Couture and Kentucky: Magnificent Mona Bismarck Opens At The Frazier History Museum

Brought back to life from the annals of fashion history at the Frazier History Museum is the sartorial legacy of one of the most admired women of style of the early 20th century, Mona Bismarck.

The Kentucky native was the first American to be named the Best Dressed Woman in the World by a panel of seven that included couturiers Cristobal Balenciaga, Jeanne Lanvin and Coco Chanel. She topped the international best-dressed list on multiple occasions, while Vogue featured her several times over the course of her life—pieces which were often lensed by her friend, the legendary photographer Cecil Beaton.

In homage to their very own Kentucky Countess, The Frazier has staged a show of consisting of 50 of her most memorable pieces of couture on display now until the July 29 called, 'Magnificent Mona Bismarck, Kentucky Style Icon.'

“Mona represented high fashion in a way very few ever have. She was a curator of every aspect of her style,” says Brigid Witzke, the Chief Curator at the museum.

The daughter of a horse trainer and breeder at Churchill Downs and Lexington’s Fairland Farms, Mona was born Mona Travis Strader in Louisville. She married entrepreneur Harrison Williamson in 1926, whose net worth at the time was $680 million, making them wealthiest couple in America.

“While Mona's amazing story and skyrocketing climb through high society makes her an interesting subject, it was her impeccable style that set her apart,” adds Witzke underscoring the museum's reasoning to focus on her fashion.  

The exhibition is broken into four parts and explores her history, day and evening wear, cocktail dresses and her greatest love—gardening. "It was her time in the beautiful gardens she cultivated in Capri that Mona is most identified with in the final decades of her life. It was her childhood in Kentucky that most inspired that work," says Witze. 

Viewers should expect to see Bismarck’s couture collaborations with the most famous designers of modern history like Cristóbal Balenciaga—there are three dozen pieces by the designer in the show—Hubert de Givenchy and Madeleine Vionnet. Also on display are her custom creations with jewelers Belperron and Verdura.

Adding to the drama of the exhibition are an array of visuals including drawings, sketches, and photographs of Bismarck her homes, her clothes and her jewelry by the likes of Beaton, Edward Steichen and Horst P. Horst.

While assembling the show was no small task—the Frazier is a small museum in a state not exactly known for fashion—Witze admits the biggest hurdle was simply to share Bismarck's life and legacy with her fellow Kentuckians. "Our biggest challenge may have been in introducing this show to an audience that doesn't know a lot about Mona Bismarck. The best-dressed woman in the world and friend to world-class designers, gifted photographers and American Presidents was largely an unknown in her state of birth," says the curator.