120 Years of French Lingerie at the Design Exchange

Our mothers used to spend a lot of time and money on lingerie and I think they were right. Real elegance is everywhere, especially in the things that don't show. 

Christian Dior 

19th century corset
Carolle Patrimony
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2013

Lingerie shapes a woman's body, creating curves or flattening them depending on the fashionable silhouette of the time. In the exhibit of French lingerie at the Design Exchange, curator Catherine Orman combed the archives of French lingerie manufacturers to create a display that traces the history of women's undergarments from the later part of the 19th century to the present day.  

Out of the crate: Fashioning Fashion at LACMA

Timeline Installation photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

There are only a matter of weeks left to see The Fashioning Fashion exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This extraordinary display of garments and accessories spanning 1700 to 1915 is unparalleled in its importance to fashion history due to its breath, its quality and the excellent condition of the pieces. Included in the nearly 160 examples of fashionable dress, undergarments and accessories are a number of extremely rare pieces. And while the exhibition catalogue Fashioning Fashion illustrates each and every garment in the collection in lavish photographs, there is really nothing like being there to fully appreciate the workmanship in these garments and accessories.

Timeline Installation Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

This collection was purchased in its entirety from two dealers who had each separately amassed collections of historic textiles and dress for more than 25 years. They wanted their combined collection go to a single museum. Director Michael Govan said "After seeing these rare objects, it was clear that we should bring the collection to Los Angeles, as my first major collecting initiatives after arriving at LACMA. This acquisition has catapulted the museum's holdings of European costume to the highest category of quality."

Lady's chemise, panier and corset 1750-1780 LACMA
Photo by Ingrid Mida

The heavy gray box-like structures displaying the garments initially seemed to detract from the delicate beauty of the garments on exhibit. But then I recognized the allusion to the garments emerging from shipping crates. The "crates" are painted gray like the neutral backdrops that costumes are typically photographed against in a museum. Raised up on platforms, the crates elevate the displays to allow easy viewing by all. And on occasion, their layout allows a playful peak at what is yet to come. Close to the ceiling of the gallery, the red lettering of the FashioningFashion labels add a punch of colour to the cavernous space and seem to reference the red steel beams of the building directly across from the Resnick Pavilion. In the end, I concluded that the contrast of the modern installation with the historic fashion pieces was a very clever thing to do and oh so LA.

Tailoring installation, LACMA photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

The white mannequins and paper wigs create neutral forms which focus the viewer's attention on the clothes and not the carrier, although some of the garments are suspended by wires with invisible mannequin forms (another allusion to modernity perhaps?)

Men's Waistcoats 18th century France, LACMA Installation photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Normally it is easy for me to pick out a favourite garment from an exhibition but this time I fell in love with all of it. The extraordinary workmanship and beauty of the garments on display make it impossible to choose just one. So rare is it that a museum puts its entire collection on display that this is a once in a lifetime event.  I hope it stays burned into my memory.

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915
Closes March 27, 2011
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wiltshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA, 90036
323-857-6000

Marie Antoinette's Apple Green Bodice

Elisabeth at autempledesmodes.blogspot.com kindly provided me with this image of the apple-green bodice that I referred to in my earlier post. It is located at the Musee Galleria musee de la mode de la Ville de Paris.

The bodice does not appear to have any padding. I guess I was wrong. But I will make a point of going to the Museum of Fashion in May when I visit Paris to take a closer look (if it is on display at that time)!

Revisiting Marie Antoinette's Corset Rebellion

French iron corset, 1580-1600, collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute

When Marie Antoinette first arrived in the court of France, she was expected to wear the tightly laced grand corps. Not only was this corset very stiff and uncomfortable, it often "severely restricted its wearer's movements, especially around the arms" according to the Marquise de La Tour du Pin. Others reported side effects like "heart palpitations, asthma, vapors, and stinking breath".

