Modeling Fall Fashions at Richland, Declassified

Modeling Fall Fashions at Richland, Declassified

Modeling Fall Fashions at Richland, Declassified
2005
20 h by 11 inches w
Digital Painting
Based on a photo from the "Hanford Historical Photo Declassification Project".
© copyright Jk

Read the introduction to the Remixing the Hanford Declassified Project paintings

What the fashion conscious woman wore down at the plutonium plant

The plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was manufactured at Hanford, which is now a toxic wasteland. The nearby town of Richland was hurriedly constructed during WWII for the express purpose of the secret manufacture of plutonium. And with people came, of course, business. Like stores that sold clothing. Which was what you call colonization. That may sound like an old word, colonization, but that's what they did. They colonized the desert.

Except that there had been people living there before who were sent packing so the new plutonium Richland could be born. And except for the Indians.

MASTER PLAN FOR SITE, CITY (UPTOWN SHOPPING AND CIVIC CENTER) - MAPS

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0056354"
Accession Number N1D0056354
Document Number 645-50-NEG-E
Alternate Document Number 645-50-NEG
Title Description MASTER PLAN FOR SITE, CITY (UPTOWN SHOPPING AND CIVIC CENTER) - MAPS
Key Word(s) CITY OF RICHLAND,HANFORD SITE,MAPS
Document Date 05-Feb-2002
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002

MASTER PLAN FOR SITE, CITY (UPTOWN SHOPPING AND CIVIC CENTER) - MAPS

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0056350"
Accession Number N1D0056350
Document Number 645-50-NEG-A
Alternate Document Number 645-50-NEG
Title Description MASTER PLAN FOR SITE, CITY (UPTOWN SHOPPING AND CIVIC CENTER) - MAPS
Key Word(s) CITY OF RICHLAND,HANFORD SITE,MAPS
Document Date 05-Feb-2002
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002


They wiped the slate clean and started brand new.

The plutonium manufactured at Richland gave the people at Nagasaki the opportunity to do the same.

Painting Modeling Fall Fashions

This was a tough one to paint.

I wanted it to appear not quite right so the Japanese woman's shadow isn't included and her kimono drapes a little off for the chair.

The colors may seem odd, having the sweater the model wears and the jacket she holds the same color as the wall, but I chose to do this as she has such great aspirations to be a mannequin. Peculiarly, in the original photo, though her left arm does not appear to be supported by anything, she seems to be wearing some sort of metal device on her left hand, concealed by the jacket, which aids in holding her hand in the desired pose. Her hand has no tension in it, duplicating the muscleless mannequin. There are two more photos of this woman. In one she displays a rack of incoming fashions on a large shop floor, so this may have been a shoot for the Richland Bon Marche. In another photo she is studied dead ringer for Leslie Caron.

I have no idea what flowering plant is supposed to be shown in the curtain, and not knowing I made the flower a gray-white.

The skirt the model is wearing appears to have had two large pocket panels forming the front.

A standing card on the table read, "Back to Campus, in a nylon sweater blouse."

Woman Modeling Fall Fashions

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0054073"
Accession Number N1D0054073
Document Number 1301-50-NEG-A
Alternate Document Number 1301-50-NEG
Title Description WOMAN MODELING FALL FASHIONS
Key Word(s) FALL FASHIONS,WOMAN MODEL
Document Date 05-Feb-2002
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002


As usual, working on something like this, I have quite a long time to meditate on the individual, wondering about them, their life. What was this woman's aspirations? Why was she in the Hanford area? Was she a model or was she an employee at the store? If we visited her three decades later, what was she doing? Did her life turn out any way at all as she hoped it would?

WOMAN MODELING FALL FASHIONS

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0054078"
Accession Number N1D0054078
Document Number 1301-50-NEG-F
Alternate Document Number 1301-50-NEG
Title Description WOMAN MODELING FALL FASHIONS
Key Word(s) FALL FASHIONS,WOMAN MODEL
Document Date 05-Feb-2002
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002


Did she find love, happiness and adventure as Leslie Caron in "A Secretary in Paris"?

