Wednesday, December 1, 2010

TUXEDO FASHION, A Holiday Classic (c) By Polly Guerin

Ever wonder what to wear come the holiday season? In short order, borrow from the men! No, I am not suggesting that you go out and purchase a formal tuxedo, but rather to adapt its timeless appeal in modified versions. The tuxedo, casually referred to as a “tux,” is a timeless classic that translates easily into women’s wear and it’s a spiffy way to look sophisticated and chic. Fashion designers have interpreted the tuxedo in a variety of ways that makes the style ready for any black tie event. Even show Biz personalities, like Josephine Baker and Marlene Dietrich (pictured above)adopted the “tux” to give that androgynous style to their stardom. The idea wearing black and dressing up for evening events is truly an American inspiration.
STYLISH TUXEDO LOOK
A fashionable, nipped in the waist tuxedo jacket with satin lapels, is like a short black blazer. Worn with a red glitter bustier underneath and skin curving velvet tights it cuts a dashing figure at a cocktail party. When the occasion is even more casual, wear the jacket over denim pants. The bolero style, like a waiter’s short tux jacket has youthful flair when worn with Capri pants. This short tux also pairs well, as does the classic tux jacket, with a white satin blouse and a long; side slit velvet or satin skirt for theatre or opera events. Either jacket worn with black, chiffon palazzo pants is hostess staple.
A PRINCE OF A TUX
In early 1800s most gentlemen at that time dressed in a traditional white tie and tails, and it wasn’t until the later period that the “black dinner jacket” became fashionable. In the summer of 1886 James Brown Potter, a Tuxedo Club member, went to England on vacation with his wife Cora and met the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, at a court ball in London. The Prince invited them both to visit him at Sandringham, his sprawling 11,000-acre estate in Norfolk. James Brown Potter had no idea how to dress for dinner. So asked the Prince of Wales for his advice who put him in touch with his own Savile Row tailor in London, Henry Poole & Co. where he was fitted with a short black blazer, which was quite an innovation from the formal “tails” of the time.Potter liked the new look so much that he brought the it back to Tuxedo Park. If truth be told this is the beginning of the Tuxedo but there are other versions to tell.
BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN TUXEDO
At an Autumn Ball, October 1886, in the tony enclave of Tuxedo Park, New York, the guests at the Tuxedo Club were confronted by an unexpected shock. At that time, men’s formal dress consisted of the traditional tails. However, Tuxedo Park’s high society bon vivants changed men’s formal wear with riveting results. Legend has it that Griswold Lorillard, the son of Pierre Lorillard, the founder of Tuxedo Park, N.Y. and some of his spunky friends cut off the tails of their jackets, which by the way may perhaps have been inspired by Poole's new look. The short jacket created a sensation at the ball since they were "out of uniform." without the customary tails. The event and bravado of the young men garnered unrivaled fashion publicity in the papers. The story of the Tuxedo spread like wildfire across the country and a new abbreviated men's formal fashion, the short black dinner jacket, was born.
The new style eventually became known as the "Tuxedo,” obviously named after Tuxedo Park.


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Polly Guerin
PollyTalk From New York
www.pollytalk.com

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

TIE ONE ON...The Fashionable Scarf (c) By Polly Guerin

Loop de Loop>

The Dangler >





It's A WRAP
The quickest way to give any outfit a touch of drama, a splash of color or to add punctuate your wardrobe with style and chic is to tie one on with a fashionable scarf. Although silk is by far luxurious come chilly weather cashmere blend wools, and cozy synthetics make scarf attire the ultimate fashion accessory. It’s a reasonable investment and has become a must-have item for women around the world. As scarves grow ever popular with society’s celebrities convey sophistication and elegance. In addition, they have the advantage of flexibility in how they are worn—around the neck, tied at the waist as a flashy belt, worn as a head covering a la Jackie Kennedy or even tied to a handbag like a badge of fashion aplomb.
A STYLE OF POSSIBILITIES Do you envy the way Hollywood stars can wear scarves and just look so trendy and cool? Duplicating the look is easier than you think and www.coffeebreakwithlizandkate.com has some easy to follow instructions:
LOOP DE LOOP: Choose a color that matches your coat or jacket. Fold a large oblong scarf in half lengthwise. Hold the scarf behind your head and bring both ends toward the front. Thread the scarf’s loose ends through the looped end and pull and wrap closely around your neck.
IT’S A WRAP: Hold an oversized oblong scarf behind your neck (do not fold—the look should be loose) Drape the scarf around your neck once to make a big loop, and let booth ends dangling one tail slightly longer than the other in front.
THE DANGLER: Start with a long rectangular scarf, looped once in front of your neck. Then make a second loop below the first loop. Take one tail and tuck it into the lower loop, dangle the ends.
HISTORICAL SCARF NOTES
Experts say that the scarf marked the rank for warriors of the Chinese Emperor Cheng. However, leave it to the French to take the scarf to new heights of importance. They became so enamored with scarves that men began to wear them, tucked into their neckline, calling them cravats, from the Croatian work kravata. Men also demonstrated their political inclination by the color of their scarf. In the 19th century European silk suppliers start to offer bands and ribbons as well as scarves, but it took the French Hermes house of luxury brands to adapt the silk used in jockey’s blouses to produce their first silk scarf, “Jeu des Omnibus et Dames blanches,” in 1937. After that the silk scarf took its turn as a fashion statement and continues its role as a status badge of fashion chic.
Don’t let the fashionistas steal the spotlight. Bundle up in scarf style and give your outfit an added dash of sophistication.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Big Cover-Up: Cloaking Devices (c) By Polly Guerin


