Spectrum of Fashion: Celebrating Maryland’s Style

As Maryland Historical Society’s vice president of collections and interpretation, carefully curating most of the museum’s exhibitions was part of the job for Alexandra Deutsch, particularly when it came to its fashion archives. The Bolton Hill resident’s love of fashion is well-known among her friends and colleagues.

Deutsch, 48, took extra care — almost 10 years of planning — to create the “Spectrum of Fashion” exhibition.

When it came to planning the outfit she would wear to its opening night gala, that, too, was carefully curated over many months.

“I made a decision that I wanted to represent fashion in Baltimore, so everything I wore was from Baltimore,” Deutsch said.

That began with the dress, specially designed for her by Bishme Cromartie, the Baltimorebased fashion designer and “Project Runway” star.

“We had this amazing chemistry. We talked for hours about fashion and fashion history. He is the most humble, warm, joyous, creative spirit. Being around him is just incredible,” said Deutsch, who left MdHS several months ago to take the position of director of museum engagement at Delaware’s Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

“I said to Bishme that I really wanted to embody the exhibition. I knew he was very architectural with his designs and I wanted to have his signature elements in it. What he told me is that he wanted me to look like an antique perfume bottle,” said Deutsch.

“The historical references were important — the bustle, the exaggerated hip — to me that’s a very 18th-century aesthetic. It was [Cromartie’s] very modern play [on the subject],” she explained.

The added multicolor bustle reflected the exhibition’s color spectrum.

As for the accessories, all of them came from local artists or boutiques.

HER ENSEMBLE: Custom-made couture gown by Bishme Cromartie. Butterfly wings earrings (“Bishme’s personal symbol is the butterfly”), labradorite necklace, bangle and ring by Baltimore jewelry designer Rebecca Myers. Nina silver crystal-covered shoes and rainbow-glitter clutch from Ma Petite Shoe.