THE BEST LITTLE WAREHOUSE IN HOLLYWOOD... AND 49 OTHER STATES!
Dublin Core
Title
THE BEST LITTLE WAREHOUSE IN HOLLYWOOD... AND 49 OTHER STATES!
Subject
This site studies the brick-and-mortar stores of the iconic lingerie retailer, Frederick's of Hollywood, from the 1947 establishment of the brand to the bankruptcy and closure of all Frederick's stores in the 2010s.
The following questions guide my research: How does a piece of clothing (namely, lingerie) transform when it is placed on display in a storefront window, hung on a shop's rack, or tried on in a fitting room? What are the erotic qualities of retail consumption? For customers? For workers? How is gender constructed in a clothing store? And what changes when brick-and-mortar stores close?
To find these answers, I look first to various television and internet news segments from the 1980s to 2010s, all of which aim to offer viewers at home a window into the experience of shopping at Frederick's. I view this media as a type of fashion film in its own right.
Next, I share photos of Frederick's locations from across the US, before they closed. In these photos, you can see how mannequins were posed, how window displays were arranged, how lingerie was hung on walls and racks, and most of all, how customers viewed the Frederick's shopping experience from behind the lenses of their own phones or cameras.
The following questions guide my research: How does a piece of clothing (namely, lingerie) transform when it is placed on display in a storefront window, hung on a shop's rack, or tried on in a fitting room? What are the erotic qualities of retail consumption? For customers? For workers? How is gender constructed in a clothing store? And what changes when brick-and-mortar stores close?
To find these answers, I look first to various television and internet news segments from the 1980s to 2010s, all of which aim to offer viewers at home a window into the experience of shopping at Frederick's. I view this media as a type of fashion film in its own right.
Next, I share photos of Frederick's locations from across the US, before they closed. In these photos, you can see how mannequins were posed, how window displays were arranged, how lingerie was hung on walls and racks, and most of all, how customers viewed the Frederick's shopping experience from behind the lenses of their own phones or cameras.
Contributor
Nicolette Bull
Collection Items
Frederick's on Hollywood Boulevard, California (1987)
A 1987 image of the Frederick's of Hollywood storefront at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard.
Frederick's at Pearlridge Center, Hawaii (2009)
Uploaded to Flickr, this image is captioned “two dirty old men at uptown Pearl Ridge Shopping Center.”