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Marie Antoinette in a super fashionable redingote gown

16 Jan

A beautiful drawing of Marie Antoinette from around 1780. It is not known who drew this portrait but it was sent as a present from Axel de Fersen to his beloved sister Sophie. A redingote, as worn here by the Queen was a very popular style of dress in the 1780s – the name comes from the English ‘riding coat’, which they were based upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the very best riding habits came from London and so fashionable Parisian ladies would send across the channel for them.

Marie Antoinette shocks France with a dress!

14 Jan

Detail from one of the most famous portraits of Marie Antoinette, which was painted by Madame Vigée-Lebrun in 1783. This portrait depicts the 27 year old Queen of France in her favourite outfit, a simple ruffled muslin gown, tied at the waist with a gauze sash and teamed with a ribbon bedecked straw hat. She is posed as though picking roses in her beloved gardens at the Petit Trianon and her gaze is both direct and enquiring, although not unfriendly.

This painting caused a sensation when it was displayed at the prestigious Paris Salon of 1783. Marie Antoinette and Madame Vigée-Lebrun, both young women whose minds were full of romance and idealistic ideas of the simplicity and virtue of private life were fixated on the lack of etiquette in the painting, in the lack of heavy court gowns and jewels, in its charm and honesty. The critics and populace at large, however were rather less charmed and saw in the lack of Queenly decoration and etiquette, a quite deplorable lesé majesté that acted as a metaphor for the gradual erosion of the dignity of both France and its royal family.

The marvellous Merveilleuse

14 Jan

Nothing could be more French than to allow current affairs to influence fashion (just look at the hairstyles concocted by Rose Bertin for Marie Antoinette and her coterie – battleships, babies being born and balloons taking off are just a few examples) and the outrageously dressed Merveilleuses are the finest example of this.

Les Merveilleuses (‘The Marvellous Ones’) made their first appearance in 1794 and influenced by the victims of the guillotine, they cultivated a highly modish and edgily morbid style that bordered on the gothic. The leaders of the Merveilleuses were the extremely stylish Theresa Tallien and Rose de Beauharnais, both of whom had been imprisoned during the Terror and had barely escaped with their lives.

But what items would have graced the spartan styled mahogany Jacob wardrobe of the average aspiring Merveilleuse? Let’s have a peek inside…

1. In the wake of the Terror’s end the most fashionable hair style was long at the front and shorn very short at the nape of the neck à la Titus in a bizarre attempt to copy the way that the guillotine’s victims had their hair cut by the executioner’s assistants before clambering aboard the tumbril that would transport them to the guillotine. Scented pomades were used to mess up the tendrils of hair and create a sophisticated dishevilled look.

2. A red scarf à la Némesis. This was first worn after the execution of the famous beauty, Émilie de Sainte-Amaranthe, who was rumoured to have been arrested after she spurned the attentions of not just Saint-Just but also Robespierre. Her courage in the face of death and undeniable glamour made her something of a heroine to the fashionable ladies of Paris and they wore red scarves thrown loosely around their shoulders in her honour.

3. A thin red ribbon choker or if you were really dashing (like the lady in the first miniature) one made of rubies that mimicked the appearance of droplets of blood around the neck.

4. Lavish helpings of scented white powder applied to the face and bosom in order to replicate a suitably languishing living corpse look.

5. A selection of thinly diaphanous white muslin and gauze low cut dresses, which were fondly imagined to look like the plain white chemises and dresses which many prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, wore to their executions. The more daring ladies liked to dampen their dresses with water before venturing outside in order to make them cling more becomingly to their figures.

6. The Croix à la Victime, a red silk harness, which was worn like a thin shawl around the bodice, artfully forming a red cross on the wearer’s back.

7. Thin grecian sandals, which looked especially delightful teamed with gold or silver toe rings and painted toe nails.

8. Heady, migraine inducing scents that made your every lazy movement waft jasmine, rose and musk through the air.

They must have made a striking sight on the mean streets of post Terror Paris but I think they probably looked amazing.

The House of Eliott

28 Sep

Has anyone else been watching the rerun of The House of Eliott every afternoon on ITV2? Oh, it is fabulous and, to my delight, it hardly seems to have aged at all since I saw its original run in the mid 1990s.