When the weather turns chilly, it’s time to cloak yourself in the hottest stylish accessory, the fashionable cover-up. Whether it is a cloak, poncho, ruana, cape, capelet or shawl, these hot fashion items provide an extra layer of warmth that give any outfit a certain pizzazz that conveys a chic image. A wide range of fabrics dominate the cover-up style, from classic knits, to camel wool, tweeds, or paisley for day wear to elegant silks, lace and moiré for evening wear. They are trimmed with embroidery, braid, and ruffles and updated with a Burberry border or fur.
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
Most of our modern cover-up styles come right out of historical reference. Definitions as follows:
CLOAK, any loose fitting garment, with or without hood, fastened at the neck with strings or fastened to the hemline. A Puritan cover-up, it is a popular for rainwear today.
PONCHO, a blanket-like cloak with a hole in the center to admit the head, originated in Latin America. Pretty today with braid embroidery or fashioned in paisley fabric.
RUANA, a poncho-like outer garment of heavy wool. Today a Southwest-inspired, fringed ruana, toggle tied at the neck with Prairie embroidery looks great with rancher girl wear.
CAPE, a sleeveless garment of various lengths, fastened at the neck and falling loose from the shoulders is worn separately or attached to a coat. CAPLELET, a short cape usually covering just the shoulders. More fashion than function in this style, but charming as an evening accessory.
SHAWL, a square, triangular or oblong piece of wool or other material worn dashingly about the shoulders in place of a coat outdoors or protection against chill or dampness indoors. Coordinated in matching color with a sweater it perks up an outfit with fashion savvy.
CLOAKING FASHION HISTORY
Full length cloaks have been in fashion from early times and they all seem to start with a very loose garment that protected from the cold, rain and wind. The Romans, Scots and Brits used the cloak as a night blanket, as did the Arabs of the Middle East. Long cloaks were popular with both sexes through the 16th and 17th centuries but we mostly think of them as Victorian Opera Cloaks. In the 18th century a very popular cloak in Britain was the Cardinal, a three quarter cloak with a hood. Welsh women liked blue cloaks and the Irish wore black or gray. The term, “Mantle,” another name for a hooded shapeless cloak with arm slits was frequently used throughout the 19th century.
THE FASHIONABLE CAPE
The cloak cover-up paved the way for the small cape that falls over the shoulders and reached the waist. Around the 1890s the multi-tiered shoulder cape with high collar became fashionable and would have been made of cashmere, alpaca, Melton wool or lace and silk fabrics for evening wear trimmed with fur, tassels, fancy braid or feathers and usually lined in silk or fur in winter. Etiquette books advised Victorian brides to include at least 2 or 3 evening wraps (capes) in their trousseau. However, the loose fullness of a cloak held on as a fashion accessory as it was highly suitable for wearing over the wide romantic crinoline skirts. Until 1900s full length cloaks and capes were still worn but after that time they seemingly lost their place in fashion importance and by WWI they were only seen on Red Cross Nurses and service women. Moving into fashion, a wide variety of stylish coats became de rigueur and the standard.
COOL WEATHER COVER-UPS
The hottest new way to stay warm has come full circle and the various cloaking devices have given way today to a wide variety of gorgeous shawl, poncho, ruana and cape styles. Worn separately in milder weather or tossed over a coat in winter these items have become ‘must have’ fashion accessories.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

GLOVES, THE FASHIONABLE ACCOURTREMENT (C) By Polly Guerin








Gloves, an indispensable accoutrement of elegance, have had their place in fashionable society as items of feminine coquetry, romance and duels of honor. Historically they were emblems of status and power, worn by royalty and church dignitaries. In ancient times gloves served their purpose as a protection and embellishment. Today, however, the importance of the glove seems to be relegated to whims of fashion, worn with wedding dresses or gala balls.
THE SIXTEEN BUTTON GLOVE
Imagine the fashion of the sixteen button opera glove, popular in the nineteenth century, as a subject of sensual intrigue. It could take an hour just to put on a pair of these gloves, requiring the use of glove stretchers, powder and button hooks. With the absence of a lady’s maid, each little button had to be undone by a lover who knew how to kiss the revealed arm of his amorata with passionate pause. Such a scene of patient anticipation could easily be re-enacted in a romantic novel.
GLOVES IN FASHION
Every once in a while models sashay out in fashion shows wearing gloves, but it still doesn’t do much to entice women today to complete their outfit with gloves. Instead, gloves seem to go back to their original purpose and appear in cold weather, more as a protection rather than making a fashion statement. However, in the Renaissance, fashionable women wore opulently embroidered and perfumed gloves of silk, linen, and kid leather. A woman might carelessly, but intentionally, leave a glove behind her indicating that she expected to be followed.
ANCIENT GLOVES
The gloves of kings and church nobles were richly ornamented with gold, silver and precious stones. They were part the investiture of a knight. A gauntlet flung down in front of an adversary was a challenge to battle or a duel. Ancient gloves were luxuries of the privileged classes, while the peasants wore coarse working mittens. If ever there was a glove fetish collector Queen Elizabeth 1, who ruled England during the sixteenth century, was one. So fond of gloves she amassed more than 2,000 pairs, which were maintained by a wardrobe mistress. Napoleon was another great lover of gloves and encouraged his Empress Josephine, and the ladies of the court, to dress in the height of fashion.
THE ENTERTAINMENT NOTABLES
Mme. Sarah Bernhardt was one of the great glove-wearers of all time. She was responsible for popularizing the over-the-elbow gloves which she wore on one of her American tours. Not to be outdone Lillian Russell, the famous New York society beauty and actress was also known for influencing glove trends, particularly wearing fingerless white kid opera gloves. Similarly another entertainment notable, Michael Jackson did a lot to promote the penchant for wearing one glove and admirers adapted the look.
THE VICTORIANS
Elongated kid gloves, called mousquetaires, were so skintight in the Victorian era that many young women squeezed their hands into a size smaller to achieve an elegant look. It was acceptable, and positively an alluring sight, for ladies to slip their hands out through the button- or snap-fastened wrist opening of long kid gloves to eat or drink while keeping the glove itself on. Harrison Fisher’s painting, “Girl Taking Tea in Gloves,” illustrates a young woman’s ability to nonchalantly dine while wearing gloves.
NOWADAYS GLOVES COME IN A WIDE VARIETY OF MATERIALS COLORS AND LENGTHS. FABRIC GLOVES BEGAN TO BE WORN AFTER WORLD WAR I AND BY THE 1950’s WHEN WOMEN WOULD NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT A HAT, GLOVES AND HANDBAG, SYNTHETIC MATERIALS BECAME AVAILABLE REPLACING LEATHER TO SOME DEGREE.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Hankie, A Fashionable Coquette (c)

