When you grow up as the daughter of a fashion plate, the lessons of fashion are learned by osmosis. Artist
Lesley Haas, who uses fashion as a source of inspiration for her artwork, has described her mom as a fashion plate.
Lesley has fond memories of watching her mom dress up for events. As a a fashion writer and publicist and board member of Fashion Group Philadelphia, Phyllis Haas had to dress well for her job. And Lesley remembers her energetic mom in "
out of the ordinary attire, quite different from my friends' mothers, going to work every day and keeping up with the fashion trends. She worked hard and enjoyed these galas and events and loved to dress for each occasion."
In this photo, Lesley's mother and father are dressed for a holiday party in a beautiful building on Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. Phyllis is wearing a black velvet sleeveless gown with a scoop neck circa 1960. Although Lesley no longer has the dress to check the label, she recalls her mom being label conscious and really enjoying dressing up for parties. Lesley also remembers that she "
would run around upstairs watching her get ready while my father generally complained about going, as he wasn't a fashion plate like she was.."
For many people, photos like this take us back in time, bringing back happy memories of watching our mothers dress up. For Lesley Haas, fashion has become a source of inspiration for her artwork and two of her works will be on display at the
Smithsonian International Gallery in the
Revealing Culture exhibition, June 8-August 9, 2010. (To read more about Lesley's work, read her profile
here or visit her website
here.)
