Ladies in Red exhibit showcases design history

As part of ‘The Red that Colored the World’ exhibition, the Museum of Texas Tech University is showcasing clothing and textiles from its own collection. 

‘The Red that Colored the World’ exhibit is organized by the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The traveling exhibit explores the use of the cochineal, an insect-based dye source for the color red, in art dated from the pre-Columbian America from Mexico, Europe and more. 

Marian Ann Montgomery, the curator of clothing and textiles at the Museum of Texas Tech, said the cochineal exhibit would not travel in total, so the museum added red garments from their collection to enhance it. 

“The red dresses are really an opportunity to look at women wearing red through the ages,” Montgomery said. 

The exhibit showcases design pieces worn by Former First Lady Laura Bush and some women who have influenced the history of Tech and Lubbock, including Margaret Talkington, Louise Hopkins Underwood, Helen Devitt Jones and Marsha Sharp. 

The museum has many more articles of clothing that they do not have space to show. When deciding which pieces went up, Montgomery said she received help from the students through the master’s program of museum studies. 

Looking back on the history of Tech, viewers can see a cheerleading uniform from the 1920s. Also, there is a part of history many students do not know about; Raider Rose. 

Ruth Foreman secretly created Raider Rose in her dorm room out of paper mache in 1975 to make a point that women were not getting enough representation in school athletics compared to the Saddle Tramps and Raider Red. 

“It gives us a chance to show our spirit through Texas Tech University,” Montgomery said.  

Nitza Garza, a sophomore education major from El Paso, came to visit the exhibit for a field trip in one of her art classes. 

With the exhibit in chronological order, Garza said it was interesting to see clothing through the different time periods. 

“It says a lot about how fashion has changed,” she said. “They’re all very pretty and intricate.”

Garza said it was crazy to see clothing pieces that people kept the over the years and she never thought she would see them. 

Sally Logue Post, the marketing director of the museum, said the clothing speaks for itself. 

Even though The Ladies in Red was not originally part of the Red that Colored the World exhibit, Post said it allows for the museum to showcase why they are the largest clothing and textiles collection at a university in the country. 

“This shows the breadth of the museum’s collections,” Post said. “We’re not just science, and we’re not just art."

The Ladies in Red exhibit will be showcased in the museum until Feb. 2, 2019. The museum, located at 3301 4th St., is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and is closed Mondays. 

http://www.dailytoreador.com/lavida/ladies-in-red-exhibit-showcases-design-history/article_18915cec-ba09-11e8-956e-c70c256b5231.html