Richland Fall Fashions

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0054074"
Accession Number N1D0054074
Document Number 1301-50-NEG-B
Alternate Document Number 1301-50-NEG
Title Description WOMAN MODELING FALL FASHIONS
Key Word(s) FALL FASHIONS,WOMAN MODEL
Document Date 05-Feb-2002
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002


She had Leslie Caron down pat.

Richland liked to hold contests and give out prizes. If there was a prize for looking like Leslie Caron, this woman took the trophy home.

Hey, kids, let's put on a show!

If life is but a dream, then wear the clothes that will make you the (wo)man of your dreams. No self-respecting town would be without culture, and what is the faster route to culture than making art of the canvas of one's face and form.

Richland would assist with fashion shows.

Important people in furs attended. As well as Richland's Ayn Rand look-alike.

March 1956 Gentrics Fashion Show, Camp Hanford

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0019064"
Accession Number N1D0019064
Document Number 13825-NEG-4
Alternate Document Number 13825-NEG
Title Description GENTRICS FASHION SHOW - CAMP HANFORD OFFICER'S CLUB
Key Word(s) FAHSION SHOW,GENTRICS CLUB,OFFICER'S CLUB
Document Date 09-Mar-1956
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002


There was a band.

March 1956 Gentrics Fashion Show

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0019073"
Accession Number N1D0019073
Document Number 13825-NEG-X
Alternate Document Number 13825-NEG
Title Description GENTRICS FASHION SHOW - CAMP HANFORD OFFICER'S CLUB
Key Word(s) FAHSION SHOW,GENTRICS CLUB,OFFICER'S CLUB
Document Date 09-Mar-1956
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002


Richland's fashion queen was crowned.

1956 GENTRICS FASHION SHOW - CAMP HANFORD OFFICER'S CLUB

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0019050"
Accession Number N1D0019050
Document Number 13825-NEG-W
Alternate Document Number 13825-NEG
Title Description GENTRICS FASHION SHOW - CAMP HANFORD OFFICER'S CLUB
Key Word(s) FAHSION SHOW,GENTRICS CLUB,OFFICER'S CLUB
Document Date 09-Mar-1956
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002


Volunteers worked long hours bringing the fashion show theme to life, in this case a stroll through Holland. Those appear to be real tulips lining the gangplank.

March 1956 Gentrics Fashion Show

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0019067"
Accession Number N1D0019067
Document Number 13825-NEG-E
Alternate Document Number 13825-NEG
Title Description GENTRICS FASHION SHOW - CAMP HANFORD OFFICER'S CLUB
Key Word(s) FAHSION SHOW,GENTRICS CLUB,OFFICER'S CLUB
Document Date 09-Mar-1956
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002


In 1949 1/6th of the population of Richland were children under the age of 6. Children needed fashion, too.

1954 GENTRICS STYLE SHOW AT CHINESE GARDENS

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number "N1D0002662"
Accession Number N1D0002662
Document Number 8956-NEG-K
Alternate Document Number 8956-NEG
Title Description GENTRICS STYLE SHOW AT CHINESE GARDENS
Document Date 27-Feb-1954
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002


Fashion for little boys changes slowly. Eleven years later and we see my brother wearing the exact same outfit, only in velvet. As you can see, wide-brimmed hats for little girls were still in vogue.

Easter at Everest St. 1

"The Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (RL) has aggressively implemented the commitments made by the Federal Government to openness in Government which was stated as a 'Fundamental principle that an informed citizenry is essential to the democratic process and that the more the American people know about their Government, the better they will be governed. Openness in government is essential to accountability . . .' RL is committed to responsible openness. The Hanford Declassification Project (HDP) was initiated by RL to declassify to the maximum possible extent all previously classified Hanford operations information (documents and photographs). There are over 77,000 declassified photographs of early Hanford (1943 - 1960) available... \These World War II and Cold War era photographs depict early Hanford construction and the employees/families who lived and build/operated the site."

The plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was manufactured at Hanford, which is now a toxic wasteland. The nearby town of Richland was hurridly constructed during WWII for the express purpose of the secret manufacture of plutonium.

Originally published on my blog in December 7 of 2005.

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