Ah, the mid 1990s when I was doing my A Levels at Colchester Sixth Form, was convinced that Carl McCoy from Fields of the Nephilim was the Perfect Man and was also desperately in love with Simon H+++, who probably didn’t love me back but WE WILL NEVER KNOW (I’ve written about what my cronies refer to as The Simon H+++ Situation at great length before but in summary, well, you aren’t missing much). Ah, youth.

The House of Eliott perfectly suited my rather louche, romantic state of mind at the time and I find that it (along with my perennial favourite, Gilmore Girls, which shares some common themes now that I come to think about it – oh God, I wish that I could live in Stars Hollow) also perfectly suits my mental state at the moment too, even though I am older but not necessarily wiser.

For the uninitiated, The House of Eliott is set in the 1920s and tells the story of two pulchritudinous sisters, Beatrice and Evangeline Eliott who are left (almost but not quite!) impoverished by their awful doctor father and so end up turning a flair for design and talent for dressmaking to good account by eventually and amidst many dramas, triumphs and travails founding their own fashion house.

Now, the 1920s are not really my favoured period when it comes to social history and design, but one can’t help but be entranced by the gorgeous clothes paraded around in The House of Eliott. In the last episode they designed the costumes for a rather modern ballet, which was just superb and really showed off the costume designer’s talents to the full as the dancers wafted about on the stage in diaphanous gauzes and silks.

Of course, it’s not all pretty dresses, champagne and parties there’s also plenty of social commentary here as well about the often parlous situations of women without a male ‘protector’ and also the yawning gulf between rich and poor in the days before a proper welfare state was created. The House of Eliott is almost as much about the seamstresses that the sisters employ in their workshop as it is about about Bea and Evie, although there was an interesting discussion in a recent episode when Bea almost angrily rejected the suggestion that she and her sister ought to feel responsible for their employees outside the workplace as well as within it.

Above all though, The House of Eliott is about progress – the sisters are both bang on trend with short ‘shingled’ hair and ever raising hemlines but the fashionable epiphanies are set against a background of handsome young well bred men racing cars, making films or flying planes as the world becomes increasingly small.

For me at least, there is also the additional thrill of the fact that the series was mostly filmed in my very own Bristol (standing in for London) so I get to spot locations – so far I have spotted Berkeley Square, the Bristol Museum and Blaise Castle amongst other familiar spots around the city.

Are you a fan as well?

Jeanne Lanvin, 1923, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1928, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1926, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1924, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

PS. BBC, you know how you recently resurrected Upstairs, Downstairs for one last whirl? Well, I’ve never forgiven you for cancelling The House of Eliott without warning at the end of its third series. Just saying…

The silver tissue dress

9 Sep

Ah, Friday. Let’s look at something beautiful and very, very special as we ease into the weekend. This week has just flown by hasn’t it? Or at least, it has here. It might have been really slow for you. It’s a funny thing, time.

This gown is the oldest piece in the Bath Fashion Museum and is extra special not just because of its gorgeousness because it is one of a very few complete seventeenth century dresses that are still in existence. Let’s just think about that – this dress, a fragile thing in itself, has managed to survive for around three hundred and fifty years.

The gown is known as the ‘Silver Tissue Dress’ because the fabric softly glimmers in the most luxuriant manner thanks to the warp being silk and the weft silver metallic thread. The warp is the main thread that is used to weave a fabric, while the weft is the thread that is drawn through and which can therefore be of  a less strong and more luxe type.

‘The bodice is lined with linen; the sleeves with coarse cotton; the skirt hem with linen; and the front panel with silk. The bodice is heavily boned with a piece of stiff brown paper or parchment added for reinforcement at the centre back. The bodice laces down the centre back and has an off the shoulder décolletage bound with cream tape and large puff sleeves, slashed at the front. It forms a deep point at the centre front, peplum slashed and each tab is bound with tape. The skirt has a straight panel centre front from which it is pleated either side towards the back. It has a wool-lined pocket at the right side.

