Tag Archives: Frivolous Friday

Frivolous Friday: Fashionable Reading

02 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Clothing, History, Research

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Portrait of a seated young lady, watercolor on paper by Anna Maria von Phul, 1818. Missouri History Museum, 1953 158 0013
Ladies’ Monthly Museum, v. 5, plate 71. July 1, 1816. Casey Fashion Plate Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

Anna Maria von Phul’s delicate watercolors of Saint Louis in 1818 (example at left) remind us that cities in the hinterland of America have never been as far behind the times as coastal dwellers might imagine. As a former resident of the Great Fly Over, I know how defensive people can be about their relative sophistication, and that could be why our Young Lady here appears slightly defensive in her posture.

The young lady is certainly fashionable in that white gown, and literate, too, though we cannot see what she is reading; perhaps Maria Edgeworth.

It took some doing to find a similarly posed and dated fashion plate with a book, for fashion has always been more fantasy than reality.

Frivolous Friday: London fashionable Walking Dresses

25 Friday Apr 2014

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The Ladies Magazine, v/ 4, plate 53, Wednesday July 1, 1812. Casey Fashion Plate Collection, LA Public Library

The Ladies Magazine, v/ 4, plate 53, Wednesday July 1, 1812. Casey Fashion Plate Collection, LA Public Library

I don’t know which I like best: the green and white bonnet, the green silk Spencer, or the suspicious and candid glance of the woman on the left. Perhaps its the date: mere weeks before the purported milliner’s store this coming August. Have I already purchased green silk and white cotton organza? Of course I have. Never let a fashion plate or an event keep you from a new and slightly mad project to make something new.

Frivolous Friday: Polka Dots!

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by in Clothing, History, Museums, Research

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Dress Date: ca. 1815 Culture: American Medium: cotton Dimensions: Length at CB: 54 in. (137.2 cm) Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Florence Inniss, 1970 Accession Number: 2009.300.943

Dress
Date: ca. 1815 Culture: American Medium: cotton Dimensions: Length at CB: 54 in. (137.2 cm) Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Florence Inniss, 1970 Accession Number: 2009.300.943

In typical museum fashion, whilst looking for something else, I found something I didn’t know I wanted.

I’ve been asked to portray an 1812 milliner in Salem this coming August (which feels like next year but will soon be Ohmygoodness that’s TOMORROW) so I’ve been getting a start on images of bonnets and hats and gowns and things because you know I’ll have to have something new. Have to. And there at the Met was this garment, unassuming and bronze-looking in the thumbnail of catalog hits and ever so much more so when you get up close.

I recommend getting quite close to really appreciate the print. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen something similar in the quilting cottons, Amy Butler or Kaffe Fasset, and of course I’m tempted. Wouldn’t you be? How often do you get to mix historic costumes and Op-Art?

Mostly only if you’re a textiles curator at the MFA, where you should check out the Quilts and Color show if you get the chance.