Wilson Library exhibit showcases decades of UNC fashion

"From Frock Coats to Flip-Flops: 100 Years of Fashion at Carolina" showcases 100 years of UNC history through a pair of Carolina Blue spectacles with fashion as the storyteller. 

The exhibit, which is part of Wilson Library's Special Collection Gallery, features UNC alumni memorabilia from the past century and beyond, including a wool football uniform from 1892, a shoe shining kit, a business fraternity pin from the late 1920s, sports jackets through several decades and a colorful unisex Afghan bag from the 1970s, among other things. 

Keeper of the North Carolina Collection Gallery Linda Jacobson compiled the exhibit with Digital Projects and Outreach Librarian Emily Jack and Eileen McGrath, a retired associate curator for the collection. 

McGrath said she immediately wanted to lend a hand after she heard about the exhibit.

“I volunteered for the period of the 1940s through the late 1960s,” she said. “It would be my parents' college years and my college years.”

The idea for the exhibit was conceived when the mother of a UNC student donated a dress from the 1960s to the department. From there, the team wrote a letter to the editor of the Carolina Alumni Review. The organizers then tweeted at the General Alumni Association, inviting people to submit memorabilia. 

“What I have found especially interesting in that process of reaching out to alumni is seeing what people have held on to for all this time,” Jack said.

Some of the more iconically zany items include love beads and colorful patchwork jeans from the '70s, stitched with the words "Please Be Careful" on the crotch. Jack said they were worn by a former UNC football player who wanted to show solidarity with the hippie counterculture of the time. Nearby were leg warmers from the '80s and a Baja jacket from the '90s.  

These trademark pieces were what interested West Chester University graduate student Wes Garton, who recently visited the exhibit. 

“A lot of times you see clothes in movies or something from a different time periods, so it was cool seeing the actual examples," he said.

A case of T-shirts dating from the early '60s to 2016 is exemplary of school pride felt by students over the years.

“People hold on to T-shirts because while they may not have a lot of monetary value, they have a lot of sentimental value,” Jack said.

One sweatshirt passed from mother to daughter saw two UNC NCAA basketball championships — one in 1982, led by Michael Jordan, and one in 2009, led by Tyler Hansbrough.

T-shirts are not the only way students showcased their school pride. A UNC graduate donated an outfit she wore to football games in the '80s, which consisted of painter overalls and a Carolina Blue tube top.

But McGrath said she noticed a more tailored look in the early in the 20th century. 

“In the beginning, students were not dressed that differently than adults in their home community,” she said. “Over time, college students moved away from thinking they need to look like the adults in their lives,” she said.

Various pieces of literature dated before the '60s, including excerpts from handbooks and advertisements from local Chapel Hill tailors, emphasize the importance of dressing smartly, and, in a woman’s case, not deviating from norms and wearing pants in public places. 

“Clothing is a form of self-expression not as present 100 years ago,” McGrath said.

A progression through the years shows a definite increase in student individuality and casual dress. One photo compares side-by-side the student body attendance at a football game in 1965 and almost 30 years later in 1994. The former shows a homogeneously dressed bunch of mostly male students politely applauding in ties and jackets; the latter shows more variety in gender and dress, as students in T-shirts and baseball caps hoist Rameses on their shoulders.

“You can kind of see that the student body is a part of the changes that are happening nationwide in terms of what students are wearing, and how they’re responding to the culture and creating the culture, “Jack said. 

“That’s happening at UNC just as it’s happening all across the country.”

arts@dailytarheel.com