My friend, Angelika, lives in a greystone on the northside of Chicago and has been slowly selling me her vintage clothing collection since I first met her around 2014.
She and her husband are both in their eighties and have lived there for decades.
No television. No computers. No wifi. An oasis of antiques, art work, and books.
Visiting her in the peak of Chicago's humid summer, the first floor of the historic home is dim and cool, despite the fact they also have no air conditioning. After lunch in a back room decorated with cream colored crockery and plants, she leads me into the front sitting room, where she has brought out numerous dresses, blouses, and skirts, going back to the 1930s.
lunch in the back room of Angelika's graystone
I pull out two, shapeless, somber colored dresses, both by a "J Morgan Puett".
Neither she nor I know anything about this label, but she proceeds to tell me that she fell in love with the designs when she acquired them at some point in the 90s.
Upon handling the fabric and looking at the construction, I make a mental note to look up the label when in front of my computer. The dresses are a medium weight silk, and though simple in design, hint at a complex thought process.
I happily add them to the growing pile of gorgeous pieces I am coming home with.
A tabletop in the front sitting room
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J Morgan Puett is an American artist and School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate who has been a clothing designer since 1987. I accidentally came across one of her pieces in an editorial from a June '94 hardcopy of W Magazine I have on my bookshelf!
Ana Alles models J Morgan Puett's natural, raw silk dress, W Magazine,
June 1994
And then I found a handful of her frocks online. This linen beauty sold on 1stdibs , and this one was almost identical to one of Angelika's, albeit, in a bright yellow.
I also discovered that she is much more than a fashion designer.
An artist and visionary in every way, she co-founded Mildred's Lane in the Catskills - an experimental aesthetic community so unique that everything they do, including the job titles, required a completely new language. Puett's own title, for example, is Ambassador of Entanglement. The visuals are hypnotic.
An article from 2015 goes into further detail about the level of aesthetic devotion Puett pours into everything around her (including the inside of her refrigerator). And once you understand what she is trying to evoke, you understand the clothing she has been producing.
This Pinterest board sets the mood very well.
And don't miss the Labour Portraits!
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Below are the two Puett dresses I just added to the collection.
Like most of Puett's garments, they are one-size-fits-all. Their looseness can be interpreted as either perfect for the plus sized or just, simply - perfect.
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To quote the artist:
"My life is art. Being is my practice - eating, making, building.
Being conscious of everything around you".
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