Diana Dew (June 25, 1943 – February 8, 2008) was an American

fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...

recognized in the 1960s for pioneering electronic textiles which incorporated electronic components into wearable clothing. She created clothing that was battery powered and able to light up by adjusting a control knob. Dew's clothes were the precursor to more modern electronic textiles which use LED technology.

Early life

Diana Dew was born on June 25, 1943, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. From the age of four to fourteen, she worked as a

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to display commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in American English) entails using one's body to represent someone ...

and attended the

Memphis Academy of Art Memphis College of Art (MCA) was a private art college in Memphis, Tennessee. It was in Overton Park, adjacent to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. It offered Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Art Education and Mas ...

(now Memphis College of Art). She spent a year at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

studying method acting, before moving to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

to study engineering. Dew temporarily created stage costumes for Memphis' Front Street Theater before moving to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and enrolling at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Fashion design

Dew returned to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she participated in the East Side folk music scene and dressed

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

. She then moved to Boston and started the cloth brand Isis, but she could not attract young customers that could afford her high-end creations. Following the suggestion from a modeling agency, she became a designer for Puritan's Paraphernalia business in the late summer of 1966, and later created her own company, Experipuritaneous. Her creations, which involved "pliable and removable plastic lamps" powered by rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, could stay lit for up to 5 hours. The pace of the strobe-like flash, which projected a psychedelic light display, was controlled through a

potentiometer A potentiometer is a three- terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. The measuring instrum ...

worn at the waist. Her clothing premiered in February 1967 at the Paraphernalia store in

. The use of electricity in her designs was not without problems, as expressed by

Brigid Berlin Brigid Emmett Berlin (September 6, 1939 – July 17, 2020), also known as Brigid Polk, was an American artist and Warhol superstar. Life and career Early years Berlin was born on September 6, 1939, in Manhattan in New York City. She was the ...

, "Diana Dew, the electric-dress designer for Paraphernalia, had those dresses where the tits would light up; or you could flash the crotch and that would go off. But they weren't fool-proof, and one night two girls went totally off in Max's! I mean, right off. They went BOOM! It's true." Dew rose to prominence as a musician's costume designer. She designed clothes for the trippy band

Blues Magoos The Blues Magoos are an American rock group from The Bronx, a borough of New York City, United States. They were at the forefront of the psychedelic music trend, beginning in 1966. They are best known for the hit song " (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Y ...

that would light up as the music became louder on stage. One of these outfits is currently housed in a

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

time capsule, which will be opened in 2065 as an example of 1960s art. Dew's work was featured in the seminal show " Body Covering" at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in New York City in 1968, which explored the link between technology and clothing.

Later life, death, and legacy

After a brief tenure with Creamcheese, an all-female rock band that performed in Dew's designs, Dew devoted her time and energy to hydroponic sprout cultivation and raising her three boys. She was married twice. In February 2008, she died at home and was cremated. She was survived by her three sons. Images of her fashion are included in the

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

archives. One of her dresses was featured on the American

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

television program, ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' (season 24, episode 12).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dew, Diana 1943 births 2008 deaths American fashion designers American women fashion designers Artists from Memphis, Tennessee 1960s fashion 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Memphis College of Art alumni

Early life

Fashion design

Later life, death, and legacy

See also

References