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| crinoline frame, late 1860s |
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| riding habit, 1910 |
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| pump, 1920 |
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| evening dress, 1924 |
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| pelerine, jet beads and silk, 1890 |
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| silk petticoat, 1860s |
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| stockings, 1890s |
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| carpet bag, 1860s |
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| stockings, silk, 1890s |
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| mourning fan |
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| muff, feathers, early 19th century |
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| sandals, about 1946 |
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| Delman wedges, 1936-39 |
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| Mainbocher cocktail apron, 1943 |
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| Elsa Schiaparelli jacket |
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| Charles James evening jacket, 1951 |
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| fur jacket (monkey? goat?), late 1930s |
All images from the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute
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2 comments:
This distinctive silky black fur was most likely obtained from African colobus monkeys. Elsa Schiaparelli is credited with popularizing the use of this fur in the late 1930s, and it remained in fashion as an exotic trim material until at least the mid-1950s. The FIDM Museum collection in Los Angeles has a very similar colobus fur bolero dated to circa 1938. Their curatorial commentary about that jacket and its history can be found at http://blog.fidmmuseum.org/museum/2011/06/monkey-fur-coat-c-1938.html
Oh wow thank you Willc for that info--fascinating! And that blog is a find I need to poke around on; I've never heard of that place before. What does FIDM stand for-- I didnt see it explained anywhere on the site!
I've always loved the creepy elegance of that type of fur but still feel its better on the monkeys.
In an old post I wondered about the tailoring possibilities of cassowary feathers:
http://parenthetically.blogspot.com/2010/08/consider-cassowary.html
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