This light and romantic dress is typical of 1910s fashion. The wide hips reference the 18th century, but the shortened length is evidence of the modernizing changes that occurred during the First World War. In addition to a label for Seattle department store MacDougall & Southwick, there is also one which reads “Harry Collins, Art in Dress, Authorized Reproduction by Morry and George Schulman New York.” This label hints at the long journey that fashionable items took to Seattle at this time. Influential New York designer Harry Collins created an original version of this dress. A ready-to-wear firm in New York then bought the rights to copy and distribute the design. Next, a buyer from MacDougall & Southwick—who likely travelled multiple times a year to fashion capitals like New York and Paris—brought the dress to Seattle. In 1875 Polish immigrants Ferdinand Toklas (1845-1924) and Paul Singerman (1847-1915) opened a retail business which soon became the city's first department store. Originally located at Cherry and Front Street (later called 1st Avenue), the store moved and expanded multiple times and was an early adopter of new technologies and modern amenities such as phone service, electric lights, and elevators. The grand Toklas, Singerman & Co store at Front and Columbia burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 but was rebuilt within a year. In 1892 the founders sold the store to another partner, John B. MacDougall (1849-1931), who incorporated it as MacDougall & Southwick Co. The popular store at Second Avenue and Pike Street was operated by Mercantile Store Corp. from 1910 until it closed in 1966.
MacDougall & Southwick was one of Seattle’s earliest department stores, tracing its roots back to a shop called the San Francisco Store that opened in 1875.