Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1956

  • Work on this object began.

1960

  • Work on this object ended.

1970

2021

2023

2025

  • You found it!

Poncho, Poncho, ca. 1958

This is a Poncho. It was designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes and Bonnie Cashin and manufactured by Philip Sills & Co..

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum as part of A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

It is dated ca. 1958. Its medium is wool and lurex. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


With its two large pockets, this poncho is typical of Cashin’s designs for women: elegant, wearable, and practical. Liebes has incorporated thin strands of Lurex in some, but not all, of the handwoven fabric, creating a variable play of light enhanced by the wearer’s movement.

It is credited Loan courtesy of the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles. Gift of Helen and Phillip Sills .

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318807754/ |title=Poncho, Poncho, ca. 1958 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=31 October 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>