Handkerchief Hems

Fragile and delicate, imbued with feminine coquetry the handkerchief, a mere square of linen, commanded a major role in designating royal favor or marking the bonds of love and even marriage. Early in the sixteenth century we begin to recognize handkerchiefs under that name, but they were confined to the nobility and upper classes. Who else could afford the extremely rich silks trimmed with luxurious Venice gold lace which Henry VII carried to demonstrate his noblesse oblige. An early fashion trendsetter the King elevated the handkerchief to royal status and it has remained a fashion accessory ever since.
SQUAREING OFF ON SHAPE
It is rumored in fashion history that Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) had to trouble her pretty head about handkerchiefs which were offered in so many shapes that she had to put a stop to it. Her husband, King Louis XVI (1754-1793), made it a law and all handkerchiefs remained square. A fine lady or gentleman gave to their favorites, as a token of their love, little three to four inch square handkerchiefs. By the seventeenth century lace covered the fashion silhouette at the throat and wrists, and even the tops of boots. Handkerchiefs did not escape this extravagance and were edged with deep flounces of lace and were extremely costly.
DROPPING A HINT
As a communicator of love’s intrigue the handkerchief of finely crafted linen and lace was given, accepted, worn or even purposefully dropped to catch a lover’s attention. Many a lover could communicate their intention by the mere drop in the right place. However, there is the case of poor Anne Boleyn and her indiscriminate dropping of a handkerchief at the feet of a favorite courtier after a joust, and you know what happened, her demise was foretold. Then there’s negative side of handkerchief lore. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago manipulates a handkerchief to ignite Othello’s jealous rage. On the Orient Express a handkerchief with an embroidered initial, left at the scene of a crime, plays an important part in the investigation of a murder.
HANKY PANKY MEN’S FASHION
Men got into the handkerchief craze with noticeable flourish. The almost universal use of snuff in the eighteenth century offered many opportunities for the display of a fine handkerchief and their demonstrated use was a sign of good breeding. The First World War saw a curious revival of the handkerchief as a decorative accessory for men. As the breast pocket on men’s suits were now made on the outside it became fashionable to show a protruding handkerchief, which was sometimes colored to match the tie. In the nineteenth century the handkerchief spread to all classes.
HANDKERCHIEF CURIOSITIES
Children’s hankies were embroidered with the days of the week and during the 1920s and 1930s, several handkerchief books were produced depicting artist, Gladys Peto’s artwork. These charming publications contained six square children’s handkerchiefs made from Irish Linen, and covered subjects such as school time, nursery rhymes and Alice in Wonderland. Women found ingenious ways to use the handkerchief creatively and sewed several handkerchiefs together to make a fancy apron. The handkerchief hem on a skirt takes its cue from the handkerchief as does ordering a handkerchief table, a corner table in a restaurant where lovers can have some privacy.
DEMISE OF THE HANDKERCHIEF
Though people no longer dangle a handkerchief to catch a lover’s eye, women of good taste do carry a handkerchief in their purse or tuck it like a flower in the breast pocket of their suit. However, for most people today the Golden Years of the handkerchief have vanished giving way to the economy and hygiene of disposable soft paper handkerchiefs to use not only for colds but also for drying wet eyes during a soppy movie. But I’m old-fashioned and still carry a handkerchief as my feminine right to having something beautiful in my purse and on occasion to flourish before an admiring public.
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Friday, June 18, 2010

The Language of the Fashionable Fan (c) By Polly Guerin

Fans were once the language of lovers, communicators of emotion, declarations of approval and most essential the dress of no fashionable lady’s attire in the 18th century would be complete with the addition of a fan. This little accessory takes its significant place in history as the instrument of intrigue, love and scandal that it was apply been termed “the woman’s scepter.” Poets have written prose to it and minstrels sang ditties of praise to its pleasurable interaction with the opposite sex. Fashionable fans of yesteryear, though relegated to the museum showcases and in private collections, can still have the same allure and enchantment as they did in the Victorian, Belle Époque and the Art Deco era.

THE PRETTY COOLER
Imagine the world without air conditioning. Be it made of lace, ivory, painted silk or gem encrusted, the fan was an essential accessory in a stuffy, crowded ballroom. The years 1880-1890 were the Golden Age of the fashionable fan and ladies of the court and other royal pretenders counted on their elegant fan to communicate their heart’s desire. The fan has a long and storied history. There were fans for every occasion, painted or printed with picturesque landscapes, romantic images and most effectively as instruments of advertising. During the second half of the 19th century most fans were manufactured to promote the railroad, spas, restaurants, cabarets and magnificent perfume fans appear around 1910. Thousands of fashionable fans were also manufactured between 1900 and 1940 declining slowly after WWII to come a trickle today.

FLUTTER, FLUTTER
The fluttering fan charmed and entertained but much more elaborate was the etiquette of the fan, which was prescribed to describe a variety of emotional flutters: the angry flutter, the confused flutter, the angry flutter, the merry flutter and the amorous flutter to name a few. Young ladies were therefore instructed on the proper ways to handle their fan and if they failed to do so they were looked upon as being gauche and of the most bourgeois sort. In the 18th century ladies used the fan for more than keeping cool. Supposedly, there even existed a “language of the fan’ whereby ladies could send a message across the room without saying a word. It was essential therefore to be quite clear what message a lady wanted to convey.
A LADY’S BODY LANGUAGE
The fan became an essential part of a woman’s body language. It could reveal or conceal a host of female emotions. The fan had significance when placed in specific positions. Placed near the heart it meant: “You have won my love.” A closed fan touching the right eye: “When may I be allowed to see you?” The right hand in front of the face: “Follow me.” A half-opened fan pressed to the lips: “You may kiss me.” Hiding the eyes behind an open fan: “I love you.” Opening a fan wide: “Wait for me.” Twirling the fan in the left hand: “We are being watched.” Fanning slowing can deter a swain’s attentions. Fanning quickly indicated: “I am engaged. Fanning slowing meant: “I am married.” Woe is it to the woman who did not follow the rules of fan etiquette for the right position was essential to attract for disengage a suitor.
IF TRUTH BE TOLD WHEN THE FAN RULED OVER ROMANTIC ETIQUETTE THERE WAS HARDLLY ANY EMOTION IN THE MIND THAT DID NOT PRODUCE A SUITABLE AGITATION IN THE FAN.

Friday, May 21, 2010

LUXURIOUS LACE, 'PUNTO IN ARIA' STITCHES IN AIR (C)

Madonna a Modern Lace Icon


Lace Makes a Comeback (c) by Polly Guerin
Lace has charmed and dazzled men and women for centuries. Think of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century portraits of royal figures framed in exquisite lace ruffs, lace stiffened into jeweled fans, magnificent gowns lavished with lace, or the towering lace headdresses that became the rage in the court of Louis XIV. The production of lace was tedious and required dexterous hands to ply the needles or accelerate the wooden bobbins to create such works of beauty in pillow lace. So tedious and such an eye strain was the work that girls in convents were said to go blind creating these costly fabrics. Today incredible computerized machinery make it possible to replicate handmade lace and the production renders an affordable product that every modern woman can wear.
THE CRAFT OF PUNTO IN ARIA
Knowledge of the craft of lace making, ‘Punto in Aria,’ stitches in air, as the Venetians called the fabric, was jealously guarded in the Royal workrooms. Many nations depended on handmade laces for revenue, and pattern books were state treasures. In time, as laces came to be seen as the privilege of noble adornment, it became much in demand, and lace making spread throughout Europe. By the middle of the seventeenth century lace became a great luxury and an item of commerce and the craft was established as an industry. Lace literally overwhelmed the fashion taste of the period and was used with abandon on collar, cuffs, caps and even the tops of boots. The Puritans, however, give up lace believing it to be “a temptation of Satan.”
LACE GOES UNDERGROUND
No one know for sure when lace went underground, that is, from outerwear to underwear, but when Catherine de Medici went to France to wed Henry II in 1533, her bridal trousseau included ‘calecons,’ a Renaissance term for lace drawers. Taking the lead from Catherine, men and women of high rank began wearing elaborate lace trimmings on perfumed undergarments as an expression of their superior rank. Always sensitive to the aesthetics and luxury, the French began, early on, to combine lace with silk to make luxurious lingerie.
LACE TERMINOLOGY
The Venetian lace industry spread to France and thrived. Places like Valenciennes, Alencon, Argentan, Calais and Chantilly became identified and known for their particular style of delicate yet complex lace patterns. Valenciennes also called Val lace, is a flat bobbin lace of linen, Alencon, also called Point d’Alencon, is a delicate needlepoint lace and machine production with a cord-like outline of the design started in 1855, Chantilly appears to be the most elaborate with a scalloped design along one edge , often having an outline design of scrolls or vases, or baskets of flowers. It is widely used for bridal gowns and evening wear. The picture above features a Victorian woman with a large cape in Chanilly Lace.
LACY FASHIONS PREVAIL
Victorian women seem to have coveted lace not only for their gowns but also to decorate their parlor armchairs and tables. Flounces of lace were also used in runners that were placed on the mantle shelf or to adorn pillows. Such was the luxury of a bygone era, but the modern woman is no less endowed and fancies ‘Punto in Aria’ not only for her delicate undergarments, but also for daytime and evening fashions. Created in a wide assortment of colors, and black , re-embroidered with gold or silver threads these luxurious garments are the prerogative of women everywhere.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A WOMAN'S CROWNING GLORY, A HAT TO MATCH (C)




