The Cincinnati Art Museum is opening a new exhibition titled "Elizabeth Hawes: Radical American Fashion," the first-ever showcase dedicated to the groundbreaking American designer Elizabeth Hawes. The exhibit features over 50 garments from the 1920s to the 1960s, along with sketches, illustrations, and the first publication focused on her career. Hawes, who designed for icons like Lauren Bacall, championed gender-neutral clothing and quality mass manufacturing, ideas ahead of her time. The collection was largely donated by Dorette Kruse Fleischmann, a frequent client, and was curated by Megan Nauer, the museum's acting curator of fashion arts and textiles.
The exhibition matters because it highlights Hawes's enduring influence on fashion, particularly her push for democratizing apparel and her critiques of fast fashion, which remain relevant today. By bringing her radical ideas—such as ease for both men and women and her political activism—to light, the show underscores how Hawes shaped modern dressing conventions despite being largely forgotten by the public. It also reflects the museum's commitment to exploring overlooked figures in fashion history.