What We Wore: Cocktail Party
Through mid-April 2025, the What We Wore exhibit in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation presents fashionable 1950s cocktail attire. / THF802492
Cocktail parties were the essence of sophistication in the 1950s. Throwing a cocktail party — whether to impress business associates or entertain neighbors — was the “in” thing to do. The American economy was expanding, people were moving to the suburbs, and a return to traditional gender roles put women back in the home as full-time homemakers. Entertaining after work and on weekends became an essential part of business and neighborhood life. Hosts relished showing off their skills as they impressed guests with trendy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
Elegantly informal — and often, aspirational — cocktail parties were part of a "see and be seen" culture where every social event had a dress code. For cocktail parties, men wore a dark suit, white shirt, and a tie. Proper attire for women? Stylish semi-formal dresses with either full skirts or slender silhouettes — a polished look, but not overly extravagant.
Suit, 1948. Made by Guild Commander for The Hub department store, Baltimore, Maryland. / THF802440. Gift of American Textile History Museum, donated to ATHM by Robert M. Vogel.
Attending cocktail parties was a must to climb the corporate ladder.
Cocktail dress & jacket, about 1958. Ruth McCulloch, Hubbard Woods and Evanston, Illinois. / THF162635. Gift in Memory of Augusta Denton Roddis.
Cocktail dress, about 1952. Christian Dior, Paris, France. / THF29329. Gift of Mrs. Harvey Firestone, Jr.
French couture houses continued to dictate high fashion during the 1950s.
Cocktail dress, about 1959. Possibly made by Catherine Prindle Roddis, Marshfield, Wisconsin. / THF160845. Gift in Memory of Augusta Denton Roddis.
The “little black dress” has become a wardrobe essential — a simple, versatile, elegant dress that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.
The right drinks and food helped guarantee cocktail party success. Handbooks provided helpful advice and recipes for eager hosts and hostesses. National Distillers Products Corporation, 1955-1960. / THF720273
Jeanine Head Miller, Curator of Domestic Life at The Henry Ford.