 It is decorated with applied parchment lace; a silk bobbin lace enclosing strips of parchment.‘

It’s incredible how much construction and, yes, engineering goes into these gowns that look as delicate and decorative as a butterfly wing isn’t it? While the artistic vogue of this period was to be depicted in a sleepy eyed sultry haze with gorgeous shimmering silks and satins draped beautifully but somewhat pointlessly about one’s person, there’s also plenty of examples of women wearing dresses very similar to this one in their portraits.

It’s not known who originally wore this grand and amazing dress although they were clearly a woman of some standing at the Restoration court of Charles II, perhaps his sister Henriette, who was just sixteen when her brother mounted the throne and she paid her first visit to England since being forced to flee as a toddler during the Civil War. This could fit as due to the small size of the gown, it seems likely that it was made for a young woman or girl, possibly for a ball or her wedding or maybe for a court event. Whatever the occasion, she must surely have been the cynosure of all eyes as she walked into the room, her beautiful silver dress glimmering softly in the candlelight. Did she steal shy looks around the splendid company as she slowly approached the King or was she confident, bold and fully aware of the dazzling power of her outfit?

The silver tissue dress is on permanent display at the Fashion Museum in Bath. Many thanks to everyone there for sending me the extra information for this post.

The last seven days…

30 Aug

I had a bit of a revelation earlier today when I realised that my blog is nothing like a lot of the blogs that I really enjoy reading and, in fact, most aspire to be like. How odd is that? I suppose we bloggers evolve our own style over time and as this blog was started in a reaction against the suffocatingly malevolent atmosphere of Live Journal, I originally set out with a determination not to share anything of myself with readers. That’s fallen by the wayside over the intervening two years, of course and so I thought I might as well make a regular thing of it and post a weekly update, usually on a Sunday afternoon about the highlights of the preceding seven days.

Well, if you’re going to get wet, you might as well go swimming, right?

  • Dave and I have been really into Thai curry lately – it’s perfect for our vegan diet, so long as we can find all the bits and pieces without fish paste in them. Tonight’s dinner was a Moroccan tagine type thing, for which I was a Cheaty McCheater and used a sauce by a company called The Curry Sauce Co. Even the children enjoyed it, which is saying something. They were certainly rather keener on the couscous element than I had expected.
  • We have grotty weather right now and I’m afraid that I’ve given up on summer altogether now and am looking forward to Halloween and lovely Autumn. I’ve started lighting candles every evening to make the house feel cosier – I’m getting really into it and even have a wish list for Yankee Candles on my mobile phone. I’m planning to get Creamy Caramel, Lavender Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcake, Candy Corn and Spiced Pumpkin first and can’t wait.
  • I’ve been slacking off the writing for the last day or so and have been reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and loving it. Felix and I went to see The Deathly Hallows II again last week and I’ve been intrigued ever since by Draco Malfoy’s seeming change of heart in the last two films. I can’t wait to see what he does in the book.
  • I’ve been spending far too much time listening to Fields of the Nephilim lately. As regular readers will already know, the Neph were one of my favourite bands if not THE favourite band when I was growing up and I thought Carl McCoy was just the epitome of loveliness. I’ve neglected them for a while but have found myself listening to them again lately, particularly some tracks on The Nephilim album and, well, really they are still amazing. I’ve also been listening to a lot of stuff by The Kidneythieves (Before I Die is a fantastic track – it’s played at the very end of Queen of the Damned) lately.
  •  I’ve never really rated The Duchess as a film but watched it again the other night and enjoyed it rather more. I wish they had gone into Georgiana’s complexities and accomplishments a bit more rather than focussing on all the scandal and woe of her life though. Also it’s really hard for me to see Ralph Fiennes as anything other than He Who Must Not Be Named these days.
  • As a reward for doing the P&G 1930s Housewife Challenge (no reward was necessary really as I had a lovely time but it’s nice to be appreciated) I was sent a gift voucher for the Lido in Clifton, which is a bit exciting. I’ve now booked myself in for a full day of swimming, lounging around reading, vegan lunch and then an hour long Hawaiian face pummelling. I can’t wait!
  • Fashion wise, I’m getting bored with having bright pink hair (strangely, it is possible to get fed up with this – who would have thought it?) and am considering going a paler baby pink or maybe a teal blue green. I’m also obsessed with moonstones, chartreuse green Chanel nail polish, fig perfume (let’s face it, I’m ALWAYS obsessed with fig scents) and star print on dresses.
  • Autumn must be coming as I’m thinking about starting the boys on porridge tomorrow morning as it is so much more warming. We also bought a big bottle of Morgan’s spiced rum this afternoon, which I’m looking forward to starting and I’m thinking I may have to get some Winter PIMMS as well. I’ve also decided that from now on I am going to bake at least one (vegan) cake and a batch of cookies or cupcakes every week.
  • We’re lucky enough to live a few minutes walk away from a vast Victorian cemetery called Arnos Vale, which is just beautiful and so peaceful. The only thing is that although it is perfect for afternoon walks (and they sell lovely lavender plants in their shop at the gates), it leads to some really awkward questions from Felix.
  • I’ve been thinking a lot about the Princess Diana YA novel and am so grateful for all the wonderful and encouraging feedback that I have had about it. I would seriously love to write it and have even worked a few things out for it but I am really not sure that legally I would be able to do so no matter how careful and respectful I intended to be about everyone involved.
So how was that? A nice change or too much of a change? I’ll only be posting like this once a week and to be honest I’m really hoping that it makes me take more photographs, do more interesting things and er make the effort to put make up on in the morning…

