps busy clients. "A woman can wear a new top with a long skirt" from a previous collection. "Or a new blouse with silk slacks."

At the dawn of the new millenium, individuality is the fashion buzzword. "Bricolage," a French term borrowed from postmodernist theory, is used to describe the way 21^st century people choose from different fashion styles and eras to create their own unique look. Fashion options abound in everything from skirt lengths to silhouette. It is all about the wearer’s choice–not only what to wear but how to wear it.

"Today’s successful designer interprets the lives of the women for whom he designs," explains Fiandaca at the end of the twentieth century. "It is what they want to wear. Dior’s New Look could never take place today. It is not like in the past when fashion dictated to women. Today, a woman can have her hemline anywhere she wants. If a designer wants it at a certain length, let him wear it."

• Begins working with clothing and fabric at 13, and despite his father’s express wishes, decides to pursue a career in fashion design.

• He learns his craft from his Italian-born parents. Fiandaca’s mother made theatrical costumes for Wolff Fording, a costume company still in existence today. His father made hand-tailored men’s suits, first at an exclusive custom shop in Harvard Square and later at the Harvard Coop. Fiandaca’s maternal grandfather designed women’s clothing in Naples.

• Attends MassArt’s Saturday courses for high school students, where he studies a general program in fine arts.

• Graduates from the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City in 1958 and returns to Boston, where he opens a studio in East Boston the following year.

• In 1965, opens a salon on Newbury Street in Boston; remains on the street for more than four decades.

• In 1967, introduces his signature "pink."

• In 1972, Joan Kennedy appears on the cover of Life magazine wearing a halter back tennis dress designed by Fiandaca. Next Fiandaca magazine cover is a chiffon and sequin design photographed by Francesco Scavullo for Cosmopolitan in 1979.

• By 1973, "Boutique Fiandaca" is located in the first block of Newbury Street, near the Ritz Hotel. His clothes are sold in twelve specialty shops around the country. By 1978, Fiandaca designs are featured in fifty-six stores including Bergdorf-Goodman, I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Henri Bendel.

• In 1987, Fiandaca is honored by the Whitney Museum of American Art, which includes his work in its exhibition of America’s top designers.

• In 1996, opens a store in Palm Beach and a year later, a second one in New York City.

• Charter member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

• Fiandaca garments are in the collections of the Costume Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Chisholm Halle Wing of Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, and the Kent State University Museum.

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