Old Rags

Fashion history blog run by Katie, 21/f/NC, studying art history at UNC Charlotte. *** Twitter version *** Favorite decades: 1910's, 1800's, 1870's Favorite artists: Anthony van Dyck, Giovanni Boldini, Henry Fuseli, Thomas Lawrence *** Find me at: 23 Skidoo! DeviantART *** Click "browse" to find whatever it is you're looking for.

[fripperiesandfobs]

Town dress with chemisette owned by Empress Josephine, First Empire

From the Chateau de Malmaision Costume Collection app:

“This high-waisted dress with its square, low-cut neckline and decorated with white embroidered flowers and leaves is typical of the fashion at the start of the First Empire. To conceal the low neckline, it could be worn with a chemisette which was slipped inside the dress. This one is in white muslin, embroidered with a sprinkling of flowers and embellished with a ruché trim. This outfit comes from the family of Madame Poyard who looked after the Empress’s wardrobe after 1809.”

[archaeologicalnews]

Slippers of Napoleon's Sister Found

A delicate pair of slippers that had been sitting unnoticed in a Scottish university’s collection for more than a century may have actually belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister, Princess Pauline Borghese, researchers say.

The narrow silk and leather shoes, which measured just 1.5 inches (40 millimeters) across the toes and about 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) long, were marked on the sole “Pauline Rome.” They would fit a small child today, but might have been perfect for the famously petite princess who researchers say was often carried from room to room. Pauline would have been the youngest of Napoleon’s three sisters; Napoleon also had four brothers.

The tiny slippers were sitting inside a chest of clothes in the collection of the University of Aberdeen, where they attracted the attention of Louise Wilkie, a museum staff member. Wilkie said the slippers were given to the museum by Robert Wilson (1787 – 1871), who traveled the world extensively as a ship’s surgeon and had a friendship with Princess Pauline Borghese. Read more.

[oldrags]

May 1st 1921 cover for the Smart fashions and Limited income themed issue.

Illustration by George Wolfe Plank

[fripperiesandfobs]

Dress, 1880

From the Musee du Costume et de la Dentelle

[kylarose]

[oldrags]

“The Battle for Bobbed Hair” Photoplay Magazine, June, 1924

[stellar-raven]

Animal Locomotion, Vol. 7 (1872-1885) - Eadweard Muybridge, photographer.

[oldrags]

It's interesting to be able to see these outfits in motion.

[historiful]

Unknown woman, c. 1880s. 

[questionableadvice]

~ Woman’s Home Companion, July 1915 via Harvard University Library (click to enlarge)

[tuesday-johnson]

ca. 1840-1860, [daguerreotype portrait of a dramatically posed lady in an elaborate dress, possibly Scottish, with a star pattern, tartan sash and hat]

via the Harvard University’s Houghton Library, Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Harrison D. Horblit Collection of Early Photography

[oldrags]

Wow!  A super rare look at shoes from the time.

[oldrags]

Evening dress of silk brocade, ca 1841-46, Sudley House

See some bigger images here.

[oldrags]

Day dress of silk brocade, ca 1841-46, Sudley House

See some bigger images here.

[oldrags]

Day dress, ca 1823-25, Sudley House

[oldrags]

Adelina Patti by James Sant, ca 1886, National Portrait Gallery, London

The Italian opera singer Adelina Patti, the last of the line of great coloratura sopranos, made her London debut on 14 May 1861 at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, as Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula. In this and other roles, particularly that of Rosina in The Barber of Seville, she delighted audiences throughout Europe and in North and South America. Her public career lasted nearly sixty years and is virtually without parallel.

[oldrags]

Who am i

[oldrags]

Mrs John Prescott Knight and Her Children by John Prescott Knight, ca 1837 England, the Shire Hall Gallery

A portrait by the Stafford-born artist probably of his wife, Clarissa Isabella Knight (nee Hague,) and their two sons Albert Stanley (1832–1917) and Julian Miles (1835–1871).

[oldrags]

Mrs Richard Grainger, attributed to James Ramsay, ca 1827 UK, Laing Art Gallery

[oldrags]

Miss Eliza O'Neill as Belvidera in Thomas Otway's 'Venice Preserved' by Arthur William Devis, 1816-22, Wolverhampton Art Gallery