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Fernand Toussaint

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Soprano Geneviève Vix wearing a gorgeous sequin gown, c. 1910

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“In my eyes, good conversation is the birthplace of true attraction. So open up and share with me every encounter and experience that shaped you into who you are today. Tell me all about your hopes and dreams and captivate me with your passions. Arouse my curiosity and you’ll have my attention.”

— Beau Taplin

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“We met at the wrong time. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway. Maybe one day years from now, we’ll meet in a coffee shop in a far away city somewhere and we could give it another shot.”

— Unknown

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Evening dress. c. 1894. French. Kyoto Costume Institute.

My recent art history exam was on Japonisme (among other things) and maybe I'm a little bit obsessed at the moment.

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I've been on a bit of an unplanned break, and I apologize for that. Life, as they say, can take you for quite a ride sometimes. And family always comes first.

Hopefully I'll be back as usual next week, so to start things off I’m going back to one of my favorite decades and one of my favorite materials: the 1840s and taffeta. And not just any taffeta, changeable taffeta. It’s a bit difficult to see in this picture, but the material is woven of two colors, which means it has a gorgeous shimmering color-changing surface. Though it seems a very modern concept, changeable silk has been around for a very long time

This dress is also from the 1840s, though on first glance you might have thought it was from the 1880s. That bodice, particularly, has a certain late-Victorian shape, doesn’t it? Not to mention the lovely curtain petticoats. But, like so much of fashion, it’s about a conversation across time. This dress is actually hearkening back to the previous century, and by the 1880s, they were hearkening back to both the 18th century and the 1840s. 

What goes around comes around, eh? 

I love the gold color of this gown along with all the ruffling details. The MFA Boston says it’s “French?” I always read that as, “Well, we don’t know precisely but it’s very extra, so let’s go with French.” The little braids and general tailoring of this one really make it memorable.

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Silk day dress, 1865, from a 2008 exhibit of 19th century fashion in Huelva, Spain.

Adding two pictures of the same dress I was able to find - wow, what a difference lighting makes!

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Silk taffeta evening dress, 1870’s, Bath Fashion Museum

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Carte de visite of Julia Apraxin, Countess Batthyány, actress, novelist and freemason, photographed in costume as a hussar circa 1860

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1714 William Gandy - Jane Hawkins, daughter of Philip Hawkins Esq. of Pennans and Mary Scobell

(Trewithen House and Gardens)

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…the art of cafe society…

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Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (pregnant with her third child Grand Duchess Maria) with her friend at the time, Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna, looking at a photograph, 1899.

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A Shared Moment, 1878 by Joseph Scheurenberg (German, 1846-1914)

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The Rain it Raineth Every Day, 1906

Leonard Campbell Taylor

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It's rare, but sometimes I do venture into the 20th century, especially when the words "silk velvet" are in the description.

Here, you have a rather extreme example of the fashionable hobble skirt of the time. Between about 1908 and 1911, this short-lived craze is reputedly from France (Paul Poiret claimed the invention) but no one is exactly sure its origin.

Regardless, hobble skirts were aptly named for they caused a great challenge to the wearer. As stunning as this gown is, knowing, as the description says, it narrows "to the ankles" it seems quite a sacrifice for a fashion trend. But then again, humankind has been doing that for a very, very long time. I think of this as the anti-pannier!

This particular gown has a brilliant colorway with that deep pink against gold, plus the spray of silk flowers on the bodice. And there are rhinestones to add that extra little pizazz. To say nothing of the train!

From Augusta Auctions.