With the oppressive heat of her first summer in France, Marie Antoinette abandoned her corset and went without. She was thin enough to do so but it caused outrage amongst the courtiers. This juicy gossip of MA's corset rebellion quickly circulated through the courts of Europe. It was said that: "Marie Antoinette's waist was growing misshapen, and her right shoulder out of kilter" (Comtesse de Noailles) and "one of the future queen's shoulder blades was more protruding than the other" (quote not attributed). (Source: "Queen of Fashion" by Caroline Weber, page 69).

I couldn't help but wonder whether Marie Antoinette may have had scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. With this condition, it is common for one shoulder to protrude or sit higher than the other. (I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 13 and it was my uneven shoulders that was the first hint of a problem. I had to wear a steel corset not nearly as beautiful as the iron one shown above. I'm pretty sure that is why I have an obsession with corsets in my artwork and writing).

I suppose there will never be a definitive answer to this question since so few MA garments survived the scourge of the French revolution. But there was an apple-green bodice belonging to Marie Antoinette that still exists somewhere.

"An English lord touring Marie Antoinette's apartments after she and her family had been sent to jail asked to examine a bodice of hers that revolutionary loots had left lying on the floor. He explained to his puzzled French companions that he had long ago heard tales of the young woman's misshapen right shoulder--attributable to her avoidance of the grand corps--and was curious to see whether her bodice was padded to disguise the deficiency". (Source: Queen of Fashion by Caroline Weber, page 69). Weber does not reveal whether or not her apple green bodice was padded or not.

I'll have to do more research to find out. If anyone knows where this bodice is, please let me know. The credit that accompanies the photo of this apple green bodice in Weber's book reports the photo is from the NY Public Library but obviously they don't own the garment itself.

Grande robe a la francaise

A little gift for all my new blogging friends...another fashion plate.

Fashion Plate #51 (partial image), copyright Ingrid Mida 2009 12x12, Mixed Media

In the second and third quarters of the 18th century, woman's court fashion was characterized by huge skirt with paniers and high coiffures. The robe a la francaise consisted of a tight fitting bodice with a stomacher, exaggerated skirt puffed out by paniers, and a sack back (two large double pleats which hung freely at the back from shoulders to hem).

While one often sees images of Marie Antoinette dressed in this manner, she, in fact disliked the discomfort of wearing a grand corps. The corsets of the French court were much stiffer than those worn in Austria and she decided to stage her own form of corset rebellion (please refer to my posting of October 13, 2008 if you'd like to read more on that).

Marie Antoinette's Dress at the ROM: Photos

This magnificent dress is believed to have been worn by Marie Antoinette in 1780 or thereabouts. It is known to have come from Rose Bertin's atelier, where Marie Antoinette acquired most of her gowns and accessories. Purchased by the Royal Ontario Museum in 1925, the dress has not been exhibited for many years.

Currently on display until October 26th, the dress is a marvel to behold. Because it is behind glass and displayed in low light to preserve the fragile textiles, it is difficult to convey the beauty of the intricate embroidery, applique, beading and delicate workmanship in my photos. It is known that the dress was altered to make it narrower to conform with London fashions of the 1880s.

There is one thing that I find odd about the dress: the plain unadorned bodice with a relatively high neckline. The bodice neckline seems higher than it should be for 1780, especially as the corsets worn at that time tended to push the breasts upwards and into a decollette. I also find it quite surprising that the bodice has no ornamentation or embroidery. Given that most of the portraits of Marie Antoinette show incredibly ornate bodices, I wondered if this is in fact her dress. Or did she chose an unadorned bodice to showcase the incredible royal jewels? Or could it even be possible that the panels that were removed to make the dress narrower were reworked into a simpler bodice for the new owner?

While studying the dress, I heard one visitor remark that the dress was much "smaller" than she expected. She explained that she had envisioned "something larger than life" given the notoriety of Marie Antoinette. But to get a real picture of what the Queen looked like in this dress, one has to imagine the paniers and a pouf hairstyle which would have created a significantly wider and taller silhouette.


