SILVERMAN/RODGERS

SILVERMAN/RODGERS

Following a stint designing costumes for film and theater, Shannon Rodgers was hired by Jerry Silverman and went on to design the clothes for the labels Jerry Silverman, Inc., and Shannon Rodgers for Jerry Silverman. Their first season was a great success with Shannon quickly defining his signature style - a simplified version of the fashionable Parisian silhouette accented with a decorative touch that made the dresses immensely appealing to American women. By the early 1960s the two had begun collecting what was to become one of the largest and finest period costume collections in the United States - a collection which would provide the foundation of the Kent State University Museum's collection. In addition to their private collection, the Museum now owns a number of dresses they produced as well as their archives - including sketches, photographs and assorted documents.