Fashion & Beauty

another one mainly because it's gorgeous. But in this case, it's also clever: it looks like a scarf wrapped (sexily!) around the woman, but it's actually just embroidery. Also it's by one of our favorite fashion houses, Callot Soeurs (Callot Sisters)

A great example of a 16th century doublet—and of the crazy shapes people contort themselves into for fashion—from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris

RIP To a fashion icon 🙏

children's clothes from the 18th century--a rare survival!

one thing we often miss is how fashions from earlier times were seen/felt as sexy—like these gloves, which you might give to a woman because they would slide over her hands—hands you generally didn't get to touch....

Find out about the famous courtesan who started as a poor, Russian Jewish girl and ended up with these diamonds....
Watch today at 2 pm ET, or in video at your convenience: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/210662746947

There is a lot of cloth of gold on our tours, as in Gainsborough's portrait of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, a courtesan patronized by the great and wealthy, including the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and the Duc d'Orléans. I'll put her in comments.

Female Painter Artemisia Gentileschi

Female Painter Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Gentileschi (featured on our tour) is one of the greatest Nasty Women of art history. Artemisia Gentileschi turned the horrors of her own life – re...

This outfit by Poiret would look perfectly natural at a dinner party today. How far out it must have looked when it was created, in 1913!

The Victoria & Albert Museum, London has the great good fortune to hold this ensemble in its archives. It is an early iteration of the emergence of bifurcated evening wear.
Created by Paul Poiret who was, at the time, one of the most forward thinking of couturiers. This ensemble is made of silk satin with a lining of pink silk chiffon. The trousers are joined in the center and there are deep slits on the sides where the legs emerge. The cloak is a variation of one of his favorite ideas, the cocoon coat.
This ensemble was made for Emilie Grigsby, who must have been not only affluent but fearlessly stylish since such a costume would have raised more than a few eyebrows. It is likely, though that it was meant for entertaining at home, rather than evenings out.
Along with it’s being avant-garde, it is every bit as elegantly stylish now as it was in 1913 when it was created.

A rare survival!

In art, gowns of the Empire period are generally white, but in reality they were of many different colors, including this bring (and poisonous!) green. Just another example of the false-whitening of the past....

Illustration by Cardwell Higgins, 1920s

An exquisite 1920 Cartier Vanity and Cigarette Case, Gold, Platinum, Enamel, Diamond, Amber and Mirrored Glass with an Emerald on the top & bottom.

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Norma Shearer, 1930's.

That's a lot of decoration! But fashion is mostly more about status/wealth than sexiness.....

That's a lot of decoration! But the point of fashion has always been more about status/wealth than sexiness.....

This is something that we don't often see: the kind of clothing—simplified, but still very elegant and elaborate by today's standards—that the reform movement advocated, i.e. people like Oscar and Constance Wilde. You can imagine Constance wearing this!

Not Your Grandmother’s Doilies: New Exhibition Explores the History of Lace

Not Your Grandmother’s Doilies: New Exhibition Explores the History of Lace Across five locations in Antwerp, the ModeMuseum shows how the delicate, weblike fabric became a staple of art, craft, fashion, and commerce.

The Belle Epoque Body-con Dress That Was Too Sexy for Paris

The Belle Epoque Body-con Dress That Was Too Sexy for Paris In the Spring of 1908, three women walked onto the Longchamp racecourse in Paris and jaws dropped. The elite society event was known for debuting the latest couture creations to the public, but no one had seen fashion quite like this before. Dressed in blue, white and havane brown creations, accordi

Don't miss Rena Tobey's lecture on colonial American fashion! Watch it live this afternoon, or in video for 2 weeks: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/169179234645

The 18th-century English Craze for One-Eyed Portraits

These look creepy to us, but they were a fashionable, romantic gift in the 18th century. We see a whole collection of them on our Shady Ladies tour of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. https://hyperallergic.com/674112/the-18th-century-english-craze-for-one-eyed-portraits/?fbclid=IwAR0OPHquBb3_dvQqNDCrCDpjuFUcm5vSHJbaApxdM7UEzeclWoYpFV9uLmM

The 18th-century English Craze for One-Eyed Portraits Most eye miniatures were exchanged between lovers, though they were also given to close friends and family members.

Five intellectual fashion statements from history that anticipated today’s dark academia trend

Five intellectual fashion statements from history that anticipated today’s dark academia trend People have always wanted others to know they’re smart, and what better way to do that than with clothes?

another beautiful example of highly decorated flapper clothing!

La Castiglione: Model, Muse, Mistress, Narcissist, and Queen of 19th century Selfie Drama

La Castiglione: Model, Muse, Mistress, Narcissist, and Queen of 19th century Selfie Drama Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione (1837 – 1899) was an Italian aristocrat, a secret agent/courtesan sent to plead the cause of Italian unity with Emp...

History of Venetian Courtesans

History of Venetian Courtesans Lust, luxury, and free-spirit were the trademarks of the elite sex worker of 16th-century Venice. Learn more about the fascinating stories of the most scanda...

We love images like this, where the sitter is like a store mannequin, wearing every single fashion of their day....

What the heck is an aiglet you might well ask? Well, take a look at your shoelaces. That little plastic bit is the aiglet. But it was not ever so. In centuries past aiglets were crafted of wood or metal, and sometimes were quite ornate. Their purpose was to create a finished end to cord or ribbon so that the unsightly fraying would not be visible, nor prone to getting worse. Such ribbons or cords were commonly used to fasten various parts of the costume together. At the upper end of their making, aiglets like we can see in this portrait by Alonso Sanchez Coello were made of precious metals and set with gemstones.
This is Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria as painted by Sanchez Coello in 1563. Her aiglets finish broad ribbons that are in use to close the front of her skirt and narrow the opening of her black gown’s sleeves.
As a side note it was also quite common for sleeves to have an opening for the arm at both the elbow and the wrist.