A leisurely walk through Brooklyn Museum's American High Style exhibit and one may come to a speedy conclusion: fashion has been re-worked, re-vamped and recycled. Much of what is en vogue now was all the rage in the mid to late twentieth century -- from high-waist evening dresses and chunky platform shoes to pants with the infamous knickers and the androgynous jumpsuit.

On May 7, the Brooklyn Museum opened its exhibit, boasting some the most renowned objects from the oldest and greatest collection of fashion from the 18th to 20th century. American High Style comprises approximately eighty-five dressed mannequins and a selection of hats, shoes, sketches that served to embellish the female form throughout the 1900s in America.

With every silk bodice to taffeta piece, the exhibit displays works owned and worn by American women who knew that they were truly the most delicate creatures every made. Including both French and American work, these designs were an extension of this awareness.

Charles James, who is an American designer most famous for his elaborately sculpted ball gowns made of lavish fabrics and for his exacting tailoring standards in the mid-1900s, was one  who claimed quite a bit of spotlight at the exhibit.

While he clad women in dresses that may have derived from the French couture or "high-dressmaking," they all had his highly structured aesthetic stamp. Pieces like the rose pink silk taffeta "tree" evening dress or the smoke gray and lavender "butterfly" dress offered the illusion of a wide hip and a pronounced bust line that any modern woman would clamor to wear.

The exhibit also featured the work of early American women designers such as Bonnie Cashin, Elizabeth Hawes, and Claire McCardell and the father of haute couture, Charles Frederick Worth.

However, once you arrive at the work of the late-1900s American costumer Norman Norell, you begin to observe a shift from an ethereal feel and aura to the functional, independent woman's high style. While his featured gold organdy, glittering silk jersey with exaggerated volume of sleeves make a statement, the beaded wide-legged pants make the truest statement that a dress was not the only item a woman could wear as evening fashion. Wearing pants for evening would slowly gain acceptance in the disco era of the early 1970s.

This would begin to mark the era of "dressing something down." And, as it became more popular for women to enter the workforce rather than spend their time throwing garden parties and galas, fashion would take a turn for function.

Still, as we continue to derive our current style from what came before, perhaps women should reach back for inspiration from the work of James, Adrian and Scaasi and "dress up" again as in the glory days of high style.

The American High Style exhibit will be featured at The Brooklyn Museum until August 1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is also celebrating the arrival of the Brooklyn Museum costume collection at the Met with a related exhibition, American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, on view May 5-August 15, 2010.