A WOMAN’S CROWNING GLORY, A HAT TO MATCH ©
By Polly Guerin,
The Fashion Historian

Hats have always functioned as more than mere head coverings. The styles created by different civilizations also proclaimed the rank and status of the wearer. It distinguished people by degrees of social class, profession and religious order. Head gear also defined the etiquette of an era, and hats were always an important part of regional and national costume. So what became of a one’s crowning glory?
DEMISE OF MILLINERY
Hats were an important aspect of American and European fashion, until about the 20th century when men and women started going hatless. Today one hardly ever sees women wearing hats. Exceptions being at church services, weddings, race courses and other special events. Construction workers give us hard hats, baseball caps identify with the all-American spirit, and the beret seems to be mainstay worn by women as well as men in the private and military sectors. Millinery has a broad and ancient history.
THE EGYPTIANS
The early Egyptians were proud of their wig headdresses. In the beginning wigs were adorned with a tasteful gold band. In time, however, this ornamentation became more elaborate and symbols of Gods emerged like ram’s horns or the sun disk. However, it took Queen Nefertiti to introduce the wide-topped crown, but other queens preferred to adopt the vulture headdress, a symbol for motherhood. To top it off the Greeks had their own take on hats.
CROWNING GLORY
Cretans’ hats were a lavish affair---jeweled berets and turbans; huge towering fezzes were worn at a jaunty tilt. Tall, candle-shaped crowns plopped onto wide, flat brings. By the sixth century B.C. women had a nice range of hair styles to choose from. Queens and Goddesses got to wear golden coronets or most regal of all a crescent-shaped diadem, the Stephane. To protect their coifs from the weather, Etruscan men and women might affect a tutulus, a curious pointed hat with an upturned brim. Always the fashion followers by the mid-eighth century, many women copy Charlemagne’s mother, Bertha, who wears her long hair parted in the center and held in place with two thick braids and a headband around her forehead.
THE MIDDLE AGES
When we think of the Middle Ages we picture the period as romantic but it is the era of the Crusades with men going out with snoops, hoods and a variety of hear gear. Women of importance and rank, like Eleanor of Aquitaine wear a high headdress, a pointed cone-shaped hat adorned with a view which helps her to achieve the elongated silhouette inspired by Gothic architecture.
PUTTING ON A THINKING CAP
Men have their day in the 13th century. In an era when most people were illiterate, teachers and philosophers wear square-cut caps which are fit tightly against their skulls and people start talking about “putting on their thinking cap.” Women’s pillbox-shaped caps with their attached chin straps do have some charm but Robin Hood hats with pointed visors and high crowns are in fashion. When Isabelle of Bavaria arrives in France to marry Charles VI, she brings with her outlandish millinery and women of her court sport bourrelets—wide, padded rolls, anchored on top of their hair and the towering cone shaped headdress grows to fantastic proportions. In the Renaissance the Mary Queen of Scots, a veil suspended from a rigid frame was de rigueur.
LOUIS XIV RULE
In the 1670s and 1680s, women adopt a variety of hats---beautifully embroidered snoods stretch over hair buns, hoods for protection and best of all, glamorous wide-brimmed picture hats. By 1735 Fashion Dolls, exact replicas of fashionable French Ladies, from their headgear down to their makeup travel to the Colonies and American women of rank and wealth adopt Parisian style. However, the saga of fashion hats takes a turn for simplicity for the new settlers and the wide-brimmed bonnet carries them forward into the new frontier.
THE WORLD OF FASHION
In the world of fashion, women’s hats were hardly functional at all. Like the tiny cocktail hats of the 1930s that perched at angles on a woman’s head, it was pure décor of the most charming of decorative accessories. Much of the credit for wearing impressive hats today can be observed at black community churches where women take pride in wearing their crowning glory as a sign of respect and their regal privilege. Mad hatters done their fantasy hats at the Easter Parade in New York, and hats of picturesque splendor offer a picture opportunity at charity functions and race track openings. However, once upon a time a woman would not have left the house without a hat, which completed the outfit. In folklore the hat represented a queen's crown and declared to the world that a woman was indeed a Lady.

Friday, March 19, 2010

FASHIONING THE BODY: SEDUCTIVE CORSETRY (C)




By Polly Guerin


The Fashion Historian
As glamorous as corsets may appeal to women today, they were from the beginning a restricting garment that evolved perhaps from the chastity belt and the concept, decreed by men, of keeping women in their place. Despite the discomfort, women have been wearing corsets for almost 400 years putting social status, respectability and the pinnacle of feminine beauty over common sense values. Corsets were so tightly laced in the 1800s that they gave pain a new meaning in the 19th century. A girl as young as 11 years old was instructed by their society mother’s that the corset was an essential element of fashionable dress. Women appeared to be willing to be fashion victims, because it was considered not only unfashionable—even immoral—for a woman to appear in public without a corset.
FIGURE FACTS
Although doctors blamed the corset for a wide variety of diseases most of those diagnoses were unsupported but more dangerous was the fact that corsets did alter the body’s shape. Such a distortion of the natural body implicated the corset in aggravating existing conditions and digestive problems. The squeezing of vital organs from their original position in the body may also have contributed to the inability to bear children normally. Furthermore as a status symbol, the corset limited a woman’s mobility and it suggested that she could afford servants and needed a ‘lady’s maid’ just to get dressed. Even working class women succumbed to the allure of the corset and adopted cheap ready-made versions.
THE FAINTING COUCH
Striving to achieve the “ideal” figure, a woman was convinced that her waist was too large and accepted tight lacing to achieve a feminine 13-16 inch waist. Hence a ‘straight-laced woman” was not loose. As the corset was cinched tighter and tighter (think of Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With the Wind telling her maid “tighter, tighter”) it may have produced the desired small waist but it also reduced a woman’s lung capacity. Getting vapors was an obvious result as tight corsets were the cause shortness of breath and fainting was a common occurrence. Hence men came to the aid of a damsel in distress and smelling salts were summoned. To the cognoscenti a fainting couch was considered fashionable furniture of the day.
EROTIC FEMININITY
The corset prolonged the feminine prerogative to tempt a lover. The act of undressing and making love was a studied ritual in feminine coquetry. Not only did the corset support and uplift the bosom and idealize the female figure it extended the seduction process into one that took time and the delft hands of one’s lover to un-lace and un-trap the woman’s body for lovemaking. Women of the golden age of corsets did not engage in ‘quickie’ encounters but plied their femininity with flirtatious corsetry.
SEXUAL EMPOWERMENT
Corsets today, more modified but no less glamorous and seductive, have reappeared on the fashion scene as an outerwear garment and a source of sexual empowerment. No longer a garment of female oppression, the corset has reappeared and reconceived by Madonna and other show biz icons as a statement of the modern femme fatale. Women blatantly wear the fashionable bustier outside or inside a suit jacket and the strapless corset appears as the top of evening gowns. This age of liberation makes it no longer necessary to wear a corset for respectability but to establish one’s identity an independent and empowered female figure.
Books of interest: Fashion and Eroticism, Ideal of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the jazz age by Valerie Steele, Oxford University Press and Let There be Clothes by Lynn Schnurnberger, Workman Publishing.
Polly Guerin never wore a boned corset but is fascinated by the seductive world of corsetry and the role it played in women’s lives. Polly honed her fashion historian skills as a professor at The Fashion Institute of Technology and wrote “The Ties That Bind, A Guide to Historically Correct Undergarments” for doll enthusiasts. (Doll World magazine)