Take note of the opulent train. It is known that Marie Antoinette studied with a French dance master to learn to walk gracefully at court. Even if this is not in fact her dress, whoever wore it must have been a vision of loveliness.

Photo Credit: Ingrid Mida, copyright 2008 (Not for reproduction without permission)

Patricia Harris Gallery of Costumes and Textiles
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park Avenue
Toronto, Ontario Canada
www.rom.ca 416-586-8000

Marie Antoinette's Corset Rebellion

To French aristocrats, a tightly corseted body represented "the norms of stiffness and self-control" expected of the ruling caste. Marie-Antoinette's position required her to wear a form of corset called a grand corps. This more rigid form of corset was the "mark of supreme distinction". Only France's greatest princesses had the right to wear this undergarment on a regular basis. Other noblewomen were allowed to wear it only on the day of their presentation at court and after that, only at specially designated formal functions. This corset was stiffer than a regular corset and made breathing, eating and even moving one's arms difficult.

The grand corps was described by the Marquise de La Tour du Pinto be "a specially made corset, without shoulder straps, laced up the back, but tight enough so that the lacings, four fingers wide on the bottom, allowed for a glimpse of a chemise of such fine batiste that it would be readily apparent to everyone if one's skin underneath was not sufficiently white...The front of the corset was laced, as it were, with rows of diamonds."

Marie Antoinette did not like wearing the grand corps, especially as the corsets she was used to wearing in Austria were far more flexible. A few months after arriving in France, she rebelled against wearing the grand corps and since she was thin enough to wear her gowns without this tortuous undergarment, she went without. This rebellious act was considered a breach of etiquette of considerable proportions. The court took to whispering about Marie Antoinette's misshapen waist and right shoulder and this gossip was repeated far beyond the court eventually reaching her mother Marie Theresa, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. It took diplomatic intervention by the Austrian ambassador to convince Marie Antoinette to resume wearing the grand corps on a regular basis.

Later in her life, Marie Antoinette took to wearing a thin white chemise dress with a ribbon sash. This airy, ruffled informal dress did not require a corset and was widely copied.

Sources:
Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber, Picador, New York, 2006
Marie-Antoinette Style, Adrien Goetz, Assouline, New York 2005
Corsets and Crinolines, Norah Waugh, Routledge Theatre Arts Books, New York 2004
The Corset, A Cultural History, Valerie Steele, Yale University Press, 2001

Textile Museum Shadow Box Auction Online Gallery

Stays of Georgiana, Mixed Media (8x8), copyright: Ingrid Mida, 2008

This piece is currently on display at the Textile Museum of Canada's annual Shadow Box Auction in Toronto. Bids begin at $175 and can be placed over the phone, in person at the Museum (October 13-30), or at the gala event itself which takes place the evening of Thursday, October 30th. All proceeds benefit the programs at the Museum.

I called this piece "Stays of Georgiana" in tribute to the Duchess of Devonshire who might have worn such a garment.

Check out all the artwork in the online gallery.

Textile Museum of Canada Shadow Box Auction

www.textilemuseum.ca
55 Centre Avenue (one block east of University, south of Dundas)
Toronto, Ontario
416-599-5321

info@textilemuseum.ca

Corsets at the Victoria and Albert Musuem

I am obsessed with corsets as an object d'art and have studied books on their construction. One of the best displays of corsets is in the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. (Don't miss the second floor galleries which also include corsets, stays and bodices in amongst the other museum pieces).


This particular example called a stay moulded the wearer's torso into an inverted cone, which was the fashionable shape of the 1780s. A tiny waist was not the aim of this undergarment. Rather stays helped achieve smoothness of profile and firmness of contour. At this time in history, stays were plain without decoration.


By the late 19th century, manufacturers attempted to produce more comfortable corset designs. This ventilated corset, which was designed for sports and summer wear, had spaces in between the whalebone and cotton tapes allowing air to circulate and perspiration to evaporate.

Victoria and Albert Museum www.vam.ac.uk
Cromwell Road, South Kensington
London, UK SW7 2R7
+44 020 7942 2000