Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Dressing Up by Elizabeth L. Block - Available

Dressing Up

The Women Who Influenced French Fashion

by Elizabeth L. Block
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
How wealthy American women—as consumers and as influencers—helped shape French couture of the late nineteenth century; lavishly illustrated.
French fashion of the late nineteenth century is known for its allure, its ineffable chic—think of John Singer Sargent's Madame X and her scandalously slipping strap. For Parisian couturiers and their American customers, it was also serious business. In Dressing Up, Elizabeth Block examines the couturiers' influential clientele—wealthy American women who bolstered the French fashion industry with a steady stream of orders from the United States. Countering the usual narrative of the designer as solo creative genius, Block shows that these women—as high-volume customers and as pre-Internet influencers—were active participants in the era's transnational fashion system.
Block describes the arrival of nouveau riche Americans on the French fashion scene, joining European royalty, French socialites, and famous actresses on the client rosters of the best fashion houses—Charles Frederick Worth, Doucet, and Félix, among others. She considers the mutual dependence of couture and coiffure; the participation of couturiers in international expositions (with mixed financial results); the distinctive shopping practices of American women, which ranged from extensive transatlantic travel to quick trips downtown to the department store; the performance of conspicuous consumption at balls and soirées; the impact of American tariffs on the French fashion industry; and the emergence of smuggling, theft, and illicit copying of French fashions in the American market as the middle class emulated the preferences of the rich. Lavishly illustrated, with vibrant images of dresses, portraits, and fashion plates, Dressing Up reveals the power of American women in French couture.
Winner of the Aileen Ribeiro Grant of the Association of Dress Historians; an Association for Art History grant; and a Pasold Research Fund grant.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 19, 2021

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780262365567

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780262365567
      • File size: 398516 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2022

      The title Dressing Up underscores art historian and editor Block's thesis that wealthy 19th-century women wore French couture to improve and emphasize their social positions. Their informed choices encompassed couturiers, milliners, hairdressers, and perfumers as well as interior designers and portrait painters. Meanwhile, the emergence of fashion journalism, department stores, couture houses such as Worth and F�lix, and accessible international travel gave certain women with Gilded Age fortunes new agency in shaping the fashion industry itself. Block has meticulously researched the 19th-century sphere of fashion influences, with Paris at the center and American women (from Astors and Vanderbilts to actresses and opera singers) as major conduits of conspicuous consumption. Written at a scholarly level for those with some knowledge of the subject, this study thoughtfully explores markets and tariffs alongside portraits by John Singer Sargent and gowns in museum collections. Block's extensive bibliography of contemporary and historical sources provides a valuable foundation. VERDICT Revising the traditional view of fashion history as a parade of (mostly male) genius designers, Block highlights the stylish customers, along with enterprising female dressmakers and businesswomen, whose tastes shaped the look of the Gilded Age.--Lindsay King

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check Out What's Being Checked Out Right Now