Ingres

29 Aug

Along with David, Boilly and Gérard, Ingres, who was born on this day in 1780, was one of my favourite artists when I was a French Revolution obsessed teenager and undergraduate. Luckily for me, there was a ample opportunity during my History of Art degree to study the works of the Neo-Classical artists but I’m afraid that my love for Ingres and David has waned somewhat over the subsequent years.

Nonetheless, I thought I’d share a couple of favourites with you today in honour of his birthday. Clearly, my love of really flouncy female portraits will NEVER diminish.

Baronne James de Rothschild (1848, collection privé) dressed in a gown that is reminiscent of Quality Street wrappers and marshmallow whip. There’s not many complexions that could carry off this ensemble but that won’t stop people trying. I think Madame la Baronne is one of the few who looks good in medicinal pink though.

Louise de Broglie, Comtesse d’Haussonville (1845, Frick Collection) looking thoughtful and a teensy bit flirtatious by a mantelpiece. Madame d’Haussonville was a talented writer, whose biographies of La Reine Margot and Byron suggest that she was irresistibly drawn to the Mad, Bad and Dangerous To Know. As with Madame la Baronne, I find the posing of her hands interesting as Ingres wasn’t exactly great at painting them (RUBBER FINGERS) and yet he still insists on making them the focus point of his portraits. It’s almost as if someone once said to him: ‘You know what, Ingres, you can’t paint fingers for TOFFEE’ and he got into a defiant huff and went ‘Well, we shall see about that!’

 

Joséphine-Éleanore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brissac de Béarn, Princess Albert de Broglie (1853, Metropolitan Museum of Art). Ingres captured the rather awkward, shy demeanour of this rather pious young woman perfectly – it’s clear that she is no flirt, unlike her pretty sister in law, Louise.

Marie-Clotilde-Inès de Foucauld, Madame Paul-Sigisbert Moitessier (1856, National Gallery). Oh dear, again with the fingers. This is a glorious piece isn’t it? I love her beautiful flounced floral dress, the almost Mona Lisa like grave humour of her expression and, as always with Ingres, the sumptuous richness of her surroundings. It’s said that Ingres wasn’t actually all that keen on portrait painting but, like so many other artists over the centuries, saw it as a useful way to keep himself funded while working on his true love of history paintings. He was originally unwilling to take on Monsieur Moitessier’s commission to paint his beautiful wife but then relented after meeting the lady herself. However, it took him seven years to complete the painting with the result that the Moitessier’s daughter, Catherine, who was originally intended to be at her mother’s side, wasn’t included as she was all grown up by the time it was finished.

The dresses from this period are dreamy, aren’t they? Let’s have a look at a few from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York…

French evening dress, c1860.

Silk cotton evening gown, 1860.

Silk and gauze ball gown, c1854.

American silk wedding dress, c1855.

French cotton afternoon dress, c.1855.

