Gilded glamour fashion

The Met Gala invites are sent out every spring with a small but essential inscription: dress code. Triviality was the subject of “Camp: Notes on Fashion” in 2020. In 2021 for “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” it will be American independence. In May 2022, for “In America Anthology of Fashion,” it will be white-tie, gilded glitter.

Oh, yes. For the Met Gala, attendees will be asked to embody the grandeur and perhaps the paradox of Gilded Age New York. Mark Twain, who coined the term “Gilded Age” in 1873, was credited with introducing it, and the period spanned from 1870-1890, a time of unprecedented prosperity and cultural change. Mrs. Astor’s 400 people ruled the polite society until Vanderbilts forced their way in with their new money. Thomas Edison’s 1882 patent light bulb lit The New York Times first and then the whole city. Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone of 1876 made communication instantaneous–and led to a need for operators who would operate the lines. This led to one of the first waves of women entering the workforce. The wages in America soared past those in Europe. (Although, as Jacob Riis explains in How the Other Half Lives, not everyone was able to benefit). The Statue of Liberty, which had just been erected, beckoned them with the poem “Give me Your tired, Your poor, Your huddled mass yearning for freedom.” McKim, White, and Mead built Beaux Arts-style buildings along Fifth Avenue and beautified the city. In 1892 Vogue was founded to publish the “point-of-view of the cultivated citizenry of the world.” Original stockholders include Cornelius Vanderbilt and Peter Cooper Hewitt.

The fashion of the upper class was exaggerated during this period. Fabric production became cheaper and faster thanks to the recent inventions of electric and steam-powered looms. Women’s dresses featured many textiles like satin, velvet, silk, and fringe. They were also adorned with ruffles, bows, and frills. The unofficial rule? The more you do, the better.

The colors are rich jewel tones. The lighter shades were worn at home only because they needed to be more practical on New York streets. Hats, often adorned with feathers, were worn when going out. Audubon Society was founded in 1895 to protect birds from the millinery trade. In the 1870s and 1880s, women used corsets to lengthen their rear ends. A commonly repeated idea was that a bustle would be large enough to hold a full tea service. In the 1890s, they were replaced by mutton-sleeved dresses, bell-shaped skirts, and pompadours. Charles Dana Gibson’s pen-and-ink illustrations of the Gibson Girl, an hourglass-shaped woman, were widely used for advertisements and publications.

Photo: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A dress from the Gilded Age era by Lucie Montnay will be included in “America: An Anthology of Fashion.”

It’s not true that all Gilded Age style was formal. Sportswear became a part of the wardrobe for the first time as leisure activities such as tennis and bicycling became more popular. Women wore a shirtwaist outfit or a long skirt with a feminine top. This allowed them to move more quickly. John Singer Sargent’s portrait from 1897 of Gilded Age Socialite Edith Minturn is a good example.

The most extravagant fashions were seen at parties, balls, and soirees. Opera, which upper-class people frequented, had a strict dress code. Women wore tulle dresses that exposed their decolletage and opulent fur-lined cloaks. Men wore top hats. In the 1880s, the tuxedo was introduced to America. Urban legend says that James Potter, a man from England, wore this design to a Tuxedo Park country club ball.

This Vogue October 1898 cover was meant to preview the winter Gilded Age fashions. “What shall I wear?” is written at the bottom. Illustration by Mildred Beardslee

The costumes worn by these outrageous costume parties were a riot of color and whimsy. Take Alva K. Vanderbilt’s March 1883 celebration for her daughter Consuelo. It was dubbed the most extravagant event of the time, and the New York Times reported that the Vanderbilt Ball had agitated New York Society more than any other social event in recent years. Since the event announcement was made a week before the start of Lent, little else has been said. Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt, for example, wore a white satin gown trimmed in diamonds with a diamond-encrusted headpiece and an electric bulb-shaped jewelry piece. Ada Smith’s sister wore a dress covered with peacock feathers from the train down to the fan. Another guest donned a black-and-cream-colored satin embroidered with gold stars, accompanied by a diamond necklace and hairpiece. It’s not surprising that Fifth Avenue’s fine jewelry house Tiffany flourished during this period.

The guests will interpret the dress code of the Met Gala 2022 when they arrive at the museum on the first Monday in May. For those still debating their outfits, we suggest you end with a quote from The Age of Innocence, written about the endlessly ethereal countess Olenska: “Everything she did shimmered softly as if it were woven of candle-beams. She raised her head like a beautiful woman challenging a crowd of rivals.”

Walker http://www.readystripoutlet.com/

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