Fashion Isn’t Frivolous: A Fresh Perspective on America’s 250th

Name: Fashion Isn’t Frivolous: A Fresh Perspective on America’s 250th
Start: 2026-03-28T13:30:00-04:00
Location: 114 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT, United States, Connecticut 06510

Schedule

Sat, 28 Mar, 2026 at 01:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

114 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT, United States, Connecticut 06510 | New Haven, CT

Nationally renowned textile expert Lynne Bassett will present “Federalist Fathers and Republican Mothers: The Fashions of John and Abigail Adams” at the New Haven Museum on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at 2 p.m. and be preceded by a reception at 1:30 p.m. The NH250 event is free with regular museum admission.
Keeping things lively with the former first couple’s letters, and garments, portraits, fashion plates, and satirical cartoons from the period, Bassett will demonstrate how both early and contemporary Americans have expressed their national and personal character through their clothing choices.
Bassett maintains that fashion isn’t frivolous. “Fashion is an important document manifesting a period’s culture, economy and labor, and a valuable means of examining women’s history,” she says. She adds that John and Abigail Adams both expressed their personal and national character through their apparel.
Bassett also points out that the Adams’s judgment of others’ choices in fashion brings some levity to the subject. One example includes a letter in which Abagail quips, “Most of [the Ladies]…wear their Cloaths too Scant, upon the body & too full upon the Bosom for my fancy; not content with the Show Which nature bestows, they borrow from art, and literally looke like Nursing Mothers.”
Abigail also “fully agreed” with someone known as “The Lay Preacher,” (a regular contributor to the “Philadelphia Gazette”) who questioned the virtue of women who allowed the dictates of fashion to overrule common sense. Taking as his text, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, shamefacedness and sobriety,” [1 Timothy, 2:9] “The Lay Preacher” declared that the current fashions indicated a “licentious age.”
“We still express our national character through our clothing choices,” Bassett says. She notes also that fashion is a huge economic driver, and “fast fashion” is profoundly and negatively affecting the planet. “While this lecture isn’t focused on current issues, an education in fashion history can open our eyes to them.”
Bassett has combined her love of the textile arts (practiced since she was a child) with her love of history professionally for over 40 years. She notes that she became interested in the topic of the fashion of John and Abigail Adams when she was asked to write an article on the topic for “White House History,” the journal of the White House Historical Society.
Bassett’s presentation is part of an entertaining, thought-provoking NH250 series designed to appeal to anyone who has ever marveled at the “great American experiment” of democracy, freedom, and self-governance. She says, “My goal is for attendees to gain an appreciation for the ideals on which the country was established and the personal honor and sacrifices of the men and women who made it happen – and I hope they have some fun, too.”
images:
Costume Parisien fashion plate, 1798 / Abigail Smith Adams (Mrs. John Adams), Gilbert Stuart, 1800-1815 / The Graces in a High Wind, James Gillray, National Portrait Gallery.