Dressing the Stars at Bath Fashion Museum

12 Jul

We have a bit of a cinematic theme here at Madame Guillotine lately, don’t we? Today  Felix and I headed off on a train to Bath for the opening day of the new exhibition Dressing the Stars at the fabulous Bath Fashion Museum, which is housed in the former Assembly Rooms where Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Jane Austen and a whole host of Georgette Heyer heroines flirted, dance and exchanged frosty bows with acquaintances.

Nowadays, the Assembly Rooms have been used as a location for several film and television productions, including Persuasion and The Duchess and so it makes an excellent setting for a magnificent exhibition of costumes from some of the finest films ever. I already knew to expect dresses from Young Victoria, The Duchess, Tess, Elizabeth and Sense and Sensibility but gave a definite gasp when I walked into the pale blue and white ball room and saw a splendid display arrayed before me.

 

I had a quick chat with the exhibition organiser, Yvonne Hellin-Hobbs, who has many years experience of working with costumed films and worked on Sense and Sensibility, which everyone who has read Emma Thompson’s memoir of the filming knows must have been a VERY fun film to work on! She told me that her favourite costume comes from the film Tess: a gorgeous and delicate looking wine coloured gown that looks like it might actually be a genuine piece from that era. All of the costumes on display looked amazing but when you get up close, the illusion that they create on screen is often dispelled and you realise that they aren’t actually a genuine period piece. Not so with the Tess gown.

Here’s a selection of some of the costumes that I saw:

A beautiful lilac dress worn by Bette Davis in Death on the Nile (1978).

An intricate doublet worn by Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948).

Roman armour from Ben Hur (1959).

Another Laurence Olivier costume, this time from Henry V (1944).

Captain Jack Sparrow!

Commodus’ white armour from Gladiator (2000).

Dress worn by Charlotte Rampling as Lady Spencer in The Duchess (2008).

Worn by Ralph Fiennes as the Duke of Devonshire in The Duchess.

Wedding dress worn by Keira Knightley as Georgiana in The Duchess.

Gown worn by Keira Knightley in The Duchess. I find this piece interesting as an unusual example of what maternity wear would have looked like in the 1780s.

Dress worn by Keira Knightley in The Duchess. This is the dress that Georgiana wears in the scene where she attends a ball in a rather squiffy state.

Wedding outfits worn by Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet as Colonel Brandon and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995).

Detail from a dress worn by Miranda Richardson as the Duchess of Kent in The Young Victoria (2009).

Uniform worn by Colin Firth as George VI in The King’s Speech (2010).

Dress worn by Helena Bonham-Carter as Queen Elizabeth in The King’s Speech.

Dress worn by Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola in Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Gown worn by Judi Dench as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.

Costumes worn by Cate Blanchett  as Elizabeth I (and lovely Clive Owen as Walter Rayleigh?) in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).

Coronation ensemble worn by Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998).

Fancy schmancy costume worn by Robert Downey Jnr as Robert Merivale in Restoration (1995).

Beautiful dress worn by Swoosie Kurtz as Madame de Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

As well as beautiful dresses and dashing uniforms, there was also a dressing up rail in the corner with childrens’ costumes made especially for the exhibition, which I think will be very popular! Felix immediately made a beeline for it and was dressed up as one of his heroes – Captain Jack Sparrow! Arrr! There were also gorgeous dresses in a Georgian and Regency style for little girls to dress up in. There’s going to be some activities for children as well over the summer while the exhibition is on, including opportunities to design court dresses and other fun things.

This is an amazing exhibition – it’s really great to be able to view such gorgeous costumes up close and I’ll definitely be returning before it ends on the 29th August. I’m also hoping to get to one of the special events that they have planned, include special screenings of The Kings Speech (introduced by the costume designer, Jenny Beavan) and The Young Victoria (introduced by scriptwriter, Julian Fellowes).

 

If you live in the north of England and feel a bit left out, some of Dressing the Stars will be moving to the Rheged centre in Penrith later in the summer. In the meantime, it’s definitely worth a trip to Bath.

Here’s more information about the exhibition, including opening times.

 

Ps. We were filmed and interviewed by the crew of Points West while there this afternoon and apparently will be on this evening’s show! Eek. I’m not the greatest public speaker ever so am hoping I don’t appear but Felix was a DOLL and the politest little pirate there ever was so I hope they show him.

 

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