Romance To Rock And Roll:

Fashions At Wadsworth Atheneum

HARTFORD — “Dress is something more than necessity of climate, something better than condition of comfort, something higher than elegance of civilization,” states the April 1865 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book. “It is the index of conscience; the evidence of our emotional nature; it reveals, more clearly than speech expresses, the inner life of heart and soul in a people.”

The “inner life” of America between 1815 and 1965 is revealed through costumed mannequins, musical instruments, furniture, and works of art in “Romance to Rock and Roll: A Fashionable Reprise,” on view at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art from May 21 until October 9.

Arranged in a harmonic progression of vignettes, “Romance to Rock and Roll” opens with a Grecian style muslin dress and a Spitalfields shawl and closes with mod, plastic, and paper fashions, accompanied by folk and electric guitars and a vibrant Alexander Calder tapestry.

The museum, at 800 Main Street in Hartford, is open Wednesday through Sunday. Call 860-278-2670 for details.