The Fashion Show on Strickland Road Is Really About East Putnam Avenue

The Greenwich Historical Society's Fashioning America: 250 Years of Greenwich Style has three months left. It closes on January 10, 2027, and it is the third and final exhibition in the Society's America 250 series. Its most memorable pieces come from East Putnam Avenue, the road that runs past Cos Cob's post office, its plazas and this fall's roadwork. A wedding was held on that avenue in 1938. A designer dress shop on it supplied several pieces in the final room. The exhibition sits at 47 Strickland Road in Cos Cob.

A wedding gown and a dress shop, both on the Post Road

The bridal installation centers on the gown and veil Lydia Ferris wore when she married Granville Lester on June 11, 1938, at the Second Congregational Church on East Putnam Avenue. Hugh and Claire Vanderbilt bought the dress from the estate of Lydia Ferris Lester. Claire Vanderbilt served the Historical Society for more than 50 years.

The last room carries the story into living memory. "Fashion Forward 1960-2026" shows eight dresses and pantsuits by Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent and Adele Simpson, a designer who lived in Greenwich for many years. Several of those pieces were first bought at Razook's, the high-fashion shop that once stood on East Putnam Avenue and was known for its designer clothes.

So on its first and last pieces, the show is about the same stretch of road. Most of the garments come from the Society's own collection, and many are on display for the first time. Local museums and Greenwich women lent the rest, including clothing tied to important events in their lives. Some of these clothes were worn at weddings and bought at shops on the same avenue that holds Cos Cob's errands today.

Seven installations, one flight up

The exhibition fills a large showroom on the second floor of the Society's main building. Its seven installations cover American fashion from the 18th century to the 21st. The first thing you see is a giant wall portrait of George Washington. It shows the ladies of Trenton, New Jersey, greeting him with baskets of flowers as he rode to his first inauguration in New York.

The installations the Society has described by name, in order:

1. The founding era, 18th and early 19th century. A men's frock coat of imported English silk with fine silk embroidery hangs next to a linen frock coat made in America, a sign of the patriotism of wearing local cloth. Nearby are Empire-style dresses inspired by Josephine de Beauharnais, along with a brown silk dress with a linen drawstring that Oleva Mead gave the Society.
2. "The First Fast Fashion 1825-1850." Colorful dresses with collars and aprons that reflect early industry and the economic growth after the Revolutionary War.
3. "Bridal Customs 1860-1940." The Ferris gown is the centerpiece.
4. "Conspicuous Consumption 1860-1900." Two day dresses plus a tea dress and a dinner dress from the Gilded Age, when Greenwich was home to families including the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Havemeyers and Carnegies. The pieces are made of silk, velvet and lace, finished with glass beads and metallic thread.
5. "Fashion Forward 1960-2026." The designer room, with the Razook's pieces.

The last room has mirrors behind the clothes, so visitors see their own outfits among the exhibits. Senior Curator Kathleen Craughwell-Varda, who organized the show, explained why:

"The mirrors are here to reflect our visitors and include them and their personal styles in the exhibition. We see how people have dressed over time and how American history impacts and influences what we wear."

She also gave the reason Greenwich has such a closet to draw from at all: "Greenwich's proximity to New York City always made the best goods and fashions available to its residents."

East Putnam Avenue, this fall

The road that once sold those clothes is mid-change again. Three updates matter for anyone who runs errands in Cos Cob.

The post office is open again. The Cos Cob Post Office at 152 East Putnam Avenue closed for repairs on August 7, 2026. A USPS service alert dated October 7 says counter service has resumed. Weekday hours are 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 1:15 to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday hours are 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Drainage work near Valleywood Road. The Town's Department of Public Works announced a drainage project around Valleywood Road, Old Post Road #6 and East Putnam Avenue. Work was expected to start in late September and take about two months. Expect occasional lane closures and minor delays, with access to homes and businesses kept open. On that schedule, crews could be there until around Thanksgiving.

A storefront swap that has been approved but has not opened. Planning & Zoning voted 5–0 to approve Just Salad for a 28-seat, 2,328-square-foot fast-casual restaurant at 393–409 East Putnam Avenue. It would replace the former AT&T store and a hair salon. The application proposed hours of 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. An approval is not an opening, and we found no announced opening date.

Seen against the exhibition upstairs on Strickland Road, these changes look like the latest round of a long cycle. In 1938, East Putnam Avenue held a church wedding. Later it held a designer boutique. Now one of its plazas has a phone store becoming a salad counter. The Historical Society has turned the earlier rounds into an exhibition.

The calendar between now and January 10

The Society has filled the exhibition's last three months with tours and talks. Dates below come from its event pages.

Time Travelers Family Sundays are held on the second Sunday of every month. They offer family-friendly tours and hands-on activities, free with admission. Because January 10 is the second Sunday of the month, the show ends on a family day. Ticket prices for the lectures and curator tours sit inside the Society's online booking forms, so check those when you reserve.

The holiday season has begun to fill in. The Society's holiday page announces the 8th Annual Festival of Tabletop Trees in the museum lobby, November 19 to 22. Holiday markets and candlelight house tours have run in past years, but we found no 2026 dates for them yet, so check the Society's site before you plan around them.

Making it a Strickland Road morning

The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, students and young people ages 6 to 18. Members, children under five and active military and Blue Star families get in free. The first Wednesday of every month is free for everyone. Before the show closes, that means November 4, December 2 and January 6.

One ticket covers the galleries, the special exhibition and a guided tour of Bush-Holley House. House tours run Tuesday through Sunday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The house has steep stairs. The campus has an elevator, accessible paths, and parking on site and across the street. The Museum Store is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Society will be closed on Thanksgiving, November 26; Christmas Day; and New Year's Day.

The Society's visitor page does not mention a café. Coffee is at the other end of the road. Slate Cafe, at 3 Strickland Road, opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on weekends, and closes at 4 p.m. every day. Husband and wife Zach Israel and Ashley Jaffee opened the Cos Cob location in August 2025. The menu covers coffee, breakfast, sandwiches, salads and small plates. The galleries open at 11. The Saturday curator tours start at the same hour, so you can have breakfast at Slate first and walk up the road in time for the tour.

If you would like to compare notes on how East Putnam Avenue and Strickland Road have changed, or you have a story about Razook's, Linna Yuen is always glad to hear it. Let's Connect.