Friday, February 26, 2010

FOOTWEAR'S FASHION VICTIMS (C)


By Polly Guerin, The Fashion Historian

Nowadays on the fashionable streets of major cities the thin, gravity-defying Stiletto Heel seems to have ensnared more fashion victims than any other footwear style. Yes, they are sexy but difficult to walk in and most importantly they throw the body off balance, and can cause other foot problems as well. Yet despite this fact countless women insist on spending big bucks to point their way to fashion footwear. Why? Because the classic pump is a power-wardrobe essential, a go-with-everything choice for women executives and females on the prowl. The Manolo Blahnik’s Tuccio pump, for example, comes in five heel heights and a variety of colors. The toe shape, too, called the vamp, varies depending on regional taste. A pair bought in New York has a slightly longer toe than one from bought in Dallas. Footwear history seems to repeat itself and women have been dying to follow the whims of fashion making footwear an indispensable accessory.
HEIGHT AND PRACTICALITY
Women throughout the ages have been trying to gain royal privilege. You no doubt remember how women of the most modest lifestyles in ancient China insisted on binding their feet to emulate the royal prerogative, but this crippling binding fashion rendered the ladies incapable of walking. It’s alright, I guess if you’re a royal and can be transported about on a divan by servants, but obviously this kind of portage was not available even to a social climbing peasant woman. As for platform footwear Carmen Miranda may have popularized this style but clog versions also go back to ancient China as well as adaptations of platform shoes as early as 1640. Defying the mud and filth in the medieval cities it was essential to wear shoes with stilt-like pattens of wood to elevate the foot and increase the wearer’s height or aid them in walking through the filthy streets. These practical stilt-like platforms were popular footwear and worn right down to Colonial America.
A HISTORICAL LEAP INTO FOOTWEAR
Until man invented footwear, he walked. That’s it barefoot! The invention of footwear was the first step forward in devising protection for the feet. The sandal is perhaps the oldest creation and has its incarnation as far back as the Egyptians and evolved in modern times as the flip flop. Jeweled sandals worn by the privileged few in the early Roman Empire were decorated with priceless gemstones and pearls. However, one could not exist by the sandal alone and eventually different styles were needed as transportation. Footwear back then identified with one’s lifestyle or work and shoes did not come sized for the right or left foot. In those early days it was just one size fits all. If you were a member of the wealthy class or a member of the court, however, you could have your servant wear the shoes for a while so that they could break them in for you. Going to great lengths to outdo one another in the 15th century women of fashion privilege and dandies outdid the pointed vamp statement with such an extremely pointed projectile that a gold cord had to be extended from the point to the top of their boot so that they could walk.
DECORATIVE DESIGNS
The French took the shoe and boot into further decoration with lace trimmed cuffs in the 17th century and the Cuban heel painted red was a style reserved for the king. The wealthy classes in Europe wore shoes in which the uppers were made in the rich brocades of the Orient, and from the looms of Venice and Genoa. During the Empire period in France women opted to imitate the Greek and Roman fashions and wore such diaphanous garments that only a delicate slipper could accommodate such attire. Costly to make and fragile these slippers did not last more than one night on the dance floor. Sadly, too, fashion victims who wore these sheer gowns in frigid weather didn’t survived either.
THE CULT OF HANDCRAFTED SHOES
Footwear was one of the great industrial arts in the Middle Ages and the workers bore a distinction of service with pride and production of a specific nature. Leather tanners, boot, shoemakers and cobblers were organized into guilds and each guild had it own armorial insignia attesting to the quality of their trade. Interesting, is it not, that the same tools used in the production of handmade shoes today are the same type of tools that were used in Europe in the l8th century? Handcrafted leather shoes or custom made shoes are an expensive rarity. Today, however, most shoes combine machine production with handmade features. Herman Delman, of Delman Shoe fame, who specialized in building shoes that were chic, yet comfortable, believed that skilled construction was essential to the creation of a quality shoe. He employed several notable designers over the years, including Roger Vivier, Herbert Levine, and Kenneth jay Lane as a means shaping the tastes of fashionable women across the country. An extrovert and proficient businessman Delman knew the power of educating the viewing public about handcrafted shoes. At one time, Delman store on Madison Avenue featured an oval window showcasing three cobblers at work. “Scandal Sandals and Lady Slippers: A History of Delman Shoes, Exploring the Company’s Vibrant History of Style, Advertising and Fine Craftsmanship" will be on view at The Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, March 9th through April 4th. Free Admission.♥

BIO: Polly Guerin, a former professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology took 20 of her students every summer on a fashion expedition tour to visit the Couture Houses and meet the designers in the fashion centers of Europe. Ferragamo’s shoe museum in Florence Italy was a main attraction as was the Gucci Factory just outside of the town limits. Culture was always part of the tour and included visits to Fontainebleau and Versailles in France and the Albert & Victoria Museum and Blenheim in England.
Labels: Herman Delman, Manolo Blahnik, Roger Vivier

Sunday, February 7, 2010

LOVE TOKENS FROM THE HEART, THE GOLDEN AGE OF VALENTINES




Love Tokens From the Heart, The Golden Age of Valentines ©

By Polly Guerin, The Fashion Historian

Lacy and beribboned, gilded with hearts, intertwined and pierced by Cupid’s dart, “Love Tokens From the Heart” were the frou-frou confections of lavish sentimentality, which identify with the Golden Age of Valentines, the years 1830 to 1860. These lavish confections, spilling forth with fancy paper work and sentimental verse, expressed an era and a time when the delicate art of romance was heightened by the sending of charming valentine cards and greetings. So engaging is the custom that modern sentimentalists will be sending over a billion Valentine greetings, February 14th, making Valentine’s the second largest card-sending holiday.
THE POSTMAN COMETH A popular magazine in 1850 explained the significance of the expected Valentine: “But of all the clamorous visitations in expectation is the sound that ushered in…a Valentine. The knock of the postman on the door this day is light, airy, confident and befitting of one that bringeth good tidings. A blessing on St. Valentine, the patron saint of the day, fraught with so many heart flutterings and heart enjoyments!” As the postman’s footsteps were heard along the street on Valentine’s Day ladies awaited the tell-tale knock at their door, which signaled the momentous arrival of a sweetheart’s sentiments. To be passed by was a devastating personal experience as it was observed by one’s next door neighbor who was peeking out of the window and awaiting the post as well. So much for Victorian foibles! The custom of sending valentines to loved ones was so well established that there was practical help for swains whose feeling went deeper than words. If the muse did not inspire there were little books of love poems, called “valentine writers”, which were available for copying by lovers who could not conjure up an original rhyme. Commercial valentines were soon to lead the way to a prolific business that spread from England to America.
TWO HEARTS ENTWINED The first valentines were imported from England, where new graphic art techniques enabled publishers to produce valentines of extraordinary beauty, intricacy and delicacy. Of all the well-known makers in England and America two stand out above all others, Jonathan King of London and Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, the first lady of the American Valentines. The real inspiration behind Jonathan King’s business was his wife Clarissa who added glitter to cards simply by decorating them with powdered colored glass. King’s valentines were highly ornamented to catch the eye and prettily enhanced with fine net, lacy paper, silver and gold glitter, cupids, flowers and love birds. Valentine “bank notes” issued by the Bank of True Love were also in vogue at the time. Typically the sender promised to pay the sincere homage and never-failing devotion of an affectionate heart. The idea was pure fantasy and wit, but the notes were printed on actual bank note paper that looked so real that they very soon outlawed.
A VALENTINE HEROINE The history of valentine greetings in America has one special heroine—Esther Howland. Esther was the daughter of Southworth A. Howland who ran the largest bookstore and stationery shop in Worcester, Massachusetts. The well-educated young woman, a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary was preparing to go into teaching, but when she saw a British valentine that her father had imported to introduce in his emporium, it sparked her artistic talent. Quite enchanted with the cards, Esther hit on the idea that she could make Valentines as pretty as the European kind, if not nicer, and set about doing so. When her brother, Allen, was scheduled to go on a horse-and-buggy sales trip to get orders for the next season Esther convinced him to take along a few samples of her cards. The handmade cards cost from $5 to $l0, a price that only the wealthy could afford, and the response was overwhelming. Esther expected her brother to sell $100 to $200 worth of the expensive cards. Instead he returned with orders for $5,000 worth. With such good sales results she was able to convince her family to let he go into business. The year was 1847. She persuaded her father to import embossed lacy paper and materials from England, and color pictures from a lithographer in New York. With all the material assembled, as well as artificial flowers, feathers, glitter, silk and lace, spun glass, colored papers, portraits and romantic scenes, Esther rounded up her “staff.” She took over a bedroom in the family home as a factory, creating prototyped designs for her helpers to copy. They worked in an assembly-line fashion. One person cut out pictures; another made backgrounds, and so on around the table the valentine confections were assembled as each girl added further embellishment. As time went on, Esther Howland's, assembly-line production of these Valentines did exceedingly well and the business expanded to a $100,000 a year enterprise. It was an astonishing accomplishment and huge sum for 1848.
COPYCATS EMERGE It was not long before other entrepreneurial individuals recognized a good thing and established similar businesses with valentine cards that bore a striking resemblance to Esther Howland’s. Legend has it that among one of her employees was George Whitney, who later established his own business. The striking resemblance of the Whitney valentines in decorative art collections today proves out the fact that Whitney’s valentines closely resemble those of Esther Howland, even to the small red “W” stamp at the back of each card, similar to the “H” used by Miss Howland. When her widowed father became deathly ill in 1880, his dutiful daughter gave up her business to be at her father’s side.
SHE BROUGHT ROMANCE TO MILLIONS By all accounts Esther Howland by Victorian standards was an attractive young woman and wore the fashionable attire, perhaps having her gowns made by a seamstress who copied styles form Godey’s Lady’s Book, the quintessential arbiter of style which featured colored fashion plates from England, selected by the venerable editor, Sarah Josepha Hale. With an excellent family background, a good education and a fine bearing, she was described as having an abundance of glossy brown hair, a high complexion and exquisite dress. One would have thought that many a beaux would have courted the First Lady of Valentines, but, sadly, she never had a sweetheart of her own and died a spinster in 1904. Lets toast the First lady of Valentines whose greetings lavished with lace; love and sentimentality were the epitome of a romantic bygone era. The Esther Howland award for a Greeting Card Visionary was established in 2001.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

THE BRIDE WORE RED OR HER SUNDAY BEST




THE BRIDE WORE RED ©


By Polly Guerin, the Fashion Historian



This may come as a surprise to any bride-to-be, but historically June brides did not wear white wedding gowns. Pioneer women probably wore their made-do calico's, and adventurous women who helped to settle the West chose whatever finery was available. Brides up to the 19th century merely regarded the wedding gown with practicality. Museum costume collections attest to the fact that many surviving wedding gowns, worn by women through the Victorian era, were not angelic white, but merely the owner’s Sunday best in colors like mauve, green and deep burgundy. These brides probably referred to Godey's Lady’s Book, for the most fashionable advice at that time, and had a dressmaker reproduce the latest Parisian gown.
THE VICTORIAN ERA
During The romantic Victorian era “love” and “marriage” were the key words in the language of a young woman’s desire to succeed in a successful alliance and to become engaged. In her diary, Sarah Elizabeth Jewett, an American writer of the era wrote these sentiments, “Oh, will Heaven grant I may love and be loved someday. Then I shall be engaged.” The print makers Currier & Ives further abetted the romantic influence with framed scrolls featuring period themes such as “The Declaration” and “The Wedding Day.”
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
It was truly the Age of Innocence, and marriage was the ultimate solution and highly regarded as the pinnacle of a bride’s finest achievement. The focus on marriage and wedding attire was also a strong theme in women’s literature. In fact, in 1886 Godey’s Lady’s Book editor, Sarah Josepha hale, insisted that blue and brown were still both popular and stylish for weddings. Perhaps taking a cue from Hale, America’s first fashion editor, Andrew Carnegie’s bride wore a gown in tones of gray and brown.
WHITE WEDDING BELLS
The incarnation of the white bridal gown with flowing veil, emerged as the quintessential wedding attire during Queen Victoria’s reign. In previous historical periods royal weddings favored velvet and ermine, but Queen Victoria quite outraged the Royals at the time when she changed the standard to a white wedding gown. Women obsessed with propriety chose white not only to emulate Victoria but also as a symbol of virginity. Her influence was so widespread that in an attempt to support England’s declining lace industry, when she married Prince Albert in 1840, her wedding dress was designed with Honiton lace. Always a sentimentalist and consummate journal writer, Queen Victoria commemorated her marriage with the following entry, “I wore a white satin gown with a deep flounce of Honiton lace, imitation of old. (Meaning an old lace design) I wore my Turkish diamond necklace and earrings, and Albert’s beautiful sapphire brooch.”
HISTORICAL WEDDINGS
Countess Eugenie, the legendary devotee of the styles of France’s first couturier, Charles Frederick Worth, originated yet another tradition. On the occasion of her marriage to Napoleon III, she instructed her hairdresser to fashion her coiffure and the crown with a wreath of orange blossoms, a symbol associated with fertility. Brides quickly picked up the idea and orange blossoms became part of the headdress for many brides. By the 1870s the long and diaphanous wedding veil in clouds of tulle or sheer lace, created an aura of mystery and enchantment, and became a fixture of wedding dress etiquette.
WHITE HOUSE WEDDING
In America headlines were made the first time a president was married in the White House. In 1886 Frances Folsom married Grover Cleveland in the Blue Room wearing a white gown with a 12-foot illusion lace train. The extravagant sweep of the train reflects the advent of the machine age as it was decorated with machine-embroidered cotton net lace.
REJECTING WHITE
In consideration for certain restraints brought about by major wars, brides again went back to bridal practicality by wearing their Sunday best. Patriotic in spirit in 1868 Amelia Jane Charley wore a gray wedding dress to honor the dead at Parkersburg, W.V. During World War I, wedding fashion came to a standstill and brides made do wearing refurbished gowns that had been worn by their mother.
THE ROARING 20s
The roaring 20’s saw the raciest of styles. The flapper bride liberated with short hair wore a shorter skirt and danced the Charleston at her wedding. The good times were gone with the advent of the Great Depression in 1929 and only the very rich could afford the traditional wedding gown, its contingent of bridesmaids and ushers. However, for the shop girl and secretary hand-me-down wedding gowns were popular again.
WARTIME BRIDES
World WAR II brought an era of wartime austerity, and with the shortage of satin and lace fabrics, brides exhibited their patriotism by wearing a suit or their Sunday best, very much like the pioneer women.
In 1947, when war-forced restrictions were eliminated, Dior brought out the “New Look” featuring yards of fabric in a voluminous ankle-length skirt, nipped waist and a narrow-shoulder jacket. It was a fashion revolution of sorts, a throwback to Victorian crinoline silhouette, but women starved for something “New” embraced it for its return to femininity.
MODERN BRIDES
The whole business of a purchasing a wedding dress and the staging the wedding itself has reached to the height of monumental preparation. In January modern brides must have finalized their wedding gown choice because it requires lead time to create the made-to-order gown in time for a June wedding. Less expensive a proposition is to visit a bridal retailer where a sea of white ready-made, off the rack gowns awaits selection. This can be a somewhat intimidating task. One young woman I know, who was on a limited budget, was confronted by over 500 gowns only to find three that she actually considered. Fortunately bridal manufacturers today create both historically influenced styles and evening gown versions to suit the tastes of the modern woman, not only in white but in jewel tones and even black.
JEZEBEL REMEMBERED
Remember Jezebel when Betty Davis wore a red gown to the White Ball in New Orleans. Well, I declare the red wedding gown is already here. Other cultures also prefer red. In northern India, for example, brides wear red and yellow to ward off demons. All this makes a dramatic departure from puritan white, but like Queen Victoria, Red gives today’s bride an opportunity to make a unique fashion statement.One interesting tidbit. The 1937 film, "The Bride Wore Red,"Joan Crawford portrays a chorus girl who crashes an exclusive Swiss resort to snare a rich husband.

Friday, January 15, 2010

FASHIONALBE FOOTWEAR, AN INDISPENSABLE ACCESSORY


FASHIONABLE FOOTWEAR, AN INDISPENSABLE ACCESSORY ©
By Polly Guerin, The Fashion Historian
Nowadays on the fashionable streets of major cities the thin, gravity-defying Stiletto Heel seems to have ensnared more fashion victims than any other footwear style. Yes, they are sexy but difficult to walk in and most importantly they throw the body off balance, and can cause other foot problems. Yet despite this fact countless women insist on spending big bucks to point their way to fashion.
FOOTWEAR'S FASHION VICTIMS
History seems to repeat itself and so it is in fashion footwear. You no doubt remember how women in ancient China insisted on binding their feet to emulate the royal prerogative, but this rendered them incapable of walking . It’s alright, I guess, if you’re a royal and can be transported about by servants, but obviously this privilege was not available to an average peasant woman. As for platform footwear Carmen Miranda may have popularized this style but clog versions also go back to ancient China as well as adaptations of platform shoes as early as 1640. Throughout the ages people have been dying to follow whims of fashion and the footwear became an indispensable accessory.
A HISTORICAL LEAP INTO FOOTWEAR
Until man invented footwear, he walked. That’s it barefoot! The invention of footwear was the first step forward in devising protection for the feet. The sandal is perhaps the oldest creation and has its incarnation as far back as the Egyptians and evolved in modern times as the flipflop. Jeweled sandals worn by the privileged few in the early Roman Empire were decorated with priceless gemstones and pearls. However, one could not exist by the sandal alone and eventually different styles were needed as transportation. Footwear back then identified with one’s lifestyle or work and did not come in a right and left configuration. They were just one size fits all. If you were a member of the wealthy class or a member of the court, however, you could have your servant wear the shoes for a while so that they could break them in for you. And did you know that in the 15th century women of fashion privilege and dandies outdid the pointed vamp on their boots. The point became such a projectile that a gold cord had to be extended from the point to the top of their boot so that they could walk.
DECORATIVE DESIGNS
The French took the shoe and boot into further decoration with lace trimmed cuffs in the 17th century and the Cuban heel painted red was a style reserved for the king. The wealthy classes in Europe wore shoes in which the uppers were made in the rich brocades of the Orient, and from the looms of Venice and Genoa. Defying the mud and filth in the medieval cities it was essential to wear shoes with stilt-like pattens of wood to elevate the foot and increase the wearer’s height or aid them in walking through the filthy streets. These practical stilt-like platforms were popular footwear and worn right down to Colonial America. During the Empire period in France women opted to imitate the Greek and Roman fashions and wore such diaphanous garments that only a delicate slipper could accommodate such attire. Costly to make and fragile these slippers did not last more than one night on the dance floor. Sadly, too, fashion victims who wore these sheer gowns in frigid weather didn’t survived either.
THE CULT OF HANDCRAFTED SHOES
Footwear was one of the great industrial arts in the Middle Ages and bore a distinction of service with pride and production of a specific nature. Leather tanners, boot, shoemakers and cobblers were organized into guilds and each guild had it own armorial insignia attesting to the quality of their trade. Interesting, is it not, that the same tools used in the production of handmade shoes today are the same type of tools used in Europe in the l8th century? Handcrafted leather shoes or custom made shoes are an expensive rarity. Today, however, most shoes today combine machine production with some handmade features. Herman Delman, of Delman Shoe fame, who specialized in building shoes that were chic, yet comfortable believed that skilled construction was essential to the creation of a quality shoe. He employed several notable designers over the years, including Roger Vivier, Herbert Levine, and Kenneth jay Lane as a means shaping the tastes of fashionable women across the country. An extrovert and proficient businessman Delman knew the power of educating the viewing public about handcrafted shoes. At one time Delman store on Madison Avenue featured an oval window showcasing three cobblers at work. “Scandal Sandals and Lady Slippers: A History of Delman Shoes, exploring the company’s vibrant history of style, advertising and fine craftsmanship will be on view at The Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, March 9th through April 4th. Free Admission.

Monday, January 4, 2010

COMPACTS GLAMOUR ON THE GO


COMPACTS: GLAMOUR ON THE GO
By Polly Guerin, the Fashion Historian


Functional, flirtatious and designed with mysterious compartments, vanity cases that go by the collective name “compacts” were an essential part of a chic woman’s equipment in the 1920s to the 1950s, and for those nostalgic collectors among us they are having a comeback. These little gems of personal deportment reflect on a time when liberated women needed to transport their cosmetic essentials discreetly encased in a glamorous container that was part a jewel of an accessory that also served a functional purpose. Prior to the birth of compacts a refined woman had to ingeniously conceal her cosmetics.
THE COSMETIC COVER UP
Since “makeup” in the early 1900s was considered daring and perhaps not-quite-respectable, early compacts were sometimes disguised as lockets or lapel pins or hidden in the top of hatpins, umbrellas, or walking sticks. With the advent of World War I a massive change took place. As more and more women were working outside the home they no longer had the pleasure or time to linger at the dressing-table mirror. Convenience and practicality ruled the day and the compact became a woman’s necessity. More social freedom spread throughout the women’s movement with the liberated woman at the wheel of an automobile, smoking, dancing and attending movie and nightclub entertainments. The high flying flappers personified the age of rebellion and vividly made-up actresses became style icons. In the roaring 20s and 30s compacts went public and were very much on display.
A LITTLE TREASURE
They were made of sterling silver other simulated gold or silver metals, plastics like Bakelite and even wood and most often jeweled or embellished with initials or designs. Small compartments for rouge, powder, lipstick and mascara, and even secret a compartment for love letters were ingeniously squeezed into the small spaces. Some were equipped with wrist chains which made it easier to carry them. A vanity often substituted for a handbag, especially for dressy occasions. In 1925 International Sterling took a half-page advertisement in Vogue to promote their newest solid-silver vanity case. Described by their overzealous copyrighter: ‘ “Stunniest of vanities!” exclaims mademoiselle when she beholds this newest creation. So slim! And of solid silver!...She opens the case! It holds the very newest combination. A compartment for rouge! And then…another compartment with another mirror for her own choice of loose powder! A clever sifter device dusts the power out, just as mademoiselle wants it.’
NEW GIMMICKS
Manufacturers kept coming up with new gimmicks to attract new converts to compacts.Vogue described a new one as being ‘made of black metal, with a single bright line of color at the top and a smart marcasite motif.’ The vanity contained rouge, powder, lipstick, and mirror, as well as allowing space for cigarettes. Consider this extract from an advertisement for the Trejur, Queen of Compacts, 1924. “Powder, Rouge and Lip-stick Complete! A case as lovely as a gem. It opens at the touch! Inside---a full size mirror and powder of true quality, scented seductively with Joli Memoire. Below—a drawer which yields to a magic touch, revealing the best of rouge and lip-stick! In your bag—securely closed; in your hand—three swift allies to fresh charm. $1.25.” Lucille Buhl’s cosmetic gimmick was doubles—a face powder box containing two drawers of powder, one for day and one for evening.
A COMPACT FOR EVERY OCCASION
Eventually compacts were combined with watches, cameras, cigarette lighters, embellished with floral designs, personalized with initials, phone numbers and even photographs. My prized possession among compacts I have collected is a little black enamel shell shaped compact etched in gold with a 2 x 2” small watch inside, whose face can be viewed though on opening on the cover. Inside reveals a place for rouge and powder with the replacement inscription: “send 25c and shade desired to Elgina, 358 Fifth Ave, New York City. Another charmer I own is a chic 3 x 5” silver and black enamel compact, the cover incised with a floral bow. Inside it is attributed to Kathleen Mary Quinlin and features a compartment with the remains of ruby red lipstick, strawberry pink rouge, the power puff inscribed with the name Quinlin, this divided by a 2 sided mirror with creamy white powder and Quinlin puff. I wonder what flapper once owned this little gem for it seems to be missing its chain for easy portage but must have seen many entertainments in the jazz age.
COMPACT’S to SHELL CASES
With the advent of WWII many famed compact makers converted to manufacturing shell cases. It wasn’t the total demise of the compact because fashion-conscious women could scoop up military-themed novelty compacts embellished with flags, anchor, officer’s hats and service insignia. One such compact that I cherish is a gold metal compact with royal blue enamel and in the center of the blue cover sits a miniature white enamel life preserver and gold anchor. Despite its chipped condition I love to use it with my summer outfits. By the 1950s, compacts were taking a setback. For one thing, the powder, once an important cosmetic item, was replaced by cream or liquid makeup that wasn’t easily carried or applied in public. In response to this cosmetic makers produced solid makeup which was sold in its own plastic container, further abetting the demise of a beautiful compact. In an effort to generate sales, cosmetic makers came up with small compact collectibles in beautiful animal or floral shapes, which contained only one item, a solid perfume or solid powder. They were a sort of gift with purchase idea.
AN ENDEARING COLLECTIBLE
The golden age of compacts may have ended, but there is avid interest in these little gems. So much interest in collectible compacts that I was able to sell on the Internet a particularly handsome Italian enamel case displaying a decorative engine-turned picturesque design coated with translucent colored enamel. Both Sotheby’s and Doyle New York have conducted auctions in which signed Tiffany and Cartier gold or gem-set compacts hit the hammer at prices from $2,000 to $7,000. If this feature has perked your interest the Internet is loaded with information. One popular site is the Compact Collectors Club www.lady-a.com/antiques/COMPCLUB.html.

Bio: Polly Guerin honed her skills as an Accessories Editor at the trade fashion bible, Women’s Wear Daily and later taught product knowledge as professor at The Fashion Institute of Technology, where her definitive textbook and video production, Creative Fashion Presentations, is used even today. In 2009 she was a vice-president of RWA/NYC and currently serves as a board liaison. Visit her at www.pollytalk.com