Diana Dew

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Diana Dew (June 25, 1943 – February 2008) was an American fashion designer recognized in the 1960s for pioneering electronic clothes (or e-textiles).[1] She created clothing that was able to light up, was battery-powered, and was controlled via a switch.[1]

Early life[edit]

Diana Dew was born on June 25, 1943, in Memphis, Tennessee. From the age of four to fourteen, she worked as a fashion model and attended the Memphis Academy of Art (now Memphis College of Art). She spent a year at Bard College studying method acting, before moving to the University of Florida to study engineering. Dew temporarily created stage costumes for Memphis' Front Street Theater before moving to California and enrolling at the University of California, Berkeley. Disillusioned with the counterculture environment, she rejected LSD because it "becomes your usual rhythm, and then you're still looking for something new."[2]

Fashion design[edit]

Dew returned to New York City, where she "created the East Side folk music scene" and dressed Joan Baez. She then moved to Boston and started Isis, a bespoke dress business on Harvard Square, but she could not attract young customers that could afford her high-end creations. Following the suggestion from a modeling agency, she became a designer for Puritan's Paraphernalia business in the late summer of 1966,[1] and later created her own company, Experipuritaneous.[3]

Her creations, powered by rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, could stay lit for up to 5 hours.[4] The pace of the strobe-like flash, which projected a psychedelic light display, was controlled through a potentiometer worn at the waist. Her creations, intended to be "like an LSD trip without the hang-ups," premiered in February 1967 at the Paraphernalia store in New York City for more than $150 apiece.[2][3]

Dew rose to prominence as a musician's costume designer. She designed clothes for the trippy band Blues Magoos that would light up as the music became louder on stage. One of these outfits is currently housed in a Smithsonian Institution time capsule, which will be opened in 2065 as an example of 1960s art.[5]

Dew's work was featured in the seminal show "Body Covering" at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in New York City in 1968, which explored the link between technology and clothing.[6][7]

Later life, death, and legacy[edit]

After a brief tenure with Creamcheese, an all-female rock band that performed in Dew's designs,[3] Dew devoted her time and energy to hydroponic sprout cultivation and raising her three boys. She was married three times to different people. In February 2008, she died at home and was cremated. She was survived by her three sons.[8]

Images of her fashion are included in the National Museum of American History archives.[9] One of her dresses was featured on the American PBS television program, Antiques Roadshow (season 24, episode 12).[10]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Hoffmann, Frank; Ramirez, Beulah B. (June 23, 2014). Fashion & Merchandising Fads. Routledge. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-317-95291-6.
  2. ^ a b "Aglow". The New Yorker. January 28, 1967. Archived from the original on February 7, 2019.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ a b c Hoffmann, Frank; Ramirez, Beulah (June 23, 2014). "Electronic Clothes". Fashion & Merchandising Fads. Routledge. ISBN 978-1560230311. Retrieved February 16, 2019 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Flood, Kathleen (April 11, 2011). "The Original Creators: Diana Dew". Vice. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  5. ^ Kopp, Bill (December 12, 2014). "Psychedelic Resurrection: The Blues Magoos Interview, Part 2". Musoscribe.
  6. ^ Smith, P. Body Covering. Museum of Contemporary Crafts, the American Craft Council, New York, NY, 1968
  7. ^ "Diana Dew, designer, at "Body Covering" exhibition opening". ACC Conferences, Exhibitions and Fairs (the 1960s), American Craft Council.
  8. ^ Brandes, Wendy (December 21, 2010). "LIGHT UP WITH TRON: LEGACY, TIGER MORSE, AND DIANA DEW". Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  9. ^ "Diana Dew's designs". National Museum of American History. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  10. ^ "Antiques Roadshow". PBS. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
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