Waltzing Through Time
Texas Woman’s University showcases more than a century of first lady fashion
iriam “Ma” Ferguson missed being the first female governor of the United States by only 15 days. Nellie Tayloe Ross, a Prohibition supporter elected in 1925 to govern Wyoming, was the first. But in Texas history, Ma Ferguson is mythic. After her husband was impeached and thrown out as governor, first lady Ma Ferguson ran for governor herself using the campaign slogan, “Two governors for the price of one.” She won and served two terms enduring death threats, public scrutiny over the number of pardons she granted (an average of 100 convicts a month), and near impeachment.
Her governorship inaugural gown, like her colorful record, has stood the test of time. Now nearly 85 years old, the gown is as original as Ferguson herself. It is made of Paulette crepe in a light shade of orchid. Thin and sleeveless, the ’20s-style dress is made to hang, with slender strands of beads meant for movement. Never one to quit, Ma Ferguson put her hat in the ring for governor for a third time at age 65. She didn’t win, but her legacy lives on. Known as a fiscally conservative governor, she also opposed the Ku Klux Klan and helped turn the University of Houston into a four-year university during her tenure.
Ma Ferguson’s gown is one of 40-plus inaugural ball gowns in the Texas First Ladies Historic Costume Collection at Texas Woman’s University. From the days when Texas was a republic and Sam Houston was its president to the modern-day reign of Rick Perry, a timeline of Texas history and politics is ensconced in the gowns of these women whose roles as first ladies (and one governor, of course) went far beyond standing at their husbands’ side. Every year, over 170 scheduled tours, with visitors from age 3 to 70, pass through the exhibit on the second floor of the Administration Tower at TWU.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) chapter in Denton started the collection in 1940, gathering either the original gowns or making recreations. The dresses, displayed on mannequins, are placed behind two long glass cases, stretching down a private hallway. Only 18 gowns are displayed at a time, but the exhibit is changed throughout the year. “I think the collection serves as a reminder or encouragement for our students about what they can do if they put their mind to it,” says David Sweeten, who helps oversee the collection as TWU’s director of conference services. “It’s a bit of a history lesson past about some of the great things the women have done.”
In the collection, for instance, is Orline Walton Sayers’s gown of bright white lace, sleeveless with a high neckline. Orline, who was first lady of Texas at the turn of the century, had a special interest in young people. She served on a state committee that paved the way for establishment of the YWCA across Texas. Her husband signed the legislative bill creating Texas Woman’s University (originally called the Girls Industrial College).
Down the hall from Ma Ferguson is the gown of Ima Mae Smith, first lady of Texas from 1969-1973. She met her husband in college when they were seated alphabetically and ended up next to each other with the same last name: “Smith.” So she became Ima Mae Smith Smith. Her gown, like her name, also elicits a double take. It is a satin Empire-style gown with a beaded bodice in a rosy shade of pink almost as eye-catching as her double moniker.
Most of the gowns in the collection were either donated by the DAR or by family members of the first ladies. Some are replications of originals that were either unavailable or too damaged to display. TWU was recently able to restore 16 dresses with the support of two nonprofits: the Denton Benefit League, women committed to enhancing the quality of life in Denton, and The Summerlee Foundation, a Dallas-based foundation dedicated to protecting animals and preserving Texas history. TWU also maintains an endowment to help with the upkeep of the gowns in the name of historian Marion Day Mullins who presented the collection on behalf of the DAR to TWU in 1940.
There is one noticeably absent gown from the collection: former Texas governor (1991-1995) Ann Richards. Monica Mendez-Grant, associate vice president for student life at TWU, recalls learning about Richards’ missing gown. “When I first came aboard I thought, ‘Where’s Ann Richards?’” she says. “I was told she was denied the opportunity (to donate her dress) because she was not first lady, she was governor.”
TWU, the largest state-supported university for women in the nation with a student population of over 10,000, also maintains a Texas Woman’s Hall of Fame, which has inaugurated successful women such as retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. TWU president’s Dr. Ann Stuart partnered with conference services to seek funds for gown restoration and more recently, for renovation of the exhibit itself. “The history the gowns illustrate is such a treasure for our students and the public,” she says.
Moving slowly through the exhibit, taking time to drink in the breathtaking gowns, Ann Barton, who spent 11 years as an archivist for the collection, talks about the recent restoration process. Each gown was cleaned and pressed, and some, because of the delicate nature of the fabric like the Ferguson gown, were painstakingly hand-sewn. “The Ferguson dress has been restored the most,” she says. “It was just shredding.” The displays, which are set with gloves, bags, furniture and even tea sets, represent fashion and style from different eras of Texas history.
Continuing down the quiet hallway, filled with shimmering gowns encompassing more than a century of fashion, posters display information for each first lady’s gown. As the collection ends, the hallway leads down a small flight of stairs to an enormous ballroom with expansive white floors and magnificent gold chandeliers. It is completely empty, but suddenly, you begin to imagine the music playing, the Texas flag proudly displayed, and all of the splendid gowns sashaying and sweeping across the floors